['South Park' - 'It's a Jersey Thing']

As a New Jersey native, I should have been really offended by tonight's episode of 'South Park.' Sadly, I was laughing too hard to notice. When the creators get an episode right, there is nothing else on television quite like it; it's very in-your-face satire.

Obviously, this episode was lampooning Jersey-based reality shows, such as 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' and 'Jersey Shore,' which seem to paint everybody from the state in a bad light. (Of course, most of the 'Jersey Shore' cast are from Staten Island but that's irrelevant to the title of that show.)

For those curious about "muff cabbage", it's a fairly crude term. If you really need to know what a "muff cabbage" is, you can find the answer here. Warning: not safe for work.

It's very consistent for the character of Sheila Broflovski to be from New Jersey, even though her accent seems more Brooklyn (which is where I figured she was from until now). The only vague mention of her place of origin was in 'South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,' when she gave her reasons for moving to Colorado in song.

The following is from a New Jersey resident: Given that Gerald is an attorney (and presumably a decent one), it seems unlikely that they would have lived in Newark. They would have lived more likely in a Jewish-friendly suburb nearby like Montclair, Livingston or Short Hills. However, if they did actually live in Newark, I could see why they'd want to get the hell out and move west as quickly as possible before Kyle was born. Some of Sheila's song lyrics in the 'South Park' movie were "the world is such a rotten place and city life is a complete disgrace." Yup, that's Newark.

Cartman remained consistent to his character by first conspiring against Kyle and then crying like a bitch when Kyle fought back. He even got a little bit of sympathy from yours truly when Snooki started to rape him.

We haven't seen the Osama Bin Laden character since the 9/11 episode of 'South Park' almost 10 years ago. This show really walks a line between humor and bad taste and the site of Al-Qaeda crashing a bunch a jetliners into the crowds of Jersey-type people really came close to crossing that line. Would it have been as funny if they had to fight back an invasion from 'The Hills?' Probably.

Even the show itself acknowledged how close they came to that line by saying (about 9/11 victims) "Their feelings matter for another 10 months." This time frame, of course, coincides with the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. Trey and Matt have never been hesitant about making 9/11 jokes. They somewhat made up for it by shooting Bin Laden at the end of the episode.




Episode Highlights:

• The 'Teen Wolf' segment as Kyle transformed into a 'Jersey Shore' character.
• One word: Snooki.
• "It seems all people from New Jersey do is hump and punch."
• Kyle is the three J's - Jewish, Jersey and Ginger.
• "We fight discrimination. It's a Jersey thing."
• The conversation with the Governor of California.
• "Fine, but you Japs will all be eating hoagies in a month!"
• Randy torturing The Situation.
• "Snookie wants smoosh-smoosh."
• "Stop playing stupid!" "Maybe he is that stupid." "Nobody is that stupid."
• KYLEY-B
• The 'Les Miserables' segment against the hordes of Jersey-folk.
• "New Jersey is receding to the desolate land from whence it came."


Tonight's episode probably also had many other references to those Jersey-based reality television shows. Feel free to mention them in the comments if I missed any of importance. I really don't watch those programs. It's a Jersey thing.