History of SP
Matt Parker and Trey Stone met at the University of Colorado in 1992. There, they created short, hand-held videos such as "The Giant Beaver of Southern Sri Lanka," a movie about Godzilla-like beavers ravaging a town, and later "Cannibal: The Musical." Their most important digital short was titled, "The Spirit of Christmas," but it became more widely know as "Jesus v Frosty" to fans. This early movie features characters similar to those who star in the TV show today. Brian Graiden, a Fox Network executive and friend, commissioned the two to make a second video as an e-card. This video came to be known as "Jesus v Santa," which was distributed across the Internet, making it one of the first viral videos. In 1997, as the short became popular, Comedy Central signed Matt and Trey to create six episodes of South Park. The first couple of episodes received mostly negative reviews.
Early Reviews of South Park
August 13, 1997: Hal Boedeker for the Orlando Sentinel
"The dark "South Park" wouldn't seem to have the staying power of "The Simpsons" or "King of the Hill." Those series have told wacky stories (Hank's constipation, Homer's chili problems) with some restraint.That's what "South Park" sorely needs. Its chances for success die each time Kenny does."
August 13, 1997: Tom Sales for the Washington Post
"Someone at Comedy Central, that most fumble-bumbling of cable networks, thinks what the world needs now is a crude cartoon series about foul-mouthed third-graders who are preoccupied with bodily emissions. Thus is hatched "South Park," an exercise in studied irreverence premiering tonight at 10."
August 15, 1997: Bruce Fretts for Entertainment Weekly
"It might help if the South Park kids had personalities, but they're as one-dimensional as the show's cut-and-paste animation."
Recent Reviews of South Park
March 22, 2007: Vannesa Grigoriadis for Rolling Stone
"It's also the most ideologically opaque political show on television, fostering an open-ended dialogue on difficult questions like whether one has a duty to obey unfair laws or if there is a God in an evil world."
September 6, 2007: James Poniewozik for Time
"Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Comedy Central cartoon has been America's best source of rapid-fire satire for a decade now, blasting hypocrites left and right and giving the final (and usually, the dirtiest) word on Elian Gonzalez, Terry Schiavo and numerous celebrity flip-outs."
What changed???
As the writers became better at their craft, the show's vision became more focused. The show deviated from vulgarity and flowed toward meaningful social satire. Despite its important messages, the show has never taken itself too seriously or favored one political side over the other. Parker and Stone have never officially declared their political affiliations. Instead, the show is able to poke fun at both sides of an issue by blowing it up to comical proportions, oftentimes with the help of science fiction.