Many, many times, I dip into TeeVee offerings and find them depressingly vacuous. That's especially true of "quality" productions made in the BBC tradition. Only "Singing Detective" impressed me, indeed really grabbed me.
But I am almost always blown away by South Park episodes, at least the ones that are recommended to me.
This is the first of a recent batch, and the most highly recommended by a reader. Its because of the Isacc Hayes bit. For years and years, South Park has bitten hard on the stupidities of society, especially the obvious candidates: sex, politics, religion.
Hayes has happily participated. Until now, when his "religion" is the target.
What's in this is almost incidental. Its how it is presented that's cool, and what impresses me about the creators of this. Its so light and offhand. Death, for instance, is as casual as turning on a light. It isn't that strange things happen and are underscored as strange, its that strange and terrible things happen and are underscored as not strange.
So when you have something from real life that's strange and it is inserted in an episode, the power of anticriticism is so much more powerful. I saw this with a similar episode on Mormons and the difference is striking.
Scientology is based on a fabricated myth and it rips off its devotees. Mormons have a similar fabricated truth but manage to have to have built something healthy as religions go.
So smooth. It used to be Doonesbury and Bloom County and Gary Larson where we'd go for this. Now its here. These guys matter.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.