Production Blog

This is the production blog, where you can find notes from the Executive Producer, and the Production Assistant on duty the night before the show airs.

Season:

13.5
13
12.5
12
11.5
11
10.5
10
9.5

November 3, 2009

Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant:

We make South Park in house with American animators. We do not send the show out of the country to be animated. There is nothing wrong with outsourcing Animation. Koreans and Indians have the right to work on projects just as much as we do. In fact I feel bad for them because they have to work on Family Guy

But, as I said before, South Park does do all of its animation in-house. We do almost everything right here in our very own studio as most of you fans already know. It's a unique set up that requires all of that fancy computer equipment in the photos you just saw. We also need JJ to manage all that gear, and to keep JJ on top of his game, we need Lucky Charms as well.

Let's review. We have an incredible render farm, over 180 servers, terabytes of data storage and mega-power back up capabilities on which the show depends. All this high tech equipment and more is maintained by JJ, who is the head of our IT department. And JJ loves lucky charms. We can conclude then, that if we don't have Lucky Charms in the South Park kitchen at all times , the franchise is not safe. And it’s my job to make damn sure we have that bogus emerald isle cavity-causing breakfast treat.

See, I’m important after all. My mom was right.

-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant

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October 27, 2009

Kenny Lane, Production Assistant:

Welcome back, South Park-ophiles!

Congratulations are in order, for we have reached the middle of the run. I would like to personally thank each and every member of NATO for making this possible.

But I don’t have time for that, so let’s get down to business.

I can honestly say that tomorrow’s episode is my favorite episode of this season. I would even say it’s the best South Park episode of the past three seasons. I would go further and say it’s the better than any episode in seasons 1, 5, and 7, but not quite as good as episodes from seasons 3, 9, and 10. And it’s just as good as any of the great episodes from seasons 2, 4, 6, and 8.

Let me just say this- It’s better than the first 3 seasons of Simpsons, and just as good as the 5th season of Seinfeld. It’s even better than the original Scarface and just as good as the remake with Al Pacino. It’s just as good as Alien and Aliens, and way better than Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection.

Hopefully that gives you some perspective on how great the episode will turn out. No? It didn’t? Well, let me just say that it’s just as good as The Great Gatsby and better than The Sun Also Rises.

Anyway, this week, to get into the spirit of the season the office has been decked out with a variety of spooky props. Including:

Skeletons

Pumpkins

Possessed Marionettes

Well, gotta go. The entire staff is about to pull off an elaborate choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller and I don’t want to miss out.

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October 20, 2009

David Madson, Production Assistant:
This WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY! WEDNESDAY! The GREATEST show! The most BRUTAL of fourth graders! The BIGGEST event in the history of pro wrestling will happen…in the most PODUNK of mountain towns! (fireworks) Prepare your sorry butts for non-stop action as our boys in South Park take on the world of wrestling! Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and all the rest have never been so utterly awesome! It’s the ULTIMATE experience as this ULTIMATE Wednesday South Park airs one half hour of ULTIMATE ULTIMACY.

Also this week we celebrate big boss man, Trey Parker’s birthday with a totally savage Acura cake! Here are a few pics to satisfy the eyes! HELL YEAH!

This is a once in lifetime opportunity to see your favorite characters unleash the beast! Be there or be smashed into squirming piles of wussified scum, sliced, diced and prepped twenty minutes for total annihilation!

ULTIMATE XXOO!

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October 13, 2009

Steve Rippin, Production Assistant:

Good evening South Parksters. It is I, PA Steve, and I bring you good news. A new episode of your favorite show is airing tomorrow night! Matt, Trey and the crew are hard at work and I’m here writing to you, which can almost count as hard at work. It’s been a busy week #2 here. Luckily we weren’t haunted by the ghosts of David Carradine or Billy Mays after last week’s episode. Michael Jackson already lives here so we’re used to him “sha-moan-ing” around.

In other news, it rained today in Southern California. Now I know most of you readers think that rain does not warrant a mention in the blog but, I am from the east coast and there have been times where I can’t recall a sunny day in recent memory. Well today it rained here and I don’t think it has rained in So Cal since February so there’s that fun fact of the day… my rain dance worked.

Where was I? Hmmmm….oh yes! The rain. I love rain and our slightly leaky roof. Rain is like sunshine only wet…and cloudy. I will say this though; rainy days must inspire Matt and Trey because the writer’s room was a buzz today with great ideas for tomorrow night… I’m not sure if they were doing the rain dance, but they were definitely doing the comedy dance!!! It’s raining comedy all over this office!!!

Oh boy…it’s late and I have to get back to reading about the red sox and patriots losing in the same day and getting made fun of by just about everyone in South Park for it. Enjoy the episode tonight and for those of you who can’t wait for the show please enjoy the picture of a ninja turtle farting music!

- PA Steve

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October 6, 2009

Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant:

It's been about 5 months since the last episode of South Park If you ask me as a fan, I'd say that's far too long of a break. But, If you ask me as a crew-member, I'd defend our hiatus to the the death (of someone else, obviously.)

A South Park runs means seven weeks without weekends, without outside friends, no home cooked meals, or helicopter adventures with a Filipino friend who solves mysteries. We, deserve our summer off! But, I suppose all of us fans have a little bit of the same desperation for more South Park that Cartman had when he wanted the Nintendo Wii to come out.

The PAs

Good news: This morning us PAs bought 100 dollars worth of Jack in the Box plus we spent over 100 dollars in milk, fruit, yogurts, and pastries. We had a large catered lunch from a brazilian restaurant as well as a delicious catered Italian meal for dinner. A few hours later a I will go back to the supermarket and pick up about 150 dollars worth of snacks. Close to midnight we will set up a spread of delicious breakfast burritos and soup. There are only two possible conclusions to draw from this. Either the Bulimic Support Group we share our building with have relapsed, or a brand new episode of South Park will air tomorrow!

The Food

Fans can revel in one good constant in our world since August of 1997: South Park.
Big Gay Al said it best in his fabulous USO number in the beloved South Park movie, (which is coming out on Blue Ray on Oct. 16th, so get ready to buy it!)

“Since then, bombs have still been falling, people have still been dying, politicians have still been lying, and cancer has still been killing.” But, we could always watch South Park, unless of course you were killed by a bomb or cancer. In the past 13 years, South Park has given to society such great episodes as "Fat Butt and Pancake Head," "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers," and my personal favorite "Scott Tenorman Must Die." There are too many classic episodes to mention here but for the next seven weeks on Wednesdays at 10 PM, all of us fans will ignore the greater problems of the world and feel super!

-Nathan R. Chaffetz, Production Assistant.

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