From The Toronto Sun

Thu, March 23, 2006

Chef's surprise

South Park's response to Scientology furor airs in U.S. -- but Canada will have to wait
By BILL HARRIS, TORONTO SUN



American TV viewers got to see the controversial "return" of Chef in a new episode of South Park last night.

But for a refresher course on what all the fuss is about, you're better off being a Canadian.

While Comedy Central in the U.S. kicked off the 10th season of South Park with an episode titled The Return Of Chef! last night, The Comedy Network in Canada still is in the middle of South Park's ninth season in terms of first-run episodes in this country.

The new episode that was broadcast last night in the U.S. will be shown in Canada on The Comedy Network at some point in the not-too-distant future, unexpected glitches notwithstanding. However, an exact date has not been set yet.

Be that as it may, the episode that has kept South Park in the news over the past month -- the one that mocked Scientology and caused Issac Hayes, the voice of Chef and a Scientologist, to quit the show -- will be shown again in Canada on March 31 (Comedy Network, 9:30 p.m.)


This is significant in light of the fact the Trapped In The Closet episode has been shelved in the U.S., presumably due to pressure from Scientologists such as Tom Cruise, who considered it to be a form of religious persecution. A recently scheduled rerun of Trapped In The Closet was pulled by Comedy Central in the U.S., without notice or explanation.
Hayes, the voice of Chef since 1997, quit the crudely and barely animated show because of what he described as "intolerance and bigotry." South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker fired back at Hayes by pointing out he had no problem cashing cheques when the show repeatedly poked fun at other religions.

It's not as if there's an information embargo, so details of the episode that aired last night south of the border are sure to be widely available on the internet by now. The strong scuttlebutt was that Stone and Parker had pieced together "new" dialogue from Chef by editing recordings of Hayes' voice from previous episodes.

The synopsis for The Return Of Chef! reads as follows:

"The town is jolted out of a case of the doldrums when Chef suddenly reappears. While Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are thrilled to have their old friend back, they notice that something about Chef seems different. When Chef's strange behaviour starts getting him in trouble, the boys pull out all the stops to save him."

When Trapped In The Closet was shown on The Comedy Network in Canada on Jan. 27, it became the third most-watched South Park episode ever broadcast on the network. It registered a 166% increase in ratings over the season-to-date average.

The episode "Trapped In The Closet" which was mentioned in the above article will air in Canada tonight at 9:30 pm on The Comedy Network. For more details, including the plot, or what passes for one, read on:

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Toronto Sun
Fri, March 31, 2006

South Park rerun makes its way north

The controversial mocking of Tom Cruise and Scientology airs again tonight in Canada

By BILL HARRIS, TORONTO SUN




The political influence of Tom Cruise apparently does not extend into Canada.

Thus, the controversial episode of barely animated American show South Park that mocks both Cruise individually and Scientology generally will be replayed tonight on The Comedy Network in Canada (9:30 p.m.).

The episode, titled Trapped In The Closet, has already been shown in both Canada and the United States. But much controversy ensued south of the border, so Comedy Central, which is South Park's home network, dropped the episode from its rerun schedule without notice or explanation.

There was widespread speculation that Cruise had threatened not to promote his upcoming Paramount movie Mission Impossible III unless Comedy Central, which is owned by the same company as Paramount, yanked the rerun. Cruise's representatives denied that allegation, but Trapped In The Closet was scratched nonetheless.

The episode also prompted Issac Hayes, a devoted Scientologist and the voice of South Park character Chef, to quit the show because of what he perceived to be religious persecution. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone fired back that Hayes had no moral issue cashing cheques when the show repeatedly poked fun at Christianity and Judaism.


Canadians will get another chance to see what all the fuss is about tonight.

In Trapped In The Closet, Scientologists make the mistake of believing Stan is the second coming of L. Ron Hubbard. That, of course, prompts a pilgrimmage by such noted Scientologists as Cruise and John Travolta.

At one point the animated Cruise becomes so overwhelmed that he shuts himself into a closet and refuses to leave. Subsequently, everyone is trying to get Cruise to "come out of the closet" -- get it?
Subtlety never has been a South Park staple.

Parker and Stone issued a parting shot a couple of weeks ago with a new episode titled The Return Of Chef!, which officially kicked off South Park's 10th season on Comedy Central in the U.S. Bits of old dialogue from Hayes were edited together and the episode ended with Chef falling off a bridge and being burned, stabbed and mauled by wild animals.

Again, not too subtle.

The Return Of Chef! will air in Canada eventually, but since The Comedy Network still is in the middle of broadcasting South Park's ninth season, no exact date has been set.