South Park: The Streaming Wars

Yes, South Park has always been satiric. Fine. But the focus over the last few seasons has shifted from the core of Kenny, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman (and Butters) to Randy, Tegridy Farms, PC Principal, blah...blah...blah. I like good satire, but they have drained the storylines for all they are worth. Remember Jared beating a dead horse in Season 6? We are now at that point. Shift the focus back to the kids. Please....

The moment when Cardi B's "Wap" was played I had to mute it, What in the world were Trey Parker and Matt Stone thinking? It was inappropriate for the scene and nothing related to what was going on, even back in the South Park day all they had to do was play groovy music in this one scene where Butters meet pimps! But now we have this instead? What a joke. Other than that, I really enjoyed this and laughed mostly, one thing to add that no other reviewer said is that the quality of the production into this is AMAZING, the details and hard work that goes into the scenes is superb, shame that only 3 stars had to be cut out BECAUSE OF ONE CANCEROUS MOMENT.

I'm getting the feeling that they don't really have the infinite freedom with these Paramount+ productions to select whatever music they want to insert anywhere. That would explain some of the choices, especially the now infamous 'rapper chic going on about her puss for minutes' bit.

Otherwise i don't get the unified negativeness towards this, i was fooled into the belief that i'm not gonna smile or laugh even once, and there i am, adequately entertained, even if it is more on the clever satire side than the laugh out loud side of things.

I have no idea if South Park Studios has returned to their regular ways, or if this was done in that from-home style, but either way, the art direction was way more consistent and simply South Park, than the virus movies, which were just all over the place, possibly from the hectic working conditions. Apart from strange 1:1 inserts of the diorama style series intro as establishing shots for the town which felt out of place, it was all done right.

You could say too much Randy, but i didn't see any Randy, but this new Karen guy looks promising. Jokes aside, the boys got a good amount of scenes, nothing to nag there.

Just overall it's kinda obvious that the guys REALLY got accustomed to the 20 minutes structure, and these specials are essentially 20 minutes worth of stuff stretched to 40. That might make some people uncomfortable a bit, but it is nothing to throw 1/10's at these, that's just rude.

I know that the last few seasons have been panned by audiences and critics, everyone loves South Park for their own reasons whether it be nostalgia, great jokes, toilet humor, whatever..

For me I have enjoyed the direction the show has gone and I'll try to help explain why it is better (with the exception of a few episodes). Although I was the first to be extremely upset in the constant reduction in episodes the quality of the content has gone up. They are able to connect the story over multiple episodes which has jokes references hitting twice. I suppose if you didn't like the first joke it won't hit hard a second time but it seems to me that half of the viewers do not understand the satire behind the jokes made. I understand the joke itself may not be a knock out with every viewer as people have become more sensitive about certain topics, do not care for toilet humor, or it went over their head, but believe me, the writing is still as solid as it ever was if not better. There are fundamentally multiple levels of storytelling here in streaming wars- first I appreciate the connections that go back to the last season that were comical for me and they worked here too. Second streaming wars is relevant with the entertainment industry's constant struggle with retaining and paying talent, becoming a monopoly, etc etc. Third, have you all not seen the actual "streaming wars" in the American west? Africa? General shortage of water? The reviews that I have been reading about how people aren't laughing anymore, I promise that half of you aren't laughing because you don't understand the joke references. The other half may be offended or just got tired of the story. Randy's Tegridy weed antics have about run it's course, but I appreciate that Towlie is now a recurring character, so win some lose some. The episodes that he is the prominent character I rewatch less of, but I still enjoy them. Don't give up on this series, if the jokes or the story isn't landing, try to see what they are referencing behind the reference. There is a reason Family Guy has never won an Emmy and South Park has a vault full. It's not for everyone but there is quality writing.

It's not South Park's best and it's the weakest of the television specials, so far. Cartman is usually a highlight of the show, but the subplot of him and his mom wasn't really interesting or even funny to watch. The comments on streaming services are funny and the special's way of portraying that is clever. I personally just didn't find it super funny, but still enjoyed it! If you're a fan of South Park, it's definitely worth the Paramount+ free trial.