The Purest Episode of TV: How South Park Nails Escalation

Modern TV has a problem. In 2008, South Park put to air what I would contend is one of the best structured episodes of

television ever written. In fact, I'd argue it might be the purest episode of television and comedy ever. It also puts

into perspective pretty much everything wrong with TV today. Not just [music] comedy, but writing on TV in general.

What happens when a show is able to take one [music] joke and make it the only thing that matters? It may not be your

favorite episode of South Park or even a show you like, but once you've seen how this episode is structured under the

hood, it might change how you look at your favorite show. >> Welcome to Pioneer Village. This is a

recreation of early Colorado days. I want you all to meet Pioneer Paul. >> This is the season 12 episode titled

Super Fun Time. I have pretty much always loved this episode and it is deceptively simple at first. The kids

are going to visit a Pioneer Village. They are not excited. So, the setup. This is the part most shows tend to get

right at least most of the time. This episode almost immediately establishes two rules for itself. Rule number one,

the Pioneer Village employees cannot break character. Which at first seems like a simple joke and you have no idea

why it matters. This is a good setup because it's framed like a joke. It doesn't feel like setup. And rule two,

Butters cannot let go of Cartman's hand until they are back on the bus. A simple character joke that becomes the entire

engine for the plot. Because Cartman wants to go >> Super fun time.

>> You know that they are poor writing everyone talks about South Park having? This is it on display. Butters can't let

go of Cartman. Cartman wants to go here. Therefore, he must bring Butters. But that's not what matters. What matters is

South Park understands how important it is to stay simple. You've just gotten the entire plot because unlike lesser

shows, every single major development comes from its characters now dealing with and never breaking those rules. But

that's the easy [music] part. It's the next word so much TV gets wrong now. >> Because when I think it is clear to

leave, we will now need to take hostages with us to ensure our goods get to their final destination.

>> You want to know what's killed sitcoms and most of TV in general? Escalation. See, most shows are going to do exactly

what South Park does next [music] and then fall apart. Super Fun Time splits its two narratives, plot A, subplot B. A

story, armed robbers arrive after heisting at good old Burger King and take everyone hostage. B story, Cartman

drags an unwilling Butters here. A lot of TV today knows it must have an A and B plot, but doesn't care about why or

how they interact at [music] all. So, you get bored by one or the other feels like some kind of unrelated sketch.

Here, no, sir. [music] We have on the surface completely different stakes. Story A, people might

literally die. Story B, Cartman might not get to have fun because Butters is holding his hand and they might get

caught and in trouble. The episode uses that huge disparity as part of the comedy. That's part of the joke. More

important is that both plots are about the exact [music] same thing, unreasonable commitment to arbitrary

rules. I was told not to let go. I was told not to break character. Variations [music] are pretty much the same

dramatic idea and then we get back to that word, the boogeyman of bad TV, escalation. Neither story, no character

will compromise these rules even when the circumstances are making the rule obviously insane. A lot of TV today

escalates its episodes and ideas by making them increasingly complicated or worse, changing them as they go, just

twisting the plot. That leads to the idea itself being lost and the escalation not being of any impact

because it becomes diversion. It's not funny or scary or tense. Instead, Super Fun Time does this. Rule, employees

won't break character. Escalation, what makes that rule increasingly difficult to follow.

That's it. Kids play along, ask normal questions, they don't break. Haha, funny. Criminals arrive, they don't

break. Funnier. Criminals need info, employees pretend to not understand modern technology, they can't open a

safe. This is a special circumstance that is Now the escalation is also a plot obstacle.

Criminals threaten them, still don't break. Funnier. People can die now, still won't break. The rules, the

premise, the joke, never changes, just the consequences do. That's escalation. They're not sitting around the writers

table inventing new jokes >> [music] >> because they don't know where to take

the plot or the characters. Instead, they simply keep making the original joke harder to maintain. Shows don't do

this a lot today because it's hard. It's not the easy way out. >> [music]

>> And then, the B plot. A perfect mirror. Same thing. Cartman wants to leave, holding hands. Cartman wants to play,

holding hands. Something bad is happening and they need to get back, holding hands. Cartman is completely

incapacitated, holding hands. And instead of randomness, the joke ends when it reaches its logical conclusion.

But, but, another way that I personally have felt a little unfulfilled by modern TV is in how it ends its episodes or

stories. >> These spider village workers are really committed to their job.

