ShareThisBy TERRY MORROW
"South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are sure about one thing in the show's 10th season: It won't be anything like Fox's "Family Guy."
"When I watch that show, I don't get it," says Stone of the hit Fox series. "It's not my bag of tea. You can take any joke written for 'Family Guy' and put it anywhere in (their) show. With our show, you can't do that."
"South Park" has picked on Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand. But when "South Park" picked on "Family Guy" in an episode last season, animation fans began scrutinizing both shows.
"The ('South Park') episode picking on 'Family Guy' did make me realize how stupid ('Family Guy') can be," says Ryan Adcock, a 23-year-old fan of both shows. "The humor in 'Family Guy' is probably easier to do. 'South Park' is probably a better show overall. But it didn't change my opinion about watching (either show)."
The two-part episode had Cartman and his buddies Stan, Kyle and Kenny going to Hollywood to ask the Fox network to stop airing "Family Guy."
Adcock says he and his college buddies aren't not necessarily drawn to the shows' topicality, more a trademark of "South Park" than "Family Guy." They like the "crude" humor, he says.
Parker and Stone say the jokes they write for "South Park," still Comedy Central's most-watched show, are very specific to the scenes, a style they say that separates the series from other animated shows today.
"I know they don't like 'Family Guy,'" says "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane. "With our (higher ratings), no, it doesn't bother me that they don't like us."
"Family Guy," seen in more homes on Fox, has a weekly average audience of 7 million, while "South Park," on basic cable outlet Comedy Central, typically garners 3.1 million.
Will "Family Guy" retaliate with a poke at "South Park"? "We are debating about what will be the best time to get involved in the war," MacFarlane says.
Retaliation might take a while. Production on "Family Guy" is done months in advance, while "South Park" is whipped up days before an episode airs.
Parker and Stone say their teasing should be taken in stride. "Our show is not about offending (people) as much as it is about what we want to say on any given topic," Parker says.
As the reigning royalty of TV animators _ "South Park" has an Emmy and a Peabody to its credit _ Parker and Stone are picky about which cartoons they watch. They like Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" and its "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." Yet, "I don't know if I could watch 22 (episodes) of it," says Parker.
Even Parker and Stone are surprised they squeezed more than 100 episodes out of "South Park." They have almost three years left on their Comedy Central contracts.
Parker and Stone say their ideas for each week's episode come from a perspective on an issue or person. From there, they begin forming scenes using that perspective. "You try to come up with a funny take on something," Parker says. "You try to come up with (a) way of looking at something (that is) inherently funny. Then you start hanging scenes on it."
Each season, Parker and Stone hire a new batch of writers to help out. Few last beyond a few episodes. "We end up firing them," Parker says. "It's just such a different kind of room. It's terrifying. Rarely is the (writing room) really funny with the first joke."
