Quest for Ratings
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| South Park episode | |
| "Quest for Ratings" | |
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| Episode no. | 122 |
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| Airdate | November 17, 2004 |
| South Park - Season 8 March 17, 2004 – December 15, 2004 |
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| ← Season 7 | Season 9 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Quest for Ratings" is episode 811 in the Comedy Central series South Park. Its original air date was November 17, 2004.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
Eric "Rick" Cartman, Jimmy, Butters, Kyle, Token and Stan are taping "Super School News," a newscast airing on South Park Elementary's closed-circuit television system. Cartman and Jimmy play the leading roles as head anchors, Butters is the entertainment/celebrity reporter, Stan is a field reporter, Token is the meteorologist and Kyle does sports. However after their news program premieres, their teacher (Mr. Meryl) tells them that they did horribly in the ratings, trailing far behind Craig's home-video show, "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens" (which uses the Benny Hill theme song, Yakety Sax), which they consider pointless and banal. (Kenny apparently also helped Craig, since Cartman hadn't allowed him to participate in their news show.)
The news team then pledges to make a program that will be a ratings booster and gain the attention of all students. They rename the show "Sexy Action School News" and add flashy elements (in a parody of various infotainment shows), including random "Panda Madness Minutes" in which the newscasters spontaneously dance with pandas. However, nothing seems to work; although they beat Craig's original series, they fall behind his follow up "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens Wearing Hats." To get ideas, the boys decide to get high on cough syrup. They hallucinate and wake up the next day with hangovers (and ironically enough, watching "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens Wearing Hats"), but their notepads contain nothing useful. Remembering that they had seen Craig's program while high and thought it to be brilliant, they conclude that a majority of the school must be perpetually high on cough syrup, accounting for his ratings. They then decide to produce a special report that gets cough syrup banned from school.
Soon after, the ratings soar and Craig's show is canceled, as the children are no longer high. To emphasize the importance of good ratings, the AV teacher then suspends Craig from school and recommends the removal of his testicles. Satisfied with their results, the "Sexy Action School News" team discovers the curse of a successful show: each subsequent episode has to be just as good. Back in the writer's room, they come up with nothing and eventually decide to just leave.
[edit] Moral/point
Aside from making a parody of infotainment and various news shows (and the public's refusal to watch straight news), this episode may very well be a parody of South Park itself. The boys all sitting around a table, trying to come up with "the best idea for an episode ever," as well as their lack of good ideas, may be Matt Stone and Trey Parker commenting on their show's own lack of rational plots. This is best displayed by Cartman's suggestion that they do an episode about Crab People (see "South Park is Gay!").
With the recent release of season 8 on DVD, many of the mini commentaries revealed that much of the lack of ideas was due to the fact that Team America: World Police, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's concurrent film, had just been through a long, grueling post-production and left the staff low on energy.
[edit] Trivia
- In the beginning of the episode when Stan reported that the girls basketball team lost again, when Cartman was reporting again he said that the girls are on a 6-0 slide. This would mean that the team had won six straight. He should have said an 0-6 slide.
- This episode is somewhat notable because of name changes. In this episode, Clyde (whose last name had been Goodman on merchandise before) uses the last name Donovan, while Token's is given as Black (as opposed to the previously used Williams). Jimmy Vulmer's last name (which replaced "Swanson") is also reaffirmed.
- Also Clyde had apparently moved in "The Jeffersons" since Stan said "looks like someone bought the Donovan house."
- When Stan figures out why everyone loves Craig's new series, Jimmy says, "Fellas, this is our chance! Everyone get your hair looking as fantastic as possible. It's time for us to do the most incredible investigative news report of our journalistic lives!" without stuttering once.
- The clocks above Eric and Jimmy in the news room are labeled 'South Park', 'Denver', and 'La Casa Bonita'. Naturally, they all read the same time.
- According to the Season 8 DVD commentary, Trey Parker's cat "Jake" and Matt Stone's dog are two of the animals in the first Animals Close Up With a Wide-angle Lens video.
- Getting high on cough medicine was also referenced in the very early episode Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride.
- This episode breaks the fourth wall when "Animals Close Up with a Wide Angle Lens with Hats" shows a poster of Stan which reads "South Park" under him.
- When Stan is high on cough medicine, Cartman says he has an idea, and Kyle says "Me too!" and his voice sounds like Butters', who is also portrayed by Matt Stone. It was probably deliberate as Stan was supposed to be high on cough medicine.
- Some fake stories included were whether South Park was going to explode from a methane gas leak; Pete Felman pees sitting down like a girl; Sally Turner stuffs her bra; Clyde Donovan has only one testicle.
- When the boys are getting high off the cough medicine, music from the violent 2003 computer game Postal 2 can be heard playing in the background.
[edit] References to Pop culture
- The monsters Stan sees in his cough syrup trip include Frank (Kyle) from Donnie Darko and Jabba the Hutt (Cartman) from Star Wars.
- Token's role as the meteorologist is possibly an homage to The Today Show's Al Roker.
- The Close Up Animals with a Wide Angle Lens is similar to the Puppies From Around the World show in The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer and Fun With Veal.
| Preceded by "Pre-School" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" |