>> Super Fun Time is structurally perfect in this regard. And again, kind of a look at what's not happening on a lot of

today's TV shows. Here's how most shows end. >> [music]

>> A story ends, B story ends. And sometimes, they at least all end up at the same dinner table, figuratively.

Super Fun Time ends a bit differently. [music] I'll show you. Cartman and Butters see

the police surrounding Pioneer Village, but because they don't know about the hostage situation, they assume the cops

are there because they bounced from the field trip. Play a little hooky. So, they decide they have to sneak back

inside. What you have right there is well-written irony because the audience knows there are armed criminals in

there. >> [music] >> Cartman thinks, "We're going to get in

trouble for having a super fun time." So, the low-stakes B story voluntarily walks directly into the high-stakes

[music] A story. And then we get the payoff. This is where the structure of this episode

looks so simple on paper, but works so well. Unlike way too much modern TV, A plot plus B plot equals climax. That's a

very simple equation. An equation completely ignored by far too much of this medium. Here's how well it works.

>> [music] >> Butters, you are not TO LET GO OF ERIC'S hand until you are BOTH BACK ON THAT

BUS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? >> FIRST, the why it works is because everything established earlier becomes

relevant. Set up, Pioneer employees never break character. Payoff, [music] they refuse to provide information that

could literally save their lives. Set up, it's 1864. Payoff, [music] Stan eventually figures out how to

communicate within their fictional reality. He doesn't convince them to break the rule, remember our good old

rules, he solves the problem using the rule established at the beginning of the episode. That's much better writing than

we found the solution outside of the problem. >> [music]

>> Looking at you again, modern TV. Set up, Butters must hold Cartman's hand until they're on the bus. Payoff, even

after everything that's happened, he drops an unconscious Cartman back on the bus.

Only then does he let go. And then, there's an additional payoff that almost mocks the entire episode. And it works.

>> Uh listen, if anyone still wants to know, the phone is in the administration building, you dial nine to get out, and

there's actually a back exit behind the horse troughs. >> Because we're still in the same joke.

Once the work day officially ends, the Pioneer Village employees simply drop character, explain where the phone and

exit are, and start talking about going to TGI Fridays. Probably for some potato skins, which means they could have

solved almost everything in this episode problematic at any time. But the rules [music] mattered more. That's the final

escalation of the premise. If you ever wondered how South Park can produce an episode so fast, the sixth day,

whatever, it's because they understand how to get everything out of one idea. You can boil Super Fun Time script down

to a sentence. It's not complicated. [music] >> Ah, man. I can't wait to see the look on

Kyle's face when we tell him we had Super Fun Time while he was at the dumb Pioneer Village.

>> This episode is an incredibly simple story from writers with an incredible amount of confidence. You know they're

writing with confidence because it generates its own complexity. It's not tossing complexity on top of its story

to hide a bad idea or a lackluster one or a script that just didn't know where to go. South Park manages to turn jokes

into plot. It doesn't use jokes to replace plot. A problem in a lot of movies. This problem for modern TV

though is not just a comedy one. Horror using effects or jump scares to replace plot, sci-fi over complications to cover

up bad characters, and so on. A strong episode, strong film, strong script, a strong premise doesn't need constant

invention. It needs escalation. Escalation that grows out of its idea. The one that was built on to begin with.

Too much modern TV and modern media is outside hiring its escalation so to speak. Bringing in new, completely

different blood to create something watchable because their idea ran out of juice or they didn't know how to mine

it. It doesn't work. South Park only needs one joke, one idea to work. A lot of shows could stand to be a lot more

like Super Fun Time and a lot more like its characters. Stick to the plan, stay the course. At one point in time you

thought you had a good idea. So, stay in it. If your idea is good, it will work. And then they can go to TGI Friday's.

>> We did it, guys. Let's go to TGI Friday's and get SOME JALAPEñO POPPERS. >> YEAH, LET'S GO.

>> ALL RIGHT. >> OH, YEAH. JALAPEñO POPPERS. >> LET'S GO.

>> WELL, that is it for today's episode of Nowhere to Land. If you enjoyed this one, hit that like button down below. If

you haven't done so, hit subscribe. I am curious what you think right now the best show on television airing is. And

as always, this has been >> Pushing till [music] we overflow, that's just how the story goes.

Yeah. Yeah, it is Yeah. [music] >> Pushing till we overflow, that's just

how the story goes. >> Hey. >> Pushing till we over