When I was a child the idea of prime time animation was basically unheard of. Yes, there were holiday specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the occasional Dr. Seuss adaptation, but otherwise, it was all live-action. This all changed in 1989 when The Simpsons hit the airwaves and changed TV forever. Now, it seems odd to imagine a world without long-running night-time cartoons like Family Guy and American Dad. South Park was one of the first basic cable animated shows to take off and it's still going strong today. But, longevity and quality don't always go hand-in-hand, as we see in the fifteenth season of the show.

As with the past few seasons, Season 15 of South Park touches on a several topics and storylines. From Apple ("Humancentipad") to the NCAA ("Crack Baby Athletic Association") to the Royal Wedding ("Royal Pudding") to Asperger's Syndrome ("Ass Burgers") to immigration ("The Last of the Meheecans") to Occupy Wall Street ("1%"), the show brings to light a practical who's who of current events and headlines. We watch Kyle fall victim to Apple's user agreement while updating iTunes and Cartman teach pre-mature babies to play basketball. The series also looks at some more intimate issues, such as Stan dealing with turning 10-years old ("You're Getting Old") and Cartman's insecurity over his "manhood" ("T.M.I.").

Since its debut in 1997, South Park has always been edgy and topical. However, as the show has aged, the focus has shifted. The early shows were very basic and, if you will, pure. They showed very common and stereotypical life experiences, especially childhood experiences, with a decidedly raw and raunchy viewpoint. While the shows were decidedly out there (Mecha-Streisand?), things like Halloween, Christmas, and young love were all explored. (Wow, looking at a list of episodes from Seasons One and Two really bring back the memories!) These universal themes were explored in a very weird and funny manner with the occasional sprinkling of a celebrity spoof or an odd take on something from the real world.

But, as time went on, South Park became more and more about taking on the latest news stories. By now, we all know that the show is often put together very quickly (as highlighted by the documentary found on this Blu-ray Disc), so it's understandable that the latest headlines would influence the show's writers. However, South Park has come to feel like an animated version of Saturday Night Live, as we wait to see which celebrity or new story they'll skewer next. Looking at the 14 episodes included in this season, eight have that "ripped from the headlines" feel. Does this result in some funny moments? Not really. It's easy to see the humor in the idea, but that doesn't always result in actual laughs on the show.

The majority of the shows are still shown through the eyes of the boys and their immature view of the world provides some laughs, but as the show gets further and further away from reality, it suffers. No, I'm not expecting reality from South Park, but some of the best humor comes from the "it's funny because it's true" realm and we just don't get much of that from the show anymore. Now, does South Park still provide some laughs? Sure, there's at least one good laugh per show on average. But, it's unfortunate to see what could be good ideas go nowhere. The funniest show of the season, "Broadway Bro Down", is also the strangest, as it portrays Broadway shows as being a huge conspiracy concocted by men. This highlights South Park's ability to be strange and funny at the same time. The show's sixteenth season just kicked off and it shows no signs of stopping. But, before it ends, I would love to see it go back to its roots.

South Park: The Complete Fifteenth Season show's that Cartman hasn't changed a bit on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The two-disc set contains all fourteen episodes from the show's fifteenth season. The shows have been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc carries an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 5.0 Mbps. Yes, you read that right, 5.0 Mbps. That low bitrate most likely results from the fact that's there little movement on-screen most of the time. The image is sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look great and the image is never overly dark or bright. There is some minor stuttering in the animation, but otherwise the picture looks good. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 2.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The majority of the sound comes from the front and center channels, but we do get some minor stereo and surround effects, which subwoofer effects are kept to a minimum.

The South Park: The Complete Fifteenth Season Blu-ray Disc contains a few extras. As usual, each episode is accompanied by an AUDIO COMMENTARY from series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. And, as has been the case for the past few seasons, these are funnier than the show itself. Hearing Parker question the existence of a movie like The Human Centipede is funny, as is their take on the Comedy Central Awards. "6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park" (42 minutes) is a fairly satisfying documentary which explores the creative process which goes into creating the show. It shows that the guys really do create things on the fly and...wait, is that Bill Hader? I didn't know he wrote for the show. We see how Matt and Trey come back from New York following the premiere of their Broadway show The Book of Mormon and begin working on the season pilot "Human Centipad". The feature follows the creation of this episode. "6 Days to Air: Behind the Scenes of 'City Sushi'" (3 minutes) is a sort of sequel to the previous feature as it shows the team working on another episode. "Season 15 Deleted Scenes" offers seven scenes which run about 5 minutes. Surprisingly, most of these are fully animated. They are all quite brief and were clearly cut for time.