What the hell is the deal with South Park in syndication?

[Flimpson Tide]

So the latest episode you can catch on local TV affiliates (or Comedy Central before 8PM) is Stanley's Cup, from season ten. While every season contains at least an episode or two the syndicates skip over, I can guarantee that most episodes can still be aired with one edit or two, so I don't think the show's just gotten "too crude" for networks. Glancing at an episodes list, I think the only ones syndicates would pass on from the last six seasons are:
Eat, Pray, Queef (vagina topics scare people. Just look at how A Million Little Fibers didn't make it into syndication probably only because of Oprah's vagina with a gun)
Britney's New Look (her mutilated head from her suicide attempt is too dark)
Major Boobage (too much editing in the backgrounds)
Eek! A Penis (the penis growing on the mouse - unless they pixelate it)
Fantastic Easter Special (Jesus' death is too much for a lot of serious people)
The F Word (obvious)
Le Petit Tourette (obvious)
With Apologies to Jesse Jackson (obvious)
D-Yikes! (scissoring, lesbian stuff is probably too much for people)

Some of you are going to say, "Who cares? Watch them unedited on Comedy Central." Well I bring it up because it's still nice to see the show on another channel when you're flipping through bored, and the edits really don't bother me like they do other people. But I've already contacted the distributing company twice about it and the South Park Studios FAQ several times, and both have failed to even respond. Do you think it's not doing well and they're going to pull it from syndication soon since it can only be shown late at night? Or have they not found the time for the last six years to get together and censor more episodes? For the love of Christ though, they could probably be adding at least another sixty episodes to the syndication batch if they just made an effort, which in many local markets that do one episode per weekday, could mean more than two months' worth of "new" material.

[comeau]

I haven't watched the syndication South Parks in a few years, namely because they air them at 2 in the morning or some other ridiculous time. WGN America used to play the syndicated ones at a decent time though, at like 10 pm or something, but I don't pay much attention to that channel to keep tabs on what episodes are airing,

Usually when I watch South Park it's on Netflix, that way I pick what episode I want to watch.

edit: Shit, after looking it up no local station plays the show anymore, and WGN America has it on at 3:30 am and 4:00 am. Huh.

[Alex of Insomnia]

I remember watching the episode Red Hot Catholic Love (the one they crap out their mouths) on a local channel here in Northern California, and every time someone crap out their mouths the screen would be just black with the text "This scene of Cartman crapping out his mouth has been censored". I also remember watching Mystery of the Urinal Deuce on WGN and they cut away at a few point where some people were getting shot in the head. This is why I almost never watch syndicated episodes.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

That Catholic Love one sounds hilarious.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Simple explination, they just don't care. On My13 they've ran mostly the same episodes from the first season to the season with the ManBearPig in it and they have never bothered to go further with the episodes, especially the ones that are in HD. I guess there's no real incentive for Debmar-Mercury to actually edit newer episodes for syndication... Whether it's due to lack of potential profit from advertising or local stations treating the show as filler programming, who knows but they've managed to do it for The Simpsons; why can't they do it for South Park?

[Dark Homer]

isn't all syndication filler programming? what's the difference?

[leprechaun_dan]

That Catholic Love one sounds hilarious.

One of the best episodes ever


Also, syndication doesn't happen for South Park in my country. One reason to love NZ's Comedy Central

[Jesse Pinkman]

are they ever going to show 200/201? or is the muhammed stuff never going to die down?

i mostly just watch on netflix or southparkstudios anyway, but 200/201 isn't on either of those, as i'm sure y'all know

[comeau]

Watching South Park on Comedy Central right now, and I noticed that they used the syndication opening at the beginning, instead of the normal season nine opening(the episode is Free Willzyx). When did they start that?

[Flimpson Tide]

Watching South Park on Comedy Central right now, and I noticed that they used the syndication opening at the beginning, instead of the normal season nine opening(the episode is Free Willzyx). When did they start that?

Whenever they started showing episodes in the daytime on Comedy Central, maybe a year or two ago (which is why I made this thread, because these are also the edited daytime episodes you're seeing before 8 PM that haven't made it past season 10). If after 8 PM they use normal openings, even if it's a season 2 episode, because it's the original uncut Comedy Central episode.

And yeah, the Red Hot Catholic Love edits are actually funny. They're done in a tongue-in-cheek style, with the screen saying "This shot of Cartman defecating from his mouth has been edited for your protection" and I think music similar to Homer's romp through The Land of Chocolate playing in the background. I guess Matt and Trey were a part of editing for syndication, which perhaps is their lame excuse for there not being any seasons 11-15 in syndication yet...

[comeau]

But it was after 8 pm, it was roughly an hour ago(it's 9:30 pm here in VA).

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

are they ever going to show 200/201? or is the muhammed stuff never going to die down?

