Every South Park Season Ranked Worst To Best

Created by the comedy duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the long running adult comedy series "South Park" has become a pop culture icon over its 20-plus year run. The series is centered around four young boys in the fictional town of South Park Colorado and the various misadventures they find themselves in. The largely episodic nature of the show allows it to both make poignant statements on a variety of topics, all while incorporating excessively crass grade school humor. The irreverent cast of characters help round out the series, with most being extreme parodies of the many different types of people in life.

Although "South Park" has stayed popular for the majority of its distribution on television, it's not without a few hiccups over its long time on the air, as well as more than a few gems. Below we'll be ranking Season 1 through 24 of the animated comedy series from worst to best (via Rotten Tomatoes).

Tackling the ongoing issues in the world as bluntly as ever, "South Park's" 24th season continued the recent trend of opting for an overarching story as opposed to the traditional standalone episodes. Despite somewhat positive reception to the unique and memorable time-travel plot, Kayla Cobb of Decider said that "it seems as though Parker and Stone have found a place where they can play and experiment while still giving fans exactly what they want." Here, many of "South Park's" main characters find themselves in the future, and the season's scant four-episode run made it the shortest in "South Park" history. 

What results is an effective but brief story, leaving fans with much to be desired and leaving Season 24 a bit one-note, finding itself hard to stand up against other more robust seasons.

The 22nd season of "South Park" stumbles quite a bit when it comes to the overall quality of its humor. While it doesn't have any episodes that are downright terrible, it lacks any that can really be considered above average. Despite being a disappointing entry overall, this season did convey some poignant messages on the current state of the world. This was notable in episodes like "Unfulfilled" and "Bike Parade," which commented on the working conditions at Amazon. Unfortunately, it typically did so in an ineffective way that felt bogged down by the message it was trying to convey, and didn't coincide with a humorous twist as effectively as previous seasons. 

While looking back on older seasons and comparing them in relation to modern "South Park," Vox's Emily St. James said, "And yet 'South Park' is still trapped, to some degree, by having launched in 1997 ... it was a lot easier to let the show have its fun back then, without worrying about its cultural impact."

While there's nothing overtly wrong with Season 15, it was largely unfocused and lacked much of the comedic weight that many of the show's previous seasons pulled off. The season got off to an average start, with several jokes across its 14 episodes not landing very well. Despite its flaws, there are a few notable exceptions to the overall lackluster quality, with season standout "You're Getting Old" parodying the "Matrix" series across two episodes. After coming down with a severe case of depression amidst his parents divorce, Stan is told he's living in a simulation and finds himself going on an adventure directly parodying the 1999 sci-fi action film. 

After scene after scene of nonstop bloodshed, the two-part storyline ultimately comes to a conclusion with Stan turning to alcoholism to cope with the bleak nature of life.

In hindsight, the debut season of "South Park" was flawed to say the least. The season never quite managed to find its footing with its characters, and the lackluster animation pales in comparison to what the show would be able to pull off in seasons to come. Despite its imperfections, however, it laid the foundation for some of the most memorable episodes down the line, and proved popular enough with audiences to kick off the nearly 25-year cultural phenomenon we know today. James Endrst, in a 1997 Hartford Courant review, said the breakout series is: "Outrageously entertaining, devilishly original, and singularly warped."

The grim premises of the episodes "Death" and "Pinkeye" serve as season standouts, with an arc revolving around Eric Cartman's dubious paternity that would continue in Season 2. "Pinkeye" was the first season's highest rated episode.

Much like the season that came before it, Season 16 delivers on the satirical and irreverent tone "South Park" is known for, however the quality of episodes this time around can vary wildly for better or worse. While the majority are reminiscent of Season 15's fairly generic quality, a few in particular help elevate Season 16 above its predecessor.

Season 16 would be the last to contain more than 10 episodes, and while some of them bring little in the way of new and humorous ideas, two Cartman-centric episodes titled "Cartman Finds Love" and "Raising the Bar" give the season a couple picks that bring it to its middle of the road status. His infamously tactless personality is fully built on in these two, with the former "Cartman Finds Love" showing how comically-far he'll go to bring about his archaic perspective of the world, and the latter showcasing his complete disregard for the needs of others. While both episodes deal with some fairly sensitive topics, "South Park" lays them bare in a way that underscores their importance through its own blunt manner.

If it wasn't for Season 17's satirical combination of rampant consumerism and fantasy media, it would be ranked considerably lower on our list. The first half of "South Park's" 17th season was nothing special, consisting of primarily unremarkable stories with the occasional comedic moment.

The three part "Game of Thrones" parody, however, helps to elevate Season 17 from a lackluster entry into a solid choice, even if it is just for those three episodes. "Cleverly fusing elements of the Next-Gen Console War with HBO's 'Game of Thrones,' 'Black Friday' was easily one of the best 'South Park' episodes we've seen in Season 17," said Max Nicholson, IGN. The rivalry between the children of "South Park" over the launch of a new gaming console coincides with a huge Black Friday sale, with the three-part epic concluding in a crescendo of comically over-the-top violence.

