Round of 32 (Old Comedies): It's Always Sunny vs. South Park • Page 2

This is tough, but I do think I have to go with South Park for the first 10-ish seasons. Once they got into the multi-part episodes and ripped from the headlines stories I kinda fell off, but they had a really solid run there.

Always Sunny is great but also has its dips in quality. When it's great, I still don't think it reaches the level of golden age South Park.

 

If The Simpsons golden age I believe is widely considered to be seasons 2-8, I've always thought of South Park's golden age to be seasons 5-11

 

Probably a good end point but if I trust my memory of marathoning the whole thing 11ish years ago I think that starting point is selling the first few seasons short.

 

Oh the first few seasons are classic but if I had to pick 7 years (similar to the simpsons) where the show was at its best, that's the run. Those early years are Matt & Trey literally learning how to write a tv show in real time.

For comparison I think The Simpsons is still a pretty good show Seasons 9-13, just more bad episodes start appearing around that time

 

I like the chaotic early South Park seasons. They had such a raw quality to them.

 

I'm sure we can pick at the margins all day, but this made me curious to see what season 12 was and.....I feel like 12 definitely belongs in the "prime" years. The list of episodes that season is pretty damn good lol

 

...and shit, 13 is pretty damn good too. Disappointing last 3 episodes IMO but the rest of the season has some classics i.e. The Coon, Butters Bottom B, Margaritaville, Pinewood Derby, Fishsticks, etc.

 

I would say the the wrinkles started forming at 11, with increasingly spotty quality up until You’re Getting Old in season 15, which was a great episode and where the series ends in my mind

5-10 would be golden years imo

 

I definitely didn’t see every episode in the first half of the 2010s but I generally liked the show until it got Trump heavy. I checked out sometime around Kyle’s dad becoming an internet troll

 

The Simpsons started getting bad at Season Nine. I got through Ten but it was time to stop.

 

Seasons 1-5 of South Park contain my favorite seasons

 

I will never forget stuff like the gay dog or "it's coming right for us" or Streisand as Spooky Vision.

 

Looking through it on wiki now, there are so many episodes that I've seen so often that I forget they're from those early seasons lol.

And then there's ones that I forgot about completely that are hilarious, like the Season 3 finale....aka Cartman teaching the boys about the "brown note"

 

The only South Park Season I don't like is 20, which is the Trump election year

 

I'm on the outside here as I never really got into Sunny. It's definitely something I struggle with binging as it just got stale for me. South park has had it's problems, but I have seen a lot more of the recent seasons and haven't watched Sunny in years as I had enough of it.

 

I do think more recent Sunny seasons are rated higher around these parts than they should be. They’re a talented bunch and I appreciate them trying new things, but they miss the mark a lot too. I still can’t believe they had an episode about texting in 2019

 

Voted for Sunny, but after season 12 it is pretty spotty for sure. Ireland arc from the newest season is solid though.

 

Call me the odd man out but south park continues to be one of my go tos for consistently hilarious material. I honestly can't watch the first season of South Park anymore

 

so

 

Tough but South Park wins for me. Also seasons 2 to 4 are classic and have many of their best episodes

 

I quote Sunny more so Sunny

 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia advances.