Why ‘South Park’ Is the Best Show Ever According to Joe Rogan
The opinions about the impact of South Park are going to likely be a mile apart from one another based on one’s opinion whether it helped or destroyed TV. This all depends on personal views of whether more daring content on TV opened a Pandora’s Box or helped elevate creativity to a new level.
One of the most famous podcasters in America, Joe Rogan, recently opined on South Park and deemed it the best show ever made. Is he right, or is it just an individual opinion of those who think there should be no boundaries to anything on television?
No one can deny South Park paved the way toward edgier content being able to be done on even network television. Let’s take a minute to see what the advantages and disadvantages of this have been.
Rogan notes Comedy Central never bothers to censor ‘South Park’
It might shock some people to realize how long South Park has been on the air. Those who remember it from the early days recall seeing it online in the mid-’90s and being shocked that the creators (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) were able to land a deal for such a brazen concept.
This was back when the path to free expression on the internet was in its Wild West stage. Only a couple of years after online exposure, Comedy Central brought South Park to its network in 1997. Now in its 23rd season, they maybe aren’t talked about as often as they once were, other than recent news about China banning the show there.
No doubt one reason for the more minimal attention is because what they do on the show doesn’t seem to shock anyone anymore. Perhaps some will argue this takes away its novelty, even if there’s obviously more at play here.
During Joe Rogan’s podcast, the host wasn’t afraid to declare South Park the best ever series based squarely on how it covers everything in the news. There isn’t one subject they leave off the table, making it the one true source of satirizing all that moves (and everything in-between).
Has ‘South Park’ really been an influence on controversial content for TV?
Even to this day, only South Park is still able to poke fun at virtually everything and get away with it on TV with no consequences. Parker and Stone have basically built their own television bastion where they have complete freedom to say and do whatever they want without Comedy Central interfering.
Many other TV producers would give up anything to make such a thing happen. Perhaps it’s better only Parker and Stone can keep doing this rather than every network loosening up their standards and practices department. Not that commercial network TV isn’t far more open to edgier material now. Whether it’s the direct influence of South Park is still up for debate.
Some media analysts of recent years think the show did change television, with commenters on the article not all necessarily being in unison. One person made a good point: There still has to be some level of boundaries in what we do or watch, or it could result in complete chaos.
Defenders of South Park jumped on this in a second to say language is more wide open to interpretation on what’s considered vulgar. Most of the content on South Park, however, goes beyond language, if still within the category of unbridled satire.
The show’s comments on world culture have elements of truth
Defenders of satire may or may not stand up for everything on South Park since the show sometimes pokes fun at things many consider sacred. Regardless, comedians like Joe Rogan will continue to defend it because he’s from the comedy school of wanting to jab at anything and still deem it satirical.
Plus, there isn’t a doubt Parker and Stone have no mercy on going after everything to a point where certain things everyone worries about start to look absurd.
If one could argue Joe Rogan was more than a little high when making his glowing South Park comments, his remarks will likely broach a lot of arguments over what really makes for the greatest ever show. One having the freedom to satirize everything is at least the greatest television experiment ever created.
