Quest for Ratings

“Quest for Ratings”
South Park episode
Butters gives a news report
Episode no.	Season 8 Episode 122
Written by
Original airdate	November 17, 2004
Season 8 episodes
South Park - Season 8 March 17, 2004 – December 15, 2004
Good Times with Weapons Up the Down Steroid The Passion of the Jew You Got F'd in the A AWESOM-O The Jeffersons Goobacks Douche and Turd Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes Pre-School Quest for Ratings Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset Cartman's Incredible Gift Woodland Critter Christmas
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List of South Park episodes

"Quest for Ratings" is episode 122 in the Comedy Central series South Park. Its original air date was November 17, 2004.

Plot synopsis

Eric "Rick" Cartman, Jimmy, Butters, Kyle, Token, and Stan are taping "Super School News," a newscast airing on South Park Elementary's closed-circuit television system. Cartman and Jimmy play the leading roles as head anchors, Butters is the entertainment/celebrity reporter, Stan is a field reporter, Token is the meteorologist, and Kyle does sports. However after their news program premieres, their teacher (Mr. Meryl) tells them that they did horribly in the ratings, trailing far behind Craig's home video show, "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens" (which uses the Benny Hill theme song, Yakety Sax), which they consider pointless and banal. (Kenny apparently also helped Craig, since Cartman hadn't allowed him to participate in their news show.)

The news team then pledges to make a program that will be a ratings booster and gain the attention of all students. They rename the show "Sexy Action School News" and add flashy elements (in a parody of various infotainment shows), including random "Panda Madness Minutes" in which the newscasters spontaneously dance with pandas. However, nothing seems to work; although they beat Craig's original series, they fall behind his follow up "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens Wearing Hats." To get ideas, the boys decide to get high on cough syrup. They hallucinate and wake up the next day with hangovers (and ironically enough, watching "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens Wearing Hats"), but their notepads contain nothing useful. Remembering that they had seen Craig's program while high and thought it to be brilliant, they conclude that a majority of the school must be perpetually high on cough syrup, accounting for his ratings. They then decide to produce a special report that gets cough syrup banned from school.

Soon after, the ratings drop and Craig's show is canceled, as the children are no longer high. To emphasize the importance of good ratings, the AV teacher then suspends Craig from school and recommends the removal of his testicles. Satisfied with their results, the "Sexy Action School News" team discovers the curse of a successful show: each subsequent episode has to be just as good. Back in the writer's room, they come up with nothing and eventually decide to just bail.

Moral/point

Aside from making a parody of infotainment and various news shows such as Inside Edition (and the public's refusal to watch straight news), this episode may very well be a parody of South Park itself. The boys all sitting around a table, trying to come up with "the best idea for an episode ever," as well as their lack of good ideas, may be Matt Stone and Trey Parker commenting on their show's own lack of rational plots. This is best displayed by Cartman's suggestion that they do an episode about Crab People (see "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" and "South Park Is Gay!").

With the recent release of season 8 on DVD, many of the mini commentaries revealed that much of the lack of ideas was due to the fact that Team America: World Police, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's concurrent film, had just been through a long, grueling post-production and left the staff low on energy.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Cough syrup abuse in teenagers is a real-life issue. Dextromethorphan, an antitussive found in most syrups, is harmless at recommended doses, but can produce hallucinogenic effects at very high doses. The specific syrups mentioned by the pharmacist are fictitious but derive from real brand names.
• This episode is somewhat notable because of name changes. In this episode, Clyde (whose last name had been Goodman on merchandise before) uses the last name Donovan, while Token's is given as Black (as opposed to the previously used Williams). Jimmy Vulmer's last name (which replaced "Swanson") is also reaffirmed.
• According to the Season 8 DVD commentary, Trey Parker's cat "Jake" and Matt Stone's dog are two of the animals in the first Animals Close Up With a Wide-Angle Lens video.
• In the 'high' sequence music from a shop in the game Postal 2 can be heard.

References to Pop culture

• The episode's title is a reference to the 1911 novel and 1981 film, Quest for Fire.
• The monsters Stan sees in his cough syrup trip include Frank (Kyle) from Donnie Darko and Jabba the Hutt (Cartman) from Star Wars.
• Token's role as the meteorologist is possibly an homage to The Today Show's Al Roker.
• The Close Up Animals with a Wide Angle Lens is similar to the Puppies From Around the World show in The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer and Fun with Veal. It could also be in reference to America's Funniest Home Videos, in which videos with pets are often chosen as winners even though they depict common animal behavior.
• In the scene where Stan is under the influence of cough medicine, the effects from the intro of Doctor Who can be seen.

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