Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 27, 2024)
After decades of regular TV seasons, South Park now appears to focus mainly on specials. For another of these, we go to 2023’s (Not Suitable for Children).
“Influencers” become a big deal at South Park Elementary. This means the fourth graders become addicted to a promoted hydration beverage called “Cred” just to follow the trends.
In the meantime, Randy Marsh (voiced by Trey Parker) runs an “Only Fans” channel that doesn’t do much traffic. He latches onto the “Cred” craze in his own attempt to elevate his audience numbers.
South Park launched almost 30 years ago, and it seems safe to say that the series not infrequently goes after easy targets. Under this umbrella, we must include both influencers and Only Fans creators.
Perhaps this falls into “Old Man Yelling at Cloud” territory, but the basic concept of influencers seems ridiculous at its core. Of course, ordinary folks have long taken cues from famous strangers, but that “famous” designation makes a difference.
Influencers earn notoriety solely for their attempts to promote themselves. At least traditional celebrities gained fame due to their music or athletic endeavors or whatever, whereas influencers are essentially just famous for being famous.
Anyway, I guess I need to shrug and just accept that influencers exist as a major factor in our current world. Can Suitable find anything clever to do with the concept?
No. While it does point out larger problems than the simple foolishness of influencers, Suitable delivers a blunt message without any subtlety or humor.
Virtually the entire program exists to rail against the ways social media attempts to reach and manipulate kids. Although this acts as a valid point, Suitable beats it into the ground.
Suitable literally tells us this message at one point. Nothing smart appears, as the show just drills its fairly obvious concepts into us repeatedly.
Do any laughs result? Not really, as I can’t find much I’d regard as funny.
South Park lost some of its spark when it abandoned “censorship”. When the series couldn’t present profanity or nudity, it found clever ways to use those limitations.
Once those barriers lifted, though, series honchos Parker and Matt Stone relied on them too heavily for cheap humor, and that becomes the case here. We find endless shots of penises as well as ample profanity, neither of which help the program.
If you look at my reviews, you’ll see my general disenchantment with South Park has persisted for a while. So why do I continue to watch?
Because the series used to be really good, and I can’t imagine the talent demonstrated by Parker and Stone simply shriveled up overnight. I always hope that they’ll find a way to recapture the insight and humor of their better work.
But Suitable doesn’t get there – or even come close. Essentially devoid of cleverness and humor, it starts as a blunt message and never rises above its pedantic goals.
