'''''
South Park''''' is a Peabody Award- and Emmy Award-winning American animated television series created, written and voiced by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Distributed by and airing on Comedy Central since 1997, it follows the adventures of four grade school boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. The show emulates stop motion cutout animation which was the original form of animation for the show but has since been replaced by computer animation using CorelDraw. ''
South Park'' satirizes (sometimes surreally) many aspects of American culture and current events, and challenges deep-seated convictions and taboos, usually employing parody and black comedy. The series is known for its characteristically blunt handling of current events and its pop-culture parody. The animated series has brought on angry critics, from religious groups to those who claim ''
South Park'' is morally offensive, and sometimes anti-American.
The first half of ''
South Park'''s tenth season ended on May 3, 2006, and the second half will begin to air on October 4. Since Season 4, each season has aired in roughly two parts (the first in Spring and the second in Autumn). After the second half of Season 10, two more seasons of ''
South Park'' are scheduled for production, allowing the series to run until at least 2009. This would make ''
South Park'' the second longest-running animated series in US television history, after ''The Simpsons''. In March 2005, ''
South Park'' hit the number three spot in the ''100 Greatest Cartoons'', losing to ''Tom and Jerry'' at number two and ''The Simpsons'' at number one
[http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/cartoons/results.html Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons].
Series history
'' South Park'' began in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, then film students at the University of Colorado, created an animated short called ''Jesus vs. Frosty''. The crudely-made film featured prototypical versions of the kids of ''
South Park'', including a character resembling Cartman but called 'Kenny' and an unnamed character that resembles Kyle bringing a murderous snowman to life with a magic hat.
thumb|230px|left|The creators of ''
South Park'', Matt Stone and Trey Parker
Executives at FOX saw the movie, and in 1995, executive Brian Graden commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film to send to friends as a video Christmas card. Titled ''The Spirit of Christmas'', it closely resembled the style of the later series, and featured a martial arts duel and subsequent truce between Jesus and Santa Claus (two characters who have since been recurring characters in the series) over the true meaning of Christmas. This video was
