This is the production blog, where you can find notes from the Executive Producer, and the Production Assistant on duty the night before the show airs.
Newest Entry in the Production Blog: Sorry to take so long!
Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant
It's been about 5 months since the last episode of South Park If you ask me as a fan, I'd say that's far too long of a break. But, If you ask me as a crew-member, I'd defend our hiatus to the the death (of someone else, obviously.)
A South Park runs means seven weeks without weekends, without outside friends, no home cooked meals, or helicopter adventures with a Filipino friend who solves mysteries. We, deserve our summer off! But, I suppose all of us fans have a little bit of the same desperation for more South Park that Cartman had when he wanted the Nintendo Wii to come out.
The PAs
Good news: This morning us PAs bought 100 dollars worth of Jack in the Box plus we spent over 100 dollars in milk, fruit, yogurts, and pastries. We had a large catered lunch from a brazilian restaurant as well as a delicious catered Italian meal for dinner. A few hours later a I will go back to the supermarket and pick up about 150 dollars worth of snacks. Close to midnight we will set up a spread of delicious breakfast burritos and soup. There are only two possible conclusions to draw from this. Either the Bulimic Support Group we share our building with have relapsed, or a brand new episode of South Park will air tomorrow!
The Food
Fans can revel in one good constant in our world since August of 1997: South Park.
Big Gay Al said it best in his fabulous USO number in the beloved South Park movie, (which is coming out on Blue Ray on Oct. 16th, so get ready to buy it!)
"Since then, bombs have still been falling, people have still been dying, politicians have still been lying, and cancer has still been killing." But, we could always watch South Park, unless of course you were killed by a bomb or cancer. In the past 13 years, South Park has given to society such great episodes as "Fat Butt and Pancake Head,""The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers," and my personal favorite "Scott Tenorman Must Die." There are too many classic episodes to mention here but for the next seven weeks on Wednesdays at 10 PM, all of us fans will ignore the greater problems of the world and feel super!
-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant.
Newest Entry in the Production Blog: Woah, Rain!
Steve Rippin, Production Assistant
Good evening South Parksters. It is I, PA Steve, and I bring you good news. A new episode of your favorite show is airing tomorrow night! Matt, Trey and the crew are hard at work and I'm here writing to you, which can almost count as hard at work. It's been a busy week #2 here. Luckily we weren't haunted by the ghosts of David Carradine or Billy Mays after last week's episode. Michael Jackson already lives here so we're used to him "sha-moan-ing" around.
In other news, it rained today in Southern California. Now I know most of you readers think that rain does not warrant a mention in the blog but, I am from the east coast and there have been times where I can't recall a sunny day in recent memory. Well today it rained here and I don't think it has rained in So Cal since February so there's that fun fact of the day... my rain dance worked.
Where was I? Hmmmm....oh yes! The rain. I love rain and our slightly leaky roof. Rain is like sunshine only wet...and cloudy. I will say this though; rainy days must inspire Matt and Trey because the writer's room was a buzz today with great ideas for tomorrow night... I'm not sure if they were doing the rain dance, but they were definitely doing the comedy dance!!! It's raining comedy all over this office!!!
Oh boy...it's late and I have to get back to reading about the red sox and patriots losing in the same day and getting made fun of by just about everyone in South Park for it. Enjoy the episode tonight and for those of you who can't wait for the show please enjoy the picture of a ninja turtle farting music!
- PA Steve
Newest Entry in the Production Blog: The Greatest Show
David Madson, Production Assistant
This WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY! The GREATEST show! The most BRUTAL of fourth graders! The BIGGEST event in the history of pro wrestling will happen...in the most PODUNK of mountain towns! (fireworks) Prepare your sorry butts for non-stop action as our boys in South Park take on the world of wrestling! Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and all the rest have never been so utterly awesome! It's the ULTIMATE experience as this ULTIMATE Wednesday South Park airs one half hour of ULTIMATE ULTIMACY.
Also this week we celebrate big boss man, Trey Parker's birthday with a totally savage Acura cake! Here are a few pics to satisfy the eyes! HELL YEAH!
This is a once in lifetime opportunity to see your favorite characters unleash the beast! Be there or be smashed into squirming piles of wussified scum, sliced, diced and prepped twenty minutes for total annihilation!
ULTIMATE XXOO!
Production Blog Entry for 10/27/09
Kenny Lane, Production Assistant
Welcome back, South Park-ophiles!
Congratulations are in order, for we have reached the middle of the run. I would like to personally thank each and every member of NATO for making this possible.
But I don't have time for that, so let's get down to business.
I can honestly say that tomorrow's episode is my favorite episode of this season. I would even say it's the best South Park episode of the past three seasons. I would go further and say it's the better than any episode in seasons 1, 5, and 7, but not quite as good as episodes from seasons 3, 9, and 10. And it's just as good as any of the great episodes from seasons 2, 4, 6, and 8.
Let me just say this- It's better than the first 3 seasons of Simpsons, and just as good as the 5th season of Seinfeld. It's even better than the original Scarface and just as good as the remake with Al Pacino. It's just as good as Alien and Aliens, and way better than Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection.
Hopefully that gives you some perspective on how great the episode will turn out. No? It didn't? Well, let me just say that it's just as good as The Great Gatsby and better than The Sun Also Rises.
Anyway, this week, to get into the spirit of the season the office has been decked out with a variety of spooky props. Including:
Skeletons
Pumpkins
Possessed Marionettes
Well, gotta go. The entire staff is about to pull off an elaborate choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller and I don't want to miss out.
