South Park is a situational comedy about four young boys growing up in Colorado. Throughout the series, they are faced with the misadventures the world presents them. Although it lacks the usual telltale signs of a sitcom (a laugh track and live actors) it contains an important element that many sitcoms have-a lesson at the end of almost every episode.
Many sitcoms use a narrative to put one or more of the regular cast of characters through a moral quandary. Whether the character(s) makes the right or wrong decision, by the end of the episode, they usually are able to summarize what they have learned in a tidy speech. However, the characters are usually pretty static and have more to learn next week. And so it is in South Park.
Nearly every week either Stan or Kyle delivers a speech on what the episode’s events have taught them. On the 200th episode, Kyle delivered a speech about not bowing down to fear. This was inspired by the events of the episode, where the creators depicted a censored version of the prophet Muhammad. However, the speech was never played in it’s entirety because Comedy Central feared what would happen as a result. The episode aired with Kyle’s mouth moving but his words bleeped out and there is currently no way to legally view the episode online.
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