"South Park's" 14th Season was another quality entry into the series' lengthy catalog. While it had a few misses, the season continued to build upon its history of mocking cultural trends and events, all while mixed with its signature sardonic style.

As you can tell by now, criticism of "South Park's" unrelentingly offensive stories are often hurled at series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. While typically resulting in minimal fallout for the animated comedy, episodes like "200" and "201" prove that the content on screen can go a little too far at times. Building off the plot surrounding their controversial Season 9 episode "Trapped in the Closet," Tom Cruise once again returns to South Park Colorado to rally support against the town, in some of just a few episodes that would ultimately receive widespread censorship.

The last season to air episodes in the '90s, "South Park" managed to truly find its footing by the third season. While not quite as great as some of the comedic genius that would soon come after, the well-established characters and backdrop set the stage for years to follow.

Production quality had greatly improved by season three which — combined with better developed plotlines — helped the series bear a much closer resemblance to what we know today. Episodes like "Rainforest Shmainforest" and the Pokemon parody "Chinpokomon" help the season stand out against the ones that came before it. Up until this point, "South Park" was mostly focused on telling stories contained in its own fictional world, with little-to-no references to the real world. These episodes would begin to incorporate some satirization of the culture and lifestyles outside of the town, letting it bleed into the narrative of the series and ultimately beginning the transformation into what the show is celebrated for today.

No stranger to controversy for its satirization of every conviction under the sun, "South Park's" 10th season would become another of its most contentious to date. Frequent religious parodies are interspersed with the standard slice-of-life fare that audiences are used to, managing to be just as comical as they are offensive.

The controversial nature of this season is intertwined with its predecessor, with the Season 9 episode "Trapped in the Closet" taking a jab at Scientology in as blunt a fashion as ever. Voice actor Isaac Hayes II, who had played the character of the elementary school's chef of the same name, publicly departed from the team behind "South Park" following its airing. Despite the hot water, writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone didn't balk at the criticism, airing the two-part episode "Cartoon Wars" just several months later, tackling the issues of censorship and freedom of speech in a matter-of-fact and hilarious way.

Season 4 kicked off what could be described as a golden age of "South Park," which would last some five seasons. Spanning from Seasons 4 through 8 and across nearly half a decade, this period is marked by many of the moments from "South Park" that have become iconic in pop culture some 20 years on.

Episodes like "Timmy 2000" helped broaden the range of characters in the series, which previously had been dominated by the relationship between the four boys and their family. The introduction of new characters like Timmy Burch would pave the way for future episodes such as Season 7's "Krazy Kripples," giving the show room to breathe and broaden the range of the satirical Colorado town. Further episodes like "Probably" dabbled in the heavy satirical elements that would define the show in the future. While Season 4 was one of the best audiences had seen at the time it aired, the truly great episodes were yet to come in the years that would follow. 

"South Park's" 5th season took the politically-charged nature of the world at the time and ran with it, tackling many of the most extreme topics in its own unapologetic way. Featuring many of the top-rated episodes of the entire series, Season 5 managed to fill its moderate 14-episode run without a single miss.

Some of the absolute best from Season 5 include the profanity-laden, "It Hits the Fan" as well as "Butters' Very Own Episode" highlighting the huge disparity between his childhood innocence and the truly dark adult world of "South Park." The true gem of the season, however, is the instant classic: "Scott Tenorman Must Die," which would go down as one of "South Park's" darkest storylines, and is also currently standing as the highest rated episode of the entire series (via IMDb).

And at last, here we are. With an incredibly strong 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it can't be disputed that Season 8 was the peak of "South Park." Absolutely packed with classic episodes, Season 8 embodies the essence of what makes the show so great. The consistent quality condenses some of the all-time best gags and plotlines in "South Park" into one unmatched season. While each and every installment is a cut above, there are a few in particular that have become legendary within the series.

Some of the best of the best include the gang maiming Butters with a shuriken weapon in the anime-styled "Good Times with Weapons," and Cartman tricking Butters into revealing his deepest and most embarrassing secrets to him in "AWESOM-O." Another standout that managed to become quite possibly "South Park's" most unexpectedly irreverent episode to date, an assortment of cute woodland creatures take advantage of Stan's trust, ultimately manipulating him into helping them birth the antichrist in "Woodland Critter Christmas." Peter Schorn, IGN, even went so far as to humorously say: "'Woodland Critter Christmas' is as likely as anything to guarantee Trey and Matt an express ticket to Hell."

All in all, while some of "South Park's" more recent ventures into adult comedy haven't been able to match the greatest moments of yesterday, it's worth respecting how many laughs the series has given us over the years. Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have proven they're more than capable of providing some of the best adult programming of the 21st century — it's exciting to see where the series will go from here some 25 years on from its humble beginnings.