South Park vs. Family Guy

versus

tue 5/12/2009

name	South Park.	Family Guy.
created by	Trey Parker and Matt Stone.	Seth MacFarlane.
network	Comedy Central (Cable).	Fox (Broadcast).
debut episode	August 13, 1997.	January 31st, 1999.
based on	Stone and Parker's short, Jesus vs. Frosty (1992).	MacFarlane's short, The Life of Larry (1995).
tagline	Four boys. One f**ked up town.	Parental Discretion Advised, that's how you know it's good.
fictional setting	South Park, Colorado.	Quahog, Rhode Island.
number of seasons	Thirteen seasons, 188 episodes.	Seven seasons, 126 episodes.
main characters	Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Butters Stotch and Kenny McCormick.	The Griffin Family: Peter, Lois, Brian, Stewie, Chris and Meg.
secondary characters	Jimmy Vulmer, Chef, Timmy, Token Black, Wendy Testaburger, Clyde Donovan and the Goth kids.	Glenn Quagmire, Cleveland Brown, Joe Swanson, Mayor Adam West and Herbert.
voice cast	Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Eliza Schneider, Mary Jay Bergman, April Stweart, John Hansen and the late Isaac Hayes.	Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Mike Henry, Mila Kunis and Alex Borstein.
theme music	Quirky rock written by Les Claypool of Primus.	Show tune written by Walter Murphey and His Orchestra.
retired running gag	Kenny getting killed.	Stewie trying to kill his mom.
epic episode	Imaginationland.	Blue Harvest.
the movie	South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.	Direct to DVD Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.
top awards	Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program and Best Animation.	Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics and Outstanding Voice-Over Performance.
lawsuits	Tom Cruise halted "Trapped in the Closet," an episode that pokes fun at Scientology and Cruise's sexual preference, from airing in the U.K.	Comedians Carol Burnett and Art Metrano accused creator Seth MacFarlane of stealing their jokes.
if you love, you'll like	Team America: World Police and Orgazmo.	American Dad and The Cleveland Show.
celebrity cameos	Robert Smith of The Cure, Cheech and Chong, George Clooney, Jay Leno and Jennifer Aniston.	Lauren Conrad, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Stewart, Seth Rogen and LeVar Burton.
in their own words	"[W]e get to express our frustration through a little fat kid screaming at the top of his lungs. So it can be taken semi-seriously… I love the fact that Trey and I have gotten awards for being topical and satirical, but at the end of the day, we are just making jokes." - Matt Stone.	"The thing that I try to do with ‘Family Guy’ is to have this balance between the classic and the edgy. We do a lot of poop jokes, but at the same time, we use a 45-piece orchestra every week with a full string section. And, you know, we don’t try to shock for shock’s sake." - Seth MacFarlane.
beef	Stone and Parker on their show's Cartoon Wars episodes: "We do hate 'Family Guy.' We totally understand that people love it and that it speaks to some people… we just don't respect it in terms of writing."	Seth MacFarlane in response to Cartoon Wars: "We would either have to do the greatest joke in the world, or do three episodes about 'South Park.' I don't know how you respond to that, you know? It's kind of best to leave it be."
bet you didn't know	The first episode of "South Park" was made with construction paper cutouts.	The show is banned in Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Iran, South Korea, South Africa, and Malaysia.
the critics	Entertainment Weekly: "Trey Parker and Matt Stone know the difference between earned humor and cheap humor… but bless them, they also aren't afraid to push a joke too far, like a recent episode that featured at least 18 spins on the word ''poo'' — pungent, mucky phrases all of them — or the 42,000th zit volcanoing on Stan's face during a marathon World of Warcraft gaming session."	Entertainment Weekly: "'Family Guy'… is 'The Simpsons' as conceived by a singularly sophomoric mind that lacks any reference point beyond other TV shows. Whenever MacFarlane and his writers aren't spoofing tired targets like Fox disaster specials (Fast Animals, Slow Children — har-har), they're trading on 'South Park's breakthrough bad taste to make 'jokes' about."
watch for free on	South Park Studios.	Hulu.