South Park: The Complete Tenth Season

"Don't tick off Cartman" have always been words to live by on South Park, but if the brilliant and audacious 10th season of 14 episodes aired in 2006 teaches us anything, it's this: Don't tick off series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Following the brouhaha over Tom Cruise's alleged role in blocking reruns of the now infamous “Trapped in the Closet” episode on Comedy Central, and Scientologist Isaac Hayes' subsequent acrimonious departure from the series, Parker and Stone responded with "The Return of Chef," in which “some fruity little club” is blamed for brainwashing Chef and turning him into a child molester. So, time has not softened South Park, but rather emboldened it. Parker and Stone touch on such hot button issues as evolution (the two-part “Go God Go”) and the Muhammad cartoon controversy (the two-part “Cartoon Wars,” which is now better known as the episode in which Parker and Stone take on Family Guy). The Emmy Award-winning episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” is a visual tour de force in which Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny immerse themselves in the world of the addictive video game. Just like the many viewers who tune in to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to get their satirical take on the day's news, South Park fans eagerly await Parker and Stone's perspective on the zeitgeist. This three-disc set obliges with episodes that address a teacher/student sex scandal (“Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy”), electric cars (“Smug Alert”), MTV's vacant My Super Sweet 16 (“Hell on Earth 2006,” in which Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy somehow become the Three Stooges), Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan working his magic on Cartman (“Tsst”), and even 9/11 conspiracy theories (“Mystery of the Urinal Deuce”). One cannot even begin to synopsize “A Million Little Fibers,” South Park's obscene take on the James Frey scandal (suffice to say, it involves Oprah and her, um, private parts). Brief but lively audio commentaries by Parker and Stone put each episode into context. You've heard the expression, “Don't go there?” South Park is located smack dab in the middle of “there.” Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)