The South Park Animated Television Show - Information, Facts and Characters
South Park is an American animated sitcom, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the cable channel Comedy Central. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become infamous for its crude, surreal, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics. The ongoing narrative revolves around four children - Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick - and their bizarre adventures in and around the titular Colorado town.

Parker and Stone developed the show from two animated shorts they created in 1992 and 1995. The latter became one of the first Internet viral videos, which led to the greenlighting of the series by Comedy Central. South Park debuted in August 1997 with great success, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable program. Subsequent ratings have varied, but the show remains Comedy Central's highest-rated program even after 188 episodes. Parker and Stone, who continue to do most of the writing, directing, and voice acting, are under contract to produce 14 new episodes a year through 2011. Their staff creates each episode with computer software that emulates the show's distinct cutout animation style.

Following the early success of the series, the acclaimed feature-length musical film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut had a widespread theatrical release in June 1999. South Park has also received numerous media awards, most notably three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.

Premise of the South Park Animated Series
The following describes many of the characters from South Park and the setting South Park has been cast in for the show.

South Park Characters and Show Setting
The boys (in order from left to right): Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick.The show mostly follows a group of four boys - Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick - and the adventures they share in South Park, a fictional small town located within the real-life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. The town, sometimes described within the show as "a pissant white-bread mountain town", is also home to an assortment of frequent characters such as students, families, elementary school staff, and other various residents. Prominent settings on the show include the local elementary school, bus stop, various neighborhoods and the surrounding snowy landscape, and the shops and businesses along the town's main street, all of which are based on the appearance of similar locations in the town of Fairplay, Colorado.

Stan is portrayed as the everyman of the group, as the show's official website describes him as "a normal, average, American, mixed-up kid". Kyle is the lone Jew among the group, and his portrayal in this role is often dealt with satirically. Stan is modeled after Parker, while Kyle is modeled after Stone. Stan and Kyle are best friends, and their relationship, which is intended to reflect the real-life friendship between Parker and Stone, is a common topic throughout the series. Cartman - loud, obnoxious, and obese - is often portrayed as an antagonist whose anti-Semitic attitude has resulted in an ever-progressing rivalry with Kyle. Kenny, who comes from a poor family, wears his parka hood so tightly that it covers most of his face and muffles his speech. During the show's first five seasons, Kenny would die in nearly each episode before returning in the next with little or no definitive explanation given. During the show's first 58 episodes, the boys were in the third grade. In the season four episode "4th Grade" (2000), they - along with the other main child characters - entered the fourth grade, where they have remained ever since.

Plots are often set in motion by events, ranging from the fairly typical to the supernatural and extraordinary, which frequently happen upon the town. The boys often act as the voice of reason when these events cause panic or incongruous behavior among the adult populace, who are customarily depicted as irrational, gullible, and prone to vociferation. The boys are also frequently confused by the contradictory and hypocritical behavior of their parents and other adults, and often perceive them as having distorted views on morality and society.