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Post by Harrybutt on Mar 18, 2006 10:10:53 GMT -6
Sources from inside Paramount and South Park Studios report that parent company Viacom pulled last night's scheduled repeat of the high-rated "Trapped in the Closet" episode after the humorless Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise threatened to cancel all publicity for Mission Impossible:3 if Comedy Central aired the episode that satirizes Scientology and mocks his sexuality again.
Not only is this the first time that the South Park creators have been officially censored in their ten hit seasons with Comedy Central, Viacom officials also reportedly ordered Matt Stone and Trey Parker not to discuss the reason why their episode was cancelled.
The South Park boys are said to be angry, but will probably get revenge with the manner in which they deal with Scientologist Isaac Hayes' departure from the show.
Developing....
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Post by Harrybutt on Mar 18, 2006 10:23:22 GMT -6
Just found this:
South Park" battle over Scientology heats up
Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:23 AM GMT
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By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Tom Cruise threatened to boycott promotion of his upcoming Paramount Pictures film unless a sister cable TV network pulled a "South Park" rerun lampooning the Church of Scientology, industry sources said on Friday.
Representatives for Paramount and Cruise, a prominent Scientologist, denied he made any such threats or had anything to do with the Comedy Central network cancelling plans to air a repeat of the "South Park" episode titled "Trapped in the Closet," on Wednesday.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the crudely animated cartoon hit, issued a quirky statement, filled with references to Scientology and the science-fiction writings of church founder L. Ron Hubbard, suggesting Scientology was behind the scheduling ch-ch-change.
"So, Scientology, you have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun," the pair wrote.
"Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"
Instead of the Tom Cruise episode, the network aired reruns of two "South Park" episodes featuring the character Chef, voiced by veteran soul singer Isaac Hayes, also a Scientologist, who quit the show earlier this week.
Comedy Central, which like Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc., declined comment on the rerun switch, other than to say: "In light of the events of earlier this week, we wanted to give Chef an appropriate tribute by airing two episodes he is most known for."
CRUISE SPOKESMAN DENIES THREAT
Two industry sources familiar with the situation told Reuters Comedy Central pulled the "Trapped in the Closet" episode from its "South Park" rerun rotation after Cruise threatened to cease promotion of his upcoming Paramount film, "Mission: Impossible III."
Cruise spokesman Paul Bloch said neither the actor nor his representatives "had anything to do" with the scheduling of "South Park" reruns and that Cruise had never said to anyone he would refuse to promote his film. Paramount spokeswoman Janet Hill denied any knowledge of such a threat.
"South Park," heading into its 10th season next week as one of Comedy Central's biggest hits, centres on the antics of four foul-mouthed fourth-graders in a small Colorado town.
Outlandish religious satire has been a mainstay of the show since its debut in 1997, poking fun at Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists and Muslims. One early episode featured a martial-arts duel between Jesus and Santa Claus over the true meaning of Christmas.
While Hayes cited the show's ridicule of religion generally as his reason for leaving the series, Stone said in a statement on Monday the soul singer was specifically upset about the "Trapped in the Closet" episode, which first aired last fall.
In it, the character named Stan scores so high on a Scientology test that church followers think he is the next L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise is depicted locking himself in Stan's closet and then refusing repeated requests by various characters to "come out of the closet," including John Travolta, who eventually joins Cruise in the closet.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 18, 2006 10:45:20 GMT -6
Hb... love the thread... I bet the South Park gang has a new episode in the works on this already.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 18, 2006 10:46:29 GMT -6
You know... it just flashed to me that this message board is, in a lot of ways, like South Park.
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Post by Harrybutt on Mar 18, 2006 11:28:32 GMT -6
You know... it just flashed to me that this message board is, in a lot of ways, like South Park.  |
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Post by Chicago Jake on Mar 19, 2006 13:03:18 GMT -6
How so?
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 19, 2006 15:03:10 GMT -6
Just on the basis of major themes of topic matter, essentially uncensored content (in the case of the show, about as uncensored as it gets on 'basic' cable stations), and a list of characters whose traits could, without too much modification, be transferred over to members of this board.
I will put one caveat on this, the South Park characters are essentially male, and therefore the parallel is restricted in that sense.
I will admit to not being a big fan of the show, it just doesnt trip any triggers for me, but I have watched enough to get the general essence. I found the following character description from Wikipedia to be, in general, accurate... (the reader is invited to take the characteristics and them to members of this board, as they feel the interpretation fits)
Stanley "Stan" Marsh- Often the "straight man" of the group. Generally good natured and clear-thinking, he usually tries to come up with logical solutions to their outrageous situations. Stan acts as the alter-ego for creator, Trey Parker, and often summarizes the message or moral of the episode. He is best friends with Kyle and their relationship is central to many episodes.
