User blog:CraigTuckerFan86/What happened?

Don't get me wrong, I still love South Park, but what happened to it? The show's earlier seasons feel drastically different from how it is nowadays. Although there are plenty of good modern day episodes, others are pretty bad. Nowadays the show just feels like a current events-based Dramedy in serialization rather than an episodic light-hearted (though vulgar) sitcom about kids being kids.

I'm not kidding. The show nowadays feels like too much of a Dramedy; piano/dramatic music plays in a scene every 5 seconds. What happened to the bluegrass guitar melody that always played when the boys were shown at the bus stop or when we were transitioning from one scene to another? The piano/dramatic music that plays just makes me sick.

Another things is how much the characters have changed. Now they're all politically correct and abandoned their old ways. The boys used to screw around and just act like kids, such as performing politically incorrect stunts like throwing cow turds at cars or TPing their art teacher's house, but nowadays they would frown upon things like that. I can't believe they let an Internet troll affect their lives throughout Season 20; in early seasons they wouldn't have given a damn.

What characters have changed? Well, Cartman went from being a hilarious asshole who always picked on everyone (especially Kyle) to an overly nice guy in Season 20, though this one doesn't bother me that much since it gave him a girlfriend in the process and I admit they are a cute couple. Kyle went from a Jewish boy who always suffered from Cartman's antics to an overly political guy. Stan and Kenny are still okay, but the former's girlfriend went from being Stan's innocent little crush with a sqeuaky voice to an overly political bitchy activist who can't get used to the boys' political incorrectness. Butters went from an innocent, naive goody-goody to a potty-mouthed 8 year old.

Another thing bugs me is the serialized format nowadays. They may have had continuous storylines prior, such as Season Six dealing with the aftermath of Kenny's death, but in those instances it was handled right. In early seasons, the show always had a reset button so the next episode could start over, but that's not the case nowadays. Today it's just a current events-based Dramedy in serialization. Other adult animated series like The Simpsons or Family Guy aren't based on currents nor are they considered Dramedy nowadays; why can't Trey and Matt follow the pattern of other adult animated series nowadays? South Park wouldn't rot if it went back to its old ways. I know television shows change over time, but I don't their genres are ever supposed to.

Overall, I still like South Park today, but these are just the problems the show has these days.