You can bash gays, christians, and jews....but for God's sake don't bash a Jodie Foster movie! :)
by Rick Porter Zap2it, TV News LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Christmas is what got "South Park" started.
Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone launched the series based on the "Jesus vs. Santa" short they created, and since then, wild Christmas episodes became something of a custom on the show. Parker and Stone decided to take a break last year, however.
"It got to be so hard to do [a Christmas show] because it would have to be up to a high, high standard of this holiday tradition," Stone says. "So last year, we kind of avoided it."
This year, though, Parker and Stone decided to re-establish that tradition. The result, "Red Sleigh Down," airs at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday (Dec. 11) on Comedy Central. The episode brings together what Stone jokingly calls "the biggest icons of Christmas in the world" -- Santa Claus, Jesus and Mr. Hankey, the Christmas poo.
As Christmas nears, Cartman realizes that the "naughty" side of his ledger is pretty full, meaning Santa won't bring him any presents. He decides to balance his bad deeds out by making gifts for children in Iraq, which he then convinces Santa to deliver.
The episode plays on the yuletide-TV staple of solving problems by spreading the "Christmas spirit," Stone says. "Because in a Christmas special, people have to lose their Christmas spirit."
"The basic idea was that Santa decides he needs to take the Christmas spirit to Iraq, and that will take care of everything," he says. "Of course, they shoot him down and torture him."
Mr. Hankey and Jesus then team up on a daring mission to free Santa. Jesus has some particularly Rambo-esque moments.
The fact that most Iraqi children, being Muslims, don't celebrate Christmas didn't really enter into the show, Stone says. "It was just [the idea] of, We all have to have the Christmas spirit, whether you're an atheist, a Jew, a Muslim, whatever. ... They're completely unapologetic about it."
A few years ago, such an episode of "South Park" likely would have provoked a hail of condemnation from cultural critics. Stone says he and the rest of the show's staff are fairly happy those days are gone, although "it kind of sucks we can't piss anyone off anymore."
"You can only do that when you're a fad, and we're not a fad anymore," he says. "When I was in high school, Bart Simpson was seen as a bad influence on kids ... then it was 'Beavis and Butt-head,' and then it was 'South Park.' It's just a progression. ... The fact that we're not [a lightning rod] anymore and we're still around means we weren't just a fad."
Not that Parker and Stone don't occasionally stir things up. They asked that their audio commentary set be taken off the first-season DVD set of the show after lawyers for distributor Warner Bros. asked them to cut some things.
"The things they didn't like were, we went off and commented on the movie 'Contact' ... I just think it's one of the worst movies ever made. We just ripped on it, like you would with anyone else, and we ripped on the Olsen twins -- it wasn't even good stuff. It was just regular stuff."
Warner Bros., which released "Contact," was afraid of offending the movie's star, Jodie Foster, even going so far as to call her production company for approval of Parker's and Stone's comments. It was then that they asked to have the commentary removed. They're offering it for free on audio CDs for people who buy the DVD set.
"There are plenty of other things we've done or might do in the future where it wouldn't matter, but 'South Park' is about not giving in on that kind of stuff."
"Just to be two guys from Colorado and even have a voice on the air to rip on 'Contact' was such an awesome feeling that now to muzzle ourselves was becoming everything we used to hate, and still hate. We just don't want to hate ourselves yet."