Production Blog Entry for 11/03/09
Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant
We make South Park in house with American animators. We do not send the show out of the country to be animated. There is nothing wrong with outsourcing Animation. Koreans and Indians have the right to work on projects just as much as we do. In fact I feel bad for them because they have to work on Family Guy
But, as I said before, South Park does do all of its animation in-house. We do almost everything right here in our very own studio as most of you fans already know. It's a unique set up that requires all of that fancy computer equipment in the photos you just saw. We also need JJ to manage all that gear, and to keep JJ on top of his game, we need Lucky Charms as well.
Let's review. We have an incredible render farm, over 180 servers, terabytes of data storage and mega-power back up capabilities on which the show depends. All this high tech equipment and more is maintained by JJ, who is the head of our IT department. And JJ loves lucky charms. We can conclude then, that if we don't have Lucky Charms in the South Park kitchen at all times , the franchise is not safe. And it's my job to make damn sure we have that bogus emerald isle cavity-causing breakfast treat.
See, I'm important after all. My mom was right.
-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant
Production Blog Entry for 11/10/09
Steve Rippin, Production Assistant
Good evening South Park production blog readers! It is I. PA Steve! The second-to-last episode of this run is upon us and quite frankly I think I speak for everyone here who wants to be spoken for that we are a little bit tired and looking forward to a holiday break soon.
So, it's Tuesday night and I have been pondering what to write about for many days now and I either have writers block or the smell of dinner is making my ADD kick in full throttle. So here we are, the last possible moment to give you the scoop on all things South Park after a long week and I only have one thing on my mind......40 DD's.
In last week's episode, we had a lesson based on the word "fag.". Cut back to two days before the episode airs. Trey comes up with this amazing idea to have a baby point to the "fag" in the photo before him. When the child was looking at the picture there was a Harley rider on one side and a flamboyantly homosexual gay man on the other side. The baby picked the Harley rider...proving that even a child knows the word fag refers to people who ride Harleys. Zing!
We use photos on South Park for comedic effect all the time. Sometimes we are unable to find images that already exist so we must create our own. The producers came to me and informed me that they had invited a very muscular man to pose for pictures in a bra, sailor's hat, pink boa, and bright red lipstick and I needed to procure those props. There's something to be said for someone who can keep a straight face when presented with this ridiculous and unexpected request. So off I go to the bra store to buy some 40 DD bras.
I walk in and already I'm the center of attention because bras don't fit me and they never will. I said to the clerk, "I'm not a pervert, but I need to purchase some 40 DD bras in varying colors and lace textures." She knew I was well informed based on what I said and frightened by the fact that I had obviously done my research before hand. Sadly I had, but so is the life of a PA.
Anyway I buy the bras and come back to the studio where the model is waiting. The man bras up, puts the lipstick and boa on, and viola! A very convincing gay man. A few moments go by and I am summoned by our line producer to the photo studio. The sparsely dressed, pink boa laden, lipstick wearing man with the sailor's hat says hello and I say hello back averting my eyes from his junk and I walk over to the producer who had a look of the utmost importance in her eye. "Thongs," she says, "we need thongs." I said "now do you want nut huggers, banana hammocks or ass floss," and she said "all of the above." Now, I may have embellished that just to write those terms for male thongs, but that's neither here nor there.
Colors and size written down I'm off to Target, which by the way has a fantastic male thong selection. I didn't see that one coming, but I'm just telling it like it is. I get to Target and I'm admiring (pronounced: making sure no one is watching me as I try to secretly scan) the male thong selection when I get a phone call from our office manager to come back to the studio because they are happy with a shot they already had and there would be no need for thongs... This is the end of the story, sadly, with no punch line.
I will say this. I have seen a lot of ridiculous, absurd and offensively funny things here at South Park and most of the things I've seen and done I would do again in a heart beat . I guess now I have to add bra shopping to that list. I'm just so thankful I didn't have to buy the damn thongs. Here is the picture as it appeared in the episode. The "fag" is on the right.
Love, PA Steve
PS: I would also like to take the chance to wish PA Chaffey (Pronouced: Nate) good luck in his new gig. He is leaving us after two awesome runs and we all wish him the best.
Production Blog Entry for 11/17/2009
David Madson, Production Assistant
LETTER OF COMPLAINT #328,956.
Dear Sirs,
After reviewing the preview for the upcoming show on your public
website, I am appalled that this week's episode and season finale does
not follow my suggested plot outline that I wrote and mailed to you not
three weeks ago.
I can see that your team does not appreciate input from the public. In
the future, you will see that comedic writing like mine will be
accepted, celebrated and produced weekly. As a matter of fact, my
material is far more deserving of shows grander than your dainty program.
I thank you for your acknowledgement of the prodigy that is I,
Sincerely
Heff T. DeeBahg III
LETTER OF RESPONSE
Dear Mr DeeBahg,
In answer to your complaint, how did you get my home address?
That aside, thank you very much for your script submission. Everyone at
South Park greatly appreciated your work.
My supervisor Elyse thought your decision to change the location of
South Park from a mountain town to an island covered in tapioca so the
characters "humorously" continue to slip and fall, was absolute brilliance.
Office Manager Tina was ecstatic that you avoided writing about any of
the main characters and decided to base the entire program on a
character named Heff that had somehow been present and important in
South Park since the program's inception though none of the staff had
ever been aware of him.
It is true I am afraid, your story did not make the cut this season...nor
did it make it into the hands of Trey, Matt, the producers, the writers,
animators, story artists, assistants, assistants to the assistants, the
technical directors, lip sync artists, or security guards. It did not in
fact make it beyond the custodians.
But we've been very excited to bring to you and the rest of the fans
this week's very special episode and season finale about our boys, Stan,
Kyle, Cartman and Kenny, and their adventures in the area's water park:
Pipi's Splash Town.
So to all the South Park viewers, thank you very much for watching our
thirteenth season and we'll see you all again next year for season
number fourteen.
And to you Mr DeeBahg, we look very much forward to your next submission.
