Im Just A Little Girl South Park

8th episode of the thirteenth season of Southward Park

"Expressionless Celebrities"

Due south Park episode

Episode no.

Season 13
Episode 8

Directed by

Trey Parker

Written by

Trey Parker

Product lawmaking

1308

Original air engagement

October 7, 2009 (2009-x-07)

Episode chronology

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South Park (season 13)

Listing of episodes

"Dead Celebrities" is the eighth episode of the thirteenth flavor of the American animated television series South Park. The 189th overall episode of the serial, it originally aired on One-act Central in the U.s. on Oct vii, 2009. In the episode, Ike is haunted by the ghosts of dead celebrities who died in the Summer of 2009 until Michael Jackson, who does not want to admit that he is dead, possesses him.

The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA 50 in the United States (specifically for adults, with fibroid linguistic communication). "Dead Celebrities" included references to several actors, singers and famous people who died earlier or in the eye of summer of 2009, when South Park was on a mid-flavour hiatus. Among the celebrities featured in the episode were Jackson, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite, Dom DeLuise, Ted Kennedy, Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, David Carradine, DJ AM, Ricardo Montalbán, and Steve McNair. "Expressionless Celebrities" also parodied the films The 6th Sense and Poltergeist.

The reality series Ghost Hunters and its stars, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, were mocked in the episode. Hawes and Wilson said they loved the parody and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter accounts. A subplot claimed food at the Chipotle Mexican Grill resulted in customers defecating claret, a claim which was disputed by the restaurant concatenation within days of the episode's broadcast. "Dead Celebrities" received by and large mixed reviews. According to Nielsen ratings, "Expressionless Celebrities" was seen by ii.67 1000000 overall households.

Plot [edit]

Ike is traumatized past his frequent encounters with the ghosts of celebrities who take died over the summer. He is haunted by people such every bit Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine, Ed McMahon, DJ AM, and particularly Billy Mays, who repeatedly tries selling Ike products from the afterlife. Kyle is terrified when he finds out about the ghosts his brother is encountering and tells Stan, Cartman and Kenny about the encounters. Cartman, who does not initially care, decides to assistance when Kyle mentions that one of the ghosts haunting Ike is Billy Mays. Cartman then shows commercials that feature Mays on television, implying that he is an enthusiastic supporter of a production which Mays promoted while he was still live, called "ChipotlAway", which cleans bloodstains from people's underwear acquired by eating food from Chipotle Mexican Grill. The boys call the squad from the reality tv set serial Ghost Hunters in to assist, simply they quickly, appallingly kickoff ascribing supernatural meaning to random noises, before urinating and defecating on themselves, and finally running from the firm. Eventually, Ike goes into a coma due to his multiple experiences with the ghosts, and is hospitalized.

At the hospital, the boys seek help from Dr. Philips, a medium (a parody of Zelda Rubinstein's character in Poltergeist), who explains the celebrities are trapped in purgatory, which she compares to being stuck on a plane that isn't quite ready to take off. Dr. Philips manages to contact the spirits and tell them that they have passed on. Surprisingly to her, the celebrities are all also acceptant of the fact, with the only exception being Michael Jackson. Two deceased celebrities, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite and Patrick Swayze, explain to Dr. Phillips that his refusal to admit his death is the chief cause of them existence stuck. Some of the celebrities help Dr. Philips and the boys try to convince Jackson that he is dead, but Jackson keeps denying it and insists that people are ignorant and he is not merely live, but as well a piffling white child. His denial is so stiff that he emits a powerful forcefulness that kills Dr. Philips. The annoyed ghosts of these celebrities are shown in purgatory, which indeed does await like the interior of an airplane, minus the plane itself, complete with seats, flight attendants and airplane pilot voice-over announcements.

After the energy disturbance, Jackson's spirit takes over Ike'due south torso, causing Ike to sound and human activity like Jackson himself. The boys detect from online research that the only way to make Jackson believe he is expressionless is to give him the acceptance he sought in life, then they take him to a child dazzler pageant for immature girls. Dressed like a little girl, Ike/Jackson impresses 2 of the male judges past singing a melody sounding similar to Jackson'southward "You Are Not Alone", but they are promptly arrested for masturbating while watching the children, leaving a unmarried, unimpressed female gauge (much to the shock of the boys, who were unaware of the men's lewd acts and considered them the best judges). When Cartman notices the judge eating Chipotle, he bribes her with knowledge about the ChipotlAway production, and she declares Ike/Jackson the winner every bit a result. One of the other contestants is physically browbeaten past her mother for losing. Having found his credence, Jackson leaves Ike's body, and Ike is extremely surprised and disgusted to notice himself dressed like a fiddling girl.

Later on, Jackson and the other celebrities in purgatory are reunited and they are finally able to lift off. Initially happy, they are soon taken to Hell. To their annoyance, notwithstanding, the flight attendant tells them that they must again expect as Hell is a tow-in gate.