This stuff will never die down but when the uncensored version appears, I'm going to watch mainly to see if the stuff they censored lives up to the hype.

[Flimpson Tide]

But it was after 8 pm, it was roughly an hour ago(it's 9:30 pm here in VA).

Odd. I really hope this isn't a habit, because in that case they're probably airing the syndicated episodes in place of the originals, then. Maybe they prefer the syndicated ones because they're shorter and allow more time for commercials. Aren't the original seasons of Futurama shown on Comedy Central also only the ones with syndication cuts?

My prediction with 200/201 is that in a few years it will quietly make its way back onto the schedule censored, perhaps late at night. But definitely no "LOOK AT US WE'RE SHOWING IT AGAIN" fuss, although once it appears on the TV listings there will be hype on the Internet.

[leprechaun_dan]

I don't get it anyway. Super Best Friends depicts Muhammed and they still air that episode on television, yet they can't air 200 or 201 for the same reason. What the fuck, Muslims?

[Jesse Pinkman]

super best friends is the only episode i haven't seen

[leprechaun_dan]

See it. It's hilarious

[comeau]

Is there even a way to see it, without buying the season five DVD or catching the odd rerun on CC(if they even rerun it)? AFAIK, it still isn't up on South Park Studios or Netflix or iTunes.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Is there even a way to see it, without buying the season five DVD or catching the odd rerun on CC(if they even rerun it)? AFAIK, it still isn't up on South Park Studios or Netflix or iTunes.

There was but the terrorists got to it before we realized the value of what we held in our own hands.

[leprechaun_dan]

It stills airs here in my country uncensored but they refuse to show 200 or 201 I noticed the other day...

Makes me so angry

[Jesse Pinkman]

i was marathoning the show on netflix back when i got into it, but they didn't have Super Best Friends and I haven't been able to find it anywhere. i guess when i eventually buy all the seasons on DVD I can see it then.

[Flimpson Tide]

Ugh, it makes me mad that the FAQ people at South Park Studios answer garbage like "How many episodes of South Park are there?" that can easily be researched, but they can't take a crack at investigating the whole syndication deal. It's probably out of their power, but they could at least call the distributor or something since they obviously don't talk to "average people" (all my emails have gone unanswered). Ah well, I guess when it comes to daytime and local episodes, we can just live in 2006 forever.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

That FAQ's only good for "hilarious" sarcasm.

[Shaunbadia]

In the UK, VIVA still shows SP but it's mainly the very early episodes (Like seasons 1-3) alongside some so-called "New" episodes from season 12.

Also cool side note...the same channel started showing Daria from 6:00 to 7:00 at the start of the week

[Jesse Pinkman]

is south park studios the site where people were pissed about the Ass Burgers episode and several people with Asperger's vowed to stop watching because they were the ones being made fun of?

that's the only thing I remember about that site, if it even is that one

[leprechaun_dan]

I'm a member of South Park Studios and I've never heard of any Asperger's complainers on that site.

Although if it's true, they should get over it. So they can laugh at anything Trey and Matt mock, yet when they mock Asperger's, they suddenly get all serious and pissed off? That doesn't sound fair at all. I bet it's 12 year olds.

[CousinMerl]

I still haven't seen 200 or 201 yet so I hope it'll get un-banned in a few years and available to see. Another thing I've wondered about is if they will go so far as to remove the Super Best Friends episode from future editions of the season 5 boxset (I know it would be ridiculous but it's still not that farfetched).

[Jesse Pinkman]

I'm a member of South Park Studios and I've never heard of any Asperger's complainers on that site.

Although if it's true, they should get over it. So they can laugh at anything Trey and Matt mock, yet when they mock Asperger's, they suddenly get all serious and pissed off? That doesn't sound fair at all. I bet it's 12 year olds.

I think it was in a Rate and Review thread or something over there.

I remember comments like "How dare they say the disease me and my brother have is fake, they should come and say that to our parents" (paraphrased obviously). There were comments in the thread that said what you said, but they were pretty persistent. It is pretty stupid. south park mocks everyone; no one is safe. There was a quote from the "Making of" documentary where they were mocking how people were like "Did you see South Park do this offensive thing?" and they were like "Shut up." 'Cause that's what they do. Make fun of people.

Anyway, I don't know if it was on that site or not, but I do remember it was a rate and review thread for Ass Burger's. only time I went to the forums. got some good laughs

[Bella Drape 'er]

In the UK, VIVA still shows SP but it's mainly the very early episodes (Like seasons 1-3) alongside some so-called "New" episodes from season 12.

I quoted you before on another thread about this, but they've actually been showing 1-7 as well as 12.

Also cool side note...the same channel started showing Daria from 6:00 to 7:00 at the start of the week

I noticed this too.

Haven't seen all of Daria, so it will be great to catch up.