All Time South Park Episode Bracket

On a number of nights I have found myself tweeting with various people on the greatness of whatever South Park Episode happens to be on that night.  South park is set to begin it's 18th season in a few weeks.  As of right now there have been 247 episodes.  For the bracket I have narrowed them down to what I deem the best 64.  There were some very tough omissions.  The four most notable were Red Hot Catholic Love, You Got F'd in the A, Le Petit Tourette and Informative Murder Porn.

How I arranged the bracket:

1.  I went through each season episode guide and picked episodes I thought were great or particularly funny.  I also wanted to have at least 1 episode per season.  My personal opinion is South Park did not really take off until season 4 or season 5, but I have included a few early episodes that I particularly liked or were very culturally relevant at the time.

2.  I broke the bracket down into 4 groups I thought would divide the episodes fairly well.  Those groups are the Eric Cartman Bracket, The Randy Marsh and Butters Bracket, The Religion and Politics Bracket and the Everything Bracket.  There are multiple episodes in other groups that could probably go in the Eric Cartman Bracket (For instance Cartman's story in Imaginationland is probably my favorite non Scott Tenorman Cartman story), but I tried to make the brackets as even as possible. 

3.  I seeded the brackets based on how well received I thought all the episodes were.  For tiebreakers I put my own personal favorites slightly higher, but I tried to be somewhat objective in my seeding of the brackets.  There are episodes that I personally love that I may vote to go far, but I don't think other people like as much as I may.  Favorites are largely personal and I did not want the seeding in the bracket to just reflect my own personal preference.

4.  For multiple episodes that cover 1 plot I combined them into one episode for Bracket purpose.  That may give an unfair advantage to something like Imaginationland or Cartoon Wars, but I think it is hard to separate these episodes and view them individually.  Additionally, when you see the by season distribution breakdown I will note where one of those episodes was actually a multi-part episode.  A three part episode when rating the strength of the season is worth three episodes for the season as a whole (on that note season 17 was a particularly strong season compared to the few seasons prior).

5.  I did not include the movie.  These rankings are purely based on the television show.  The movie was great.  It's an awesome achievement and hilarious throughout.  I still cannot believe they have not brought back "The Mole" for a guest appearance on the show.  That guy killed me.  That said, i just did not think it was fair to include it.  The show and movie are doing different things. 

Distribution of Episodes by Season:

Season 1:  1
Season 2:  1
Season 3:  3
Season 4:  2
Season 5:  4
Season 6:  6
Season 7:  5
Season 8:  5
Season 9:  8
Season 10:  5, One of which is a 2 part episode
Season 11:  4, One of which is a 3 part episode
Season 12:  4
Season 13:  4
Season 14:  3, One of which is a 3 part episode
Season 15:  3
Season 16:  2
Season 17:   3, One of which is a 3 part episode

I would say from this distribution the peak of the series is season 9, 10 and 11, which seems pretty accurate to me.  Those were 3 incredible seasons of South Park. 

The Bracket:

Randy Marsh and Butters Bracket:

1.  The Losing Edge (Season 9, Episode 5)

16.  Marjorine (Season 9, Episode 9)

8.  The Death of Eric Cartman (Season 9, Episode 6)

9.  Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow (Season 9, Episode 8) 

4.  Professor Chaos (Season 6, Episode 6)

13.  Medicinal Fried Chicken (Season 14, Episode 3)

5.  T.M.I. (Season 15, Episode 4)

12.  My Future Self N’ Me (Season 6, Episode 16)

  

2.  Make Love Not Warcraft (Season 10, Episode 8)

15.  More Crap (Season 11, Episode 9)

7.  Consul Wars Trilogy (Season 17, Episodes 7-9) 

10.  The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs (Season 14, Episode 2)

3.  With Apologies to Jesse Jackson (Season 11, Episode 1)

14.  I’m a Little Bit Country (Season 7, Episode 4….100^th episode)

6.  Butters’ Very Own Episode (Season 5, Episode 14)

13.  Butters’ Bottom Bitch (Season 13, Episode 9)

    

     

Religion and Politics Bracket:

1.  Trapped in the Closet (Season 9, Episode 12)

16.  It Hits the Fan (Season 5, Episode 1)

8.  About Last Night (Season 12, Episode 12)

9.  Crack Baby Athletic Association (Season 15, Episode 5)

4.  Mystery of the Urinal Deuce (Season 10, Episode 9)

13.  The Return of Chef (Season 10, Episode 1)

5.  Christian Rock Hard (Season 7, Episode 9)

12.  Rainforest Shmainforest (Season 3, episode 1)

2.  All About Mormons (Season 7, Episode 12)

15.  The Wacky Molestation Adventure (Season 4, Episode 16)

7.  Dances with Smurfs (Season 13, Episode 13)

10.  Best Friends Forever (Season 9, Episode 4)

3.  The Passion of the Jew (Season 8, Episode 3)

14.  Ginger Cow (Season 17, Episode 6)           

6.  Woodland Critter Christmas (Season 8, Episode 14)

11.  Goodbacks (Season 8, Episode 7)

Eric Cartman Bracket:

1.   Scott Tenorman Must Die (Season 5, Episode 4)

16.  Cartman’s Mom is a Dirt Slut (Season 1, episode 13)

8.  Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy (Season 10, Episode 10)

9.  Cartman Sucks (Season 11, Episode 2)

4.  Kenny Dies (Season 5, Episode 13)

13.  Fatbeard (Season 13, Episode 7)

     

5.  Awesom-O (Season 8, Episode 5)

12.  Die Hippie Die (Season 9, Episode 2)

2.  Ginger Kids (Season 9, Episode 11)

15.  Fat Camp (Season 4, Episode 15)

7.  Cartmanland (Season 5, Episode 6)

10.  Fishsticks (Season 13, Episode 5)

3.  Casa Bonita (Season 7, Episode 11)

14.  The Coon and Friends Trilogy (Season 14, Episode 11-13)

6.  Tonsil Trouble (Season 12, Episode 1)

11.  World War Zimmerman (Season 17, Episode 3)    

Everything Bracket:

1.   Imaginationland (Season 11, Episodes 10-12)

16.  Cash for Gold (Season 16, Episode 2)

8.  Good Times With Weapons (Season 8, Episode 1)

9.  Child Abduction is not Funny (Season 6, Episode 11)

4.  The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring (Season 6, Episode 13)

13.  Asspen (Season 6, Episode 2)

5.  Brest Cancer Show Ever (Season 12, Episode 9)

12.  You’re Getting Old (Season 15, Episode 7)

     

2.  Cartoon Wars (Season 10, Episodes 3-4)

15.  Major Boobage (Season 12, Episode 3)

7.   Lil Crime Stoppers (Season 7, Episode 6)

10.  Spookyfish (Season 2, episode 15)

3.  The Red Badge of Gayness (Season 3, Episode 14)

14.  Chinpokomon  (Season 3, Episode 11)

6.   The Death Camp of Tolerance (Season 6, Episode 14)

11.  Reverse Cowgirl (Season 16, Episode 1)

  
I will be releasing polls to vote on each bracket, with my thoughts on each of these episodes.  You will be able to vote throughout the next few days.  If you have any thoughts on seeding I got wrong, or episodes I have wrongfully excluded tweet me at @bearcatmark1 or leave a comment below.