Kyle Broflovski- High-strung, skeptical, and at times self-righteous — yet is the most easily influenced. Kyle is effectively the alter-ego of Matt Stone, who is ethnically Jewish, but unlike Kyle, is spiritually agnostic. Along with Stan, Kyle often provides a reasonable perspective on the crazy behavior of the adult world around them. Kyle is often depicted as the most moral member of the quartet.
Eric Theodore Cartman- Loosely inspired by Archie Bunker, and frequently the catalyst for the plot. He is campy, aggressive, sadistic, bigoted, spoiled, overweight, rude, and antagonistic. He regularly insults Kyle for being Jewish and Kenny for being poor. His pretentious and sociopathic ways, meanwhile, often causes him to regularly be disdained by the other boys, who don't quite know why they put up with him. Cartman commonly acts in a manner directly opposed to, or against, that of the other boys. He also demonstrates an uncanny ability as a businessman and leader. In many episodes he displays the ability to make money quickly, as well as to sway large groups of children or adults to pursue his goals.
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick- Comes from an extremely crude, poverty-stricken family. He is obsessed with sex and bathroom humor, both of which are his speciality when detailed information is required by the members of his group. His speech is difficult to understand due to his hood closed around his face, although all of his lines are real dialogue that are understood solely by Stan, Kyle and Eric. During the first five seasons Kenny served as the eternal victim, who is routinely killed in a number of grotesque ways meant to entertain during each episode, only to miraculously reappear alive in the next episode. At the end of Season 5, Kenny was more permanantly killed off and replaced in season 6 by Butters and Tweek as the boys 'fourth friend'. He later reappeared again in Season 7, and while he does not necessarily die in every episode any more, on occasion he still meets a harsh fatality. The show's earliest well-known gimmick, beginning in the first episode, was that in every episode, Kenny would unexpectedly die in some horrible way. After this, Stan would shout, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and Kyle would add, "You bastards!"
In recent seasons, three other characters have gained prominence:
Leopold "Butters" Stotch- (replaced Kenny as a main character during the first part of the Season 6. Though Kenny was brought back for the 7th season, Butters has remained prominent). Nervous, naive, easily manipulated, and repressed — while at the same time remains ironically optimistic, and sometimes insightful. He is often callously punished by his overbearing and oppressive parents, and is meanwhile blatantly vilified, taken advantage of and/or disregarded by Cartman, Stan, and Kyle. Adding to the tragic nature of his character, his birthday is September 11. Butters has also adopted the alter ego of Professor Chaos, the costume inspired by Doctor Doom, and has a sidekick called General Disarray. His character is based on Director of Animation Eric Stough.
Tweek- (replaced Butters during the second part of the Season 6): Spastic and neurotic, Tweek generally wants to be left alone. He also suffers from ADHD (referred to as its accepted variant ADD in the show). His problems are often glossed over by his very docile, Hallmark commercial-esque coffee-shop-owning parents (whose constant supply of coffee is most likely the source of their son's jilty behavior). Although initially touted as one of the leading supporting characters, he has since been upstaged by the more viewer-popular Butters and has returned to playing a minor role.
Timmy- A schoolmate confined by disability to a wheelchair. He has a limited vocabulary, usually only consisting of his own name, Jimmy's name, his pet turkey's name, "Gobbles", "And the lords of the underworld", and other assorted gibberish. On occasion, has managed a few other words. As a standing joke, he was misdiagnosed with ADD. He was featured in the 4th grade beginning theme which replaced the original theme during the 4th season. He also replaced Kenny in the theme song in season 6 when Kenny remained dead for an entire season.
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Post by The guest on Mar 25, 2006 22:36:27 GMT -6
Do you think at THIS point Katie is saying "Oh My God - I have this man's child in MY uterous!" Or has little Catholic Katie from Ohio already been indoctrinated into Scientology? Seems that way. Poor kid, I remember in my 20s falling in love within 6 months (even recently), then later realizing 'what, am I an idiot?" and moving on. But he so publicized their relationship, and after all, he's "Tom Cruise", then impregnanted her, I'm sure she has little recourse but to continue the relationship and make the best of it. Imagine the position she would be in if she tried to end it. He has way more money, and 'power' then she; in a split, I'm certain he would try to take the child. I'm sorry, but I hate Tom Cruise. Never saw the attraction (even before he was an idiot). I don't understand how he still has so much sway over the studios, for most actors, acting like he has would be a liability.
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