Production and theme [edit]

"Dead Celebrities" was written and directed past series co-founder Trey Parker, and was rated Television set-MA Fifty in the United States. Information technology first aired on October 7, 2009 in the United States on One-act Central. The day later "Expressionless Celebrities" was originally broadcast, T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts based on the episode were made available at South Park Studios, the official South Park website. It featured a frightened Ike continuing above the phrase, "I see dead celebrities".^[1]

"Dead Celebrities" includes references to several actors, singers and other celebrities who died in the middle of 2009, when the thirteenth flavor of South Park was on a mid-flavour hiatus.^[ii] ^[iii] ^[4] The episode serves not only to parody the celebrities themselves, just also to provide commentary on the trend of American media to exploit, idolatrize and excessively report on the lives and deaths of celebrities.^[4] ^[five] The near prominently featured of these celebrities is pop singer Michael Jackson, who died of multiple drug intoxication on June 25.^[ii] ^[4]

Baton Mays, a idiot box advertisement salesman, is the first dead glory featured in the episode, and plays a large part in the early role of the script.^[two] ^[4] Mays' son, Billy Mays III, a self-proclaimed South Park fan, said he loved "Expressionless Celebrities", and found its portrayal of his tardily father tasteful and respectful. He said, "Due south Park gets a little edgy sometimes, merely at their cadre, they're merely social satire, yous know? I think it was natural for them to do a dead celebrities episode with this whole summer and how it's been, and I recollect the way they did it was pretty tasteful for the nigh part."^[vi] The spirit of David Carradine is shown one-half-naked in lingerie and with a noose around his neck, a nod to his June three, 2009, death by autoerotic asphyxiation.^[3] Amid the others featured in the episode were actress Farrah Fawcett, journalist Walter Cronkite,^[4] disc jockey Adam Goldstein (DJ AM), pol Ted Kennedy, extra Beatrice Arthur,^[vii] television game bear witness host Ed McMahon, actor Patrick Swayze,^[5] extra Natasha Richardson, hot dog magnate Oscar Chiliad. Mayer, Jr. and actor/professional person chef Dom DeLuise.^[viii] And similar to the spirit of Carradine mentioned in a higher place, the spirit of Richardson is shown wearing skiing attire, a nod to her March eighteen, 2009, death from a skiing accident.

Cultural references [edit]

"Expressionless Celebrities" makes frequent mention of the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain, describing the food as extremely tasty, but claiming it resulted in encarmine stool. Before long after the episode commencement aired, a Chipotle spokesperson said via a Twitter message that the claim was imitation.^[9] In the episode's commentary, Trey Parker and Matt Stone admitted that they loved Chipotle, but found it funnier to utilise a restaurant with a healthy reputation rather than a place similar McDonald's or Taco Bong.^{[ citation needed ]} Ike's ability to see the spirits of dead celebrities serves as a parody of the 1999 thriller film The Sixth Sense, which stars Haley Joel Osment equally a young boy who tin can see ghosts. Ike's line, "I run into dead celebrities", is a reference to that film's most famous line, "I run across dead people."^[7] ^[viii] The old lady psychic with a very high-pitched vocalisation is a reference to the grapheme played by Zelda Rubinstein in the 1982 horror film, Poltergeist.^[7] Another film reference is made to The Exorcist when the medium is flung from the window.^[2] ^[10] "Dead Celebrities" as well mocks the Syfy reality television series Ghost Hunters by featuring the show's stars attempting to contact the celebrity spirits, only to be frightened and run away. Finally, the episode also parodies children's beauty pageants and the tendency of phase mothers to become unhealthily obsessed with their children winning such contests.^[four]

Reception [edit]

"When I showtime learned of the premise of this episode, I was expecting some biting social commentary on our culture'south obsession with celebrities and the hypocrisy of treating them like dirt when they're alive and practically worshiping them when they die. But the writers kept it simple, and just went for the laughs, and enough fourth dimension had passed for the jokes to non seem as well tasteless."

Ramsley Isler, IGN ^[2]

In its original American broadcast on October seven, 2009, "Dead Celebrities" was watched past 2.67 million overall households, according to Nielsen ratings. It received a ane.8 rating/iii share, and a one.v rating/4 share amongst viewers aged betwixt eighteen and 49.^[11]

The episode received mostly mixed reviews. Ramsley Isler of IGN called "Dead Celebrities" i of the all-time episodes of the season, calculation the jokes at the expense of the deceased were not too tasteless. He praised the parodies of The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist and Ghost Hunters, but said some jokes, like the masturbating judges at the children's dazzler contest, were offensive and unfunny.^[2] Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, stars of Ghost Hunters, alleged that "far from being offended or incensed [...] they loved existence fabricated fun of alongside Michael Jackson and Billy Mays.^[12] Carlos Delgado of iF Magazine said "Dead Celebrities" was an specially funny episode that as well featured a "crapload of story" that was well-timed for the Halloween flavour.^[13] Josh Modell of The A.5. Lodge called it "a decent episode", just felt the dead celebrities were also obvious targets for South Park satire, adding, "It's piece of cake to make the same jokes that the rest of the earth already has." Modell said the Sixth Sense and Poltergeist references "savage a niggling flat", just he praised the Chipotle subplot, which he called "beautifully random [and] totally ridiculous".^[3] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said the episode was in bad taste, simply added, "I laughed until I high-strung". Tucker described the Michael Jackson impersonation equally "first-rate" and felt the solution to freeing Jackson's spirit served as "a ruthless parody of child beauty pageants".^[iv]

Ingela Ratledge of Television receiver Guide favorably described the episode equally the exact opposite of award show segments that reverentially pay homage to the twelvemonth's departed celebrities, calling information technology "a wonderfully tasteless farewell."^[14] Sue Bergerstein, an arts and celebrity writer with Examiner.com, called "Dead Celebrities" a "new depression" for Due south Park, calculation "It's not merely tasteless but this episode just adds to the sadness currently experienced by all the mourning relatives."^[five] Newsweek author Joshua Alston said few of the jokes in "Dead Celebrities" were funny, and then the mocking of celebrities "in the absence of laughs, felt tasteless and unnecessary".^[15] Alan Sepinwall, boob tube journalist with The Star-Ledger, said many of the episodes seemed rehashed and predictable, especially those targeting Michael Jackson and children's dazzler pageants. Sepinwall added he liked the Chipotle subplot, but commented, "Overall, 'Expressionless Celebrities' was a misfire."^[16] Mitch Norton of the SLC Drawing Analysis found the episode to be extremely funny. "Genius is not just found in the reference to the deaths of celebrities, merely creates a new fashion to view death every bit a way to live on. We tin view death as the terminate, or a new beginning to something else."

Home release [edit]

"Expressionless Celebrities", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Park's thirteenth season, were released on a iii-disc DVD set up and ii-disc Blu-ray set in the Usa on March xvi, 2010. The sets included brief audio commentaries past Parker and Stone for each episode,^[17] a collection of deleted scenes, and a special mini-characteristic Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Due south Park Studios, which discussed the process behind animating the show with Inside Xbox host Major Nelson.^[18]

A deleted scene from this episode is included on the consummate thirteenth season DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets. It shows the boys taking Michael Jackson (in Ike's body) to the Glendale location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries to prove he is dead. When they achieve the grave, Jackson denies it and Kyle attempts to show him by taking a shovel and excavation his grave. Stan at showtime opposes but he, with Cartman and Kenny take shovels and the scene ends with the boys digging Jackson'south grave to show he is dead while Ike/Jackson dances. The reason this scene was cut was due to Jackson's grave inaccurately shows his date of death equally July 25, 2009.^[19]

Run into likewise [edit]

The Jeffersons, an episode of South Park in which Michael Jackson was parodied prior to Dead Celebrities.

References [edit]

^ "southpark: I See Dead Celebrities". Zazzle. 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-11-19 .
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Isler, Ramsey (October 8, 2009). "South Park: "Dead Celebrities" Review". IGN . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Modell, Josh (Oct seven, 2009). "Southward Park: "Expressionless Celebrities"". The A.V. Club . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ¹⁰⁰⁰ Tucker, Ken (Oct 7, 2009). ""South Park" season premiere: "I see expressionless celebrities"". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chivers, Tom (Oct ix, 2009). "South Park shows Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze in purgatory". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved January eleven, 2010.
^ Mays Iii, Billy (October 9, 2009). "MJ Morning Bear witness: 10/ix/2009". The MJ Morning Show. Tampa, Florida. WFLZ-FM.
^ ^a ^b ^c DiNunno, Gina (Oct viii, 2009). "Southward Park Mocks Dead Celebrities". TV Guide . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Pedersen, Erik (October 7, 2009). "South Park Sees Dead Celebrities, Then Mocks Them". E! . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ Walters, Chris (October 9, 2009). "Chipotle Says Their Food Does Non Cause Underwear Claret". The Consumerist . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ Hale, Mike (December 10, 2009). "Consigning Reality to Ghosts". The New York Times . Retrieved February 24, 2010.
^ Seidman, Robert (October eight, 2009). "Wednesday October 7 cable ratings: Mythbusters, Due south Park, Existent World / Route Rules: The Ruins and more than". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 27, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ Sagers, Aaron (October 29, 2009). "Syfy 'Ghost Hunters': Living Commonly Inside Paranormal Pop Culture". PopMatters . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ Delgado, Carlos (Oct 8, 2009). "TV Review: South Park: Season 13 – "Dead Celebrities" – Autumn Flavor Premiere". iF Mag.
^ Ratledge, Ingela (October 19, 2009). "Watercooler: R.I.P. ...And LOL!". TV Guide. