Comedy Central news release from 5/1/00

<<"SOUTH PARK" CREATORS TREY PARKER AND MATT STONE

CEMENT LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP WITH COMEDY CENTRAL�

WITH EXCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION DEAL

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Historic Deal Takes Effect In September 2000 And Includes 30 New Episodes Of "South Park,"

A New Series In 2001 And On-Going Series Development

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LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2000 -- COMEDY CENTRAL has come to an unprecedented agreement with "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on an exclusive television production and development deal that will keep the dynamic creative team at the cable channel through August 2003, it was announced today by Bill Hilary, executive vice president and general manager, COMEDY CENTRAL.

The ground-breaking multi-million dollar three-year deal, which goes into effect this September, includes a minimum of 30 new episodes of the hit series "South Park" (10 episodes per year), a new series to launch in 2001, ongoing series development and a partnership agreement with Parker and Stone concerning the syndication of "South Park."

"For the last three years we have been exceptionally lucky to have our show on a network that respects creative freedom. We�ve realized it is this freedom that has made us happiest, that�s why we�ve decided to stay with COMEDY CENTRAL," said Parker. Added Stone, "After evaluating all of our offers it made sense to stay at COMEDY CENTRAL where we can continue making �South Park,� which we love doing, as well as developing new shows for the network.

"We are thrilled to announce this long-term deal, which will keep Trey and Matt at COMEDY CENTRAL, where they belong, for many years to come," said Hilary. "We look forward to continuing the wild ride that began with �South Park� as we tap further into the artistic genius of this extraordinary creative team."

"COMEDY CENTRAL is America�s leading comedy brand, thanks in large part to the talent and creativity of Matt and Trey," said Larry Divney, COMEDY CENTRAL president and CEO. "Both on television and on the Web, we are continuing to build COMEDY CENTRAL into a place where people can experience current, topical and breakthrough comedy that can�t be found anywhere else. Building a long-term home for these two enormously talented individuals not only makes good business sense, but it furthers our ultimate objective, which is to give our audience more ways, and more reasons, to laugh."

The deal with COMEDY CENTRAL for Parker and Stone was negotiated by their attorney Kevin Morris of Barnes, Morris, Klein & Yorn and Mike Simpson, Gaby Morgerman and Ray Solley of the William Morris Agency.

Noted WMA�s Morgerman, "COMEDY CENTRAL has always recognized Trey and Matt�s significance. We are delighted that they have stepped up in such a meaningful way to give the guys the platform they need to develop important new shows while also providing the mechanism for �South Park� to continue well into the future on COMEDY CENTRAL."

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network is currently available in over 63 million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL, a registered trademark of Comedy Partners, is a 50-50 joint venture of Time Warner Entertainment Company and Viacom. COMEDY CENTRAL�s Internet address is http://www.ComedyCentral.com. >>

Yes!!

KICK ASS!!!! THREE MORE YEARS!!!!

Chelle wrote:

Yes, this does kick major ass. BUT -- and believe me, I'm as jazzed as everyone else that SP is staying around -- it may kick ass quite a bit more *softly* than it has in the past. Because:

We've now had 52 televised episodes in 31 months. That's an average of 1.68 episodes per month (about 20 per year).

What's proposed is 30 episodes over the next 40 months. That's an average of 0.75 episodes per month (about 9 per year).

Meaning: We're gonna see new SP episodes about HALF as often as we already have been on average.

Mitigator: I haven't kept track of whether the last season or two has been as sparse as the projection, as far as new episodes. If it has, then OK, we're not any worse off. Maybe one of you episode-numbering freaks could check on the number of eps per year for 1998 and 1999. And granted, the new series mentioned in the press release will probably kick *supplemental* ass.

Just a little darkness to smear up your day....... ;)

"Mark Tangard" wrote in message news:[email]...

I'm way more jazzed aboot the "new" series that was mentioned. ?????????

Exactly - even though there won't be as many new episodes of sp, at least we have a new series to look forward to.

..which will be a live action show. No more RealVideos. :(

franz.

In article , "franz thues" wrote:

People can always video tape a show and convert it later, no?

Yeah, but the quality of a live feed is better than that of a video tape. That's something I learned from both Beef-Cake and BernieC. Wait for reruns in order to convert.

--- Willie Westwood

"Live action" as in "not animated".

Tired, franz.

<< Maybe one of you episode-numbering freaks could check on the number of eps per year for 1998 and 1999 >>

There were 21 episodes aired in 1998, four of which were from season 1 and there were 17 episodes aired in 1999, only one of which was from season 2.

[email] (Mark Tangard) wrote in :

The press release says a MINIMUM of 10 episodes. They can do more.

On 01 May 2000 22:10:55 GMT, [email] (Cheryl3b) wrote:

I don't know why this doesn't thrill me all that much.I guess it's because for the past 6 or so months,I assumed South Park was going to become retired and "go out on top".I love SP more than any show out there,but I want to see it put to sleep before they start pumping out entire crappy seasons.I would rather see Matt and Trey fully concentrate on other projects like DVDA for a while.If they could turn a little construction paper X-mas card video into the cartoon giant we see today,I would like to see what they could do with more inspired projects.

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Me gusta mi reggae
Me gusta punk rock
pero la cosa que me gusta m�s es panochinta