South Park (season 13)

South Park (season 13)

The thirteenth season of South Park aired between March 11 and November 18, 2009. It was the first of three new seasons produced by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The season satirized such topics as the ACORN scandal, Japanese whaling, piracy in Somalia and the marketing tactics of The Walt Disney Company. Celebrities were spoofed throughout the season, including the Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, Carlos Mencia, Paul Watson and Glenn Beck.

About South Park (season 13) in brief

Summary South Park (season 13)The thirteenth season of South Park aired between March 11 and November 18, 2009. It was the first of three new seasons produced by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The 13th season satirized such topics as the ACORN scandal, Japanese whaling, piracy in Somalia and the marketing tactics of The Walt Disney Company. Celebrities were spoofed throughout the season, including the Jonas Brothers, Kanye West, Carlos Mencia, Paul Watson and Glenn Beck. The season maintained the average Nielsen rating viewership for the series, around 3 million viewers per episode. The episode ‘Margaritaville’, which satirized the global recession then affecting much of the industrialized world, won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. South Park was set to expire in 2008, but in August 2007 it was announced the series would be renewed for at least three more seasons, extending it through 2011. The new seasons, 13, 14 and 15, were each to consist of 14 episodes. Prior to the season’s premiere, all South Park episodes were made available for free viewing on the official series website, South Park Studios. New episodes from every episode from the 13th series were made airdate for one week after the original premiere, then removed for 30 days, after which they were returned to the site permanently. The episodes were uncensored, so no membership fees were ad-supported to view the shows. Episodes were also presented in high definition and widescreen from previous seasons, which were also converted to high definition from previous high definition episodes.

In a statement, Parker and Stone said, ‘We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time. So we gave ourselves a legal alternative. We made this show available for all of you to watch.’ The season was distributed by Comedy Central, where the series has aired since its inception in 1997. It consisted of 14 22-minute episodes, which aired in two groups of seven episodes separated by a six-month gap. A broadcast of “Pinewood Derby” in Mexico was pulled, allegedly due to its depiction of President Felipe Calderón. The episode ‘Fatbeard’ was praised by the crew of USS Bainbridge, which was involved in the 2009 rescue of MV Maersk Alabama from Somali pirates. The season received mixed reviews: some critics called it one of South park’s strongest seasons, while others claimed the series was starting to decline in quality. The series has been renewed for three additional seasons, each of which will be 14 episodes long. The third season will consist of 12 episodes, and will be called ‘South Park Digital Studios’ It will be produced by a Los Angeles–based digital animation studio called South Park digital Studios. The studio will serve as the center for all digital extensions of the South Park franchise and other animated projects. The first season will be the first to be broadcast in highdefinition and in widecreen.