90's Region Final - Married with Children vs South Park

[Cena's Little Helper]

90's Region Final - Married…with Children vs South Park

VS

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Note: Although Married…with Children began airing in 1987, we have included it in this tournament’s 90’s region.

 

[Slowdude]

Seinfeld should of went over South Park last round, I do enjoy South Park now as the later seasons are actually entertaining but season one - two what ever were in the 90s suck.
I've never liked married with children, it is so boring.

Since I do actually enjoy South Park I'm putting it over Married with Children as Married with Children was boring.

 

[Bernkastel]

I had a feeling that these two would meet eventually. I was kind of hoping that South Park would have gone out against Seinfeld, that would have made my decision much easier to choose. But, since South Park managed to defeat the self proclaimed "greatest comedy of all time" I find myself in a pickle.

I have backed Married with Children relentlessly in this tournament, save for it's encounter with Futurama. Unfortunately I'm going to have to go against it yet again.

Watching the new episodes of South Park, the shows continues to entertain and impress me. Some will argue that because South Park takes full advantage of current events, it leaves the show with very little autonomy. I'd argue that it's because South Park nitpicks at all the gray areas within the current events of the world that it allows itself to remain fresh with it's audience.

Many South Park episodes may seem extreme, but is their portrayal really that far from the truth? Take the episode with the internet, that episode recognizes our general dependency as a society towards the internet. Whose to say that if one day the internet as a whole just suddenly stopped working, there wouldn't be mass riots in the streets?

These episodes that have a general hidden message of sage- like satire are a dime a dozen in this series. Married with Children comes across as a live action version of just another raunchy, boundary testing animated comedy.

Because of this, I'm going to have to go with South Park

 

[INDYjon22]

This match up makes me sad. The way people have played South Park up, it makes me feel as though it has no chance in hell in this round, which should never be the case. Hopefully all of the Seinfeld fans will unite against South Park and help push it through. Anyways, I voted for Married With Children. I said from the start I was backing it all the way and that is exactly what I have done. Why change now?

It has been said many times throughout the duration of this tournament but Married With Children was so groundbreaking for modern day sitcoms. A good majority of the posters here on WZ grew up while it was on television. It pushed so many barriers and opened up so many doors for future shows. It also did a great job carrying an entire channel in its early days.

Also, for what it is worth, I would consider South Park more of a cartoon, whereas Married With Children was a legit sitcom. If this is a sitcom tournament, shouldn't a true sitcom be representing the 90's region in the next round? I think yes.

Do the right thing and vote Married With Children.

 

[projectaero]

INDYjon22 i agree. i love south park but married with children is a classic. I can watch married with children today and still feel like i did when i first watched it and have a laugh, you cant do that with most old school tv shows when going back and watching them after such a long time.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

South Park must lose here. Married With Children has a much, MUCH bigger cult following and is a much more entertaining show than South Park. I'm still bitter that Seinfeld lost to fucking South Park, but Married With Children is a much better show and no one should dispute that.

Vote Married With Children.

 

[Bernkastel]

South Park must lose here. Married With Children has a much, MUCH bigger cult following and is a much more entertaining show than South Park. I'm still bitter that Seinfeld lost to fucking South Park, but Married With Children is a much better show and no one should dispute that.

How exactly is Married with Children the better show? Both shows are well known for their boundary pushing, vulgar material. I've yet to see anyone even try to refute my comment that MWC is nothing but live action version of a raunchy animated comedy.

Married with Children is your archetype, basic comedy that follows the same pattern set up by Shakespeare centuries before. Character starts out in a neutral position, character suddenly finds himself in better position only to lose everything halfway through the episode having found himself in a worse position, by the end of the episode the plot works itself out and the character ends up back in a neutral postilion.

If this was half a decade ago, I would have voted for MWC because South Park was little more than toilet humor with little character development (like Aqua teen hunger force, or Family Guy.) I believe the turning point for South Park's evolution was the episode Trapped in the Closet, in which they made fun of Scientology in ways that the religion had not been made fun of before. After that episode was banned, you can see the transition of South Park from raunchy toilet humor, to clever spoofs on current events in society.

While these spoofs are sometimes ridiculous in their portrayal, the messages the episodes send really aren't that far from reality. I've already given Internet episode as an example, others include the euthanasia episode with Kenny, the plight of the broken beaver dam with Eric and Stan, and the new episode Whale ****es, which has a deeper message of the American economy and the wastefulness of our resources. These are just a few of these types of episodes of South Park that satire current events but deliver a truthful message behind them.

South Park is much more than just a raunchy comedy, it caters to the social norm while delivering a message that anyone in their audience can understand and appreciate. Married with Children is a comedy that followed the same consistent pattern with little evolution in their product at all.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I gotta go with South Park here. I have supported it this entire tournament and only the best could possibly get my vote over it. I find there's nothing that Married…with Children did that South Park didn't do better at. South Park is just a better show because it improves with every season and has something for everyone. Some of my favorite jokes and quotes of all time came from South Park. It gets my vote here easily.

 

[Dave]

I'm going with South Park here and I am pretty secure in that fact.

South Park has evolved magnificently over the last 5 years and it has become of the most enthralling and comedic 30 minutes of my viewing schedule. MWC was a good show whilst it was on. I recall watching them as a child and liking it. However the fact that people are saying that it should go over "because it launched a network" are idiots. So wat if it was the main show on a network. That network has moved on now and whilst MWC might be well thought of by fans, the network thing has no bearing on my decision. No, I will be voting for what I find both most comedic and most entertaining. When I think on those criteria, South Park is the clear winner.

 

[jmt225]

So, so, soooooo hard to pick.

I've loved Married with Children for as far back as I can remember. I used to try so hard to stay up late to catch an airing of the show (it used to come on every night at 11:30 on CBS). I loved it so much, and still do to this day, as my DVD collection and repeated watching of re-runs on TBS whenever I'm up in the morning would indicate.

South Park... I got into this show during Season 2, and remained a fan to this day. I have a bunch of the seasons on DVD, and like MWC... I catch re-runs all the time when just channel surfing trying to find something good to watch.

There's no way I can say either show is better or funnier than the other. Both have made me laugh hysterically like no other sitcoms in this tournament. But, I still have to give my vote for Married with Children. I just have a hard time buying South Park as a true sitcom, whereas Married with Children in my view is the sitcom of sitcoms. It's by far and large the funniest one to ever exist, and I really think it should win this tournament. But South Park still remains just as awesome in my head. Just like MWC did with Fox, South Park completely created a channel in Comedy Central and have lasted much further than anyone could have ever expected. Both are tremendously awesome shows, but Married with Children get my vote here.