Best animated TV show?

[John Galt]

whats funny is mohammed is one of the ["]super best friends[" on the show "South Park"] and was shown completely [as opposed to censored in later episodes] before it became a bigger thing to threaten (and follow through on threats) to kill cartoonists depicting mohammed[, for example http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ja ... axe-attack or maybe this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_G ... m_director) -- basically, once it's out in the wild, you can't control it. muslims will just go into homicidal rage if you make fun of their charlatan, or even just draw him not doing anything, just standing there]

(then i posted videos from south park showing mohammed)

[broken robot]

Ok, not sure how that's "funny" or how you're playing off my previous post--your bait attempt is still muddled--but basically none of that contradicts what I said earlier which is in the Western countries it's not taboo to draw pictures of the Prophet Muhammad. South Park's not being witty and subversive--meaning, critiquing the norms of its own culture--unless you believe mainstream public opinion in the Western countries is citing religious tolerance or whatever as a defense of death threats against writers and artists.

It's not an interesting point to say here "You shouldn't physically threaten or kill people over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad." That's not a controversial statement. So making light of "Muslim rage" as South Park attempts to do is again a weak excuse for humor and simply reinforces our own ambiguous, historically decontextualized notions that "THEY" are barbarous and "WE" are civilized. It's playing up, not subverting, the dominant processes of racial othering in our culture, just like any non-satirical use of stereotypes.

The argument "haha, it's funny just because it's offensive to someone" isn't an good analysis of humor, it's too often a lazy justification for people anxious to preserve their self-righteous sense of power and entitlement. Yeah, f**k the world. WE'RE AMERICANS!

This is probably for a different topic so assuming Galt has a retort mods can split this thread and I'll discuss it elsewhere.

[OGPhilly]

[OGPhilly]

[Nico]

1. Futurama
2. Family Guy
3. Spongebob
4. Dragonball Z
5. Ben Ten
6. Powerpuff girls
.
.
.
100. King of the Hill

[The Comrade]

king of the hill is awesome. although i can understand why a foreigner wouldn't find it funny.

[Yossarian]

You're nuts, King of the Hill was a great show for many years.

A lot of people never gave that show enough of a chance, I think, because they assume that the main characters reflected the show's ideal audience. In reality, it's a very well written show that satirizess the bizarreness of American life. I still think the concept of a character such as Hank Hill is brilliant. A red-blooded all-American honest and hard-working family man who is so straight laced that he's actually very strange.

[broken robot]

Yeah, I mean it should be obvious that it's a satire of Hank, not an actual reflection of the audience. The dude is clearly uptight, "close the bathroom door, WAGGHHHH". My guess is that King of the Hill's a bit slower so people get impatient, but it's one of those shows that rewards it loyal viewers with sense of character development and depth. Dale's probably my favorite character, "Rusty Shackleford"

[OGPhilly]

Rusty Shackleford was such an awesome running gag. In college I used to use that name all the time if I was supposed to sign up for something to get a free reward. I used the address of an abandoned rowhouse in north philly, the primary residence and shipping/billing address of one Rusty Shackleford. I'm sure countless pieces of junk mail were sent to Rusty at that abandoned house.

[The Comrade]

hahaha i use the name for stuff too. like things i want to sign up for or need a name for but won't be tied to something verifiable like a credit card.