South Park took a serialized turn for the topical in recent seasons, and co-creator Trey Parker is going on the record and saying Season 21 will be different than the Trumpified Season 20. Here's how Parker explained the show will shake things up with South Park returns for another year.
This season I want to get back to Cartman dressing up like a robot and [screwing] with Butters, because to me that's the bread and butter of South Park: kids being kids and being ridiculous and outrageous but not 'did you see what Trump did last night?' Because I don't give a ... anymore. We probably could put up billboards -- 'Look what we're going to do to Trump next week!' -- and get crazy ratings. But I just don't care.
This wouldn't be the first time Trey Parker has commented on not wanting to follow President Trump's antics in South Park, as he and Matt Stone talked fairly recently about how the constant current-events writing really wore them out. Parker indicates in his interview with the Los Angeles Times that the two are working towards moving away from their satirically topical format by making an effort to return to the types of random episodes that are more similar to the show's glory years. Parker notes that he regrets falling into the same hole that so many other shows did in covering the President and current events as extensively as they did.
Trey Parker no doubt means every word he says there, but it seems highly unlikely that something extremely off the wall happening in Washington won't get referenced by South Park in some way. Of course, Parker didn't explicitly say, "We're going to stop riffing on Donald Trump and doing current events parodies," but instead stated that Season 21 would be a return to some of the original storylines that likely have nothing to do with politics.
In that context, it makes sense that the show wouldn't cover the Presidency as often as they would in an election year, as the subject matter is not as new and fresh anymore. Plus, with Mr. Garrison being the recurring character most closely associated with President Trump's persona, it seems likely there will still be some parody involving the White House in Season 21.
It's also interesting to note that while Trey Parker remarks about not putting up billboards to advertise what they're doing to Donald Trump, they actually did that exact thing last season. In fact, the Season 20 promotion of South Park featured multiple billboards displayed prominently at both the Trump and Hilary Clinton campaign headquarters, as well as the Church of Scientology, and even the real Casa Bonita in Colorado. Obviously, that billboard ad campaign wasn't solely aimed with the ratings-garnering intention of advertising what South Park will do to the President, but it's the same concept.
The world see what South Park has in store for it when Trey Parker and Matt Stone return for Season 21, which debuts on Comedy Central on Wednesday, August 23rd, at 11:00 p.m.ET. Fans waiting for that date should read on about the one episode that almost caused Trey Parker to lose it, or how the show hit their F-bomb milestone. For more information regarding new shows premiering over the summer, though, visit our summer premiere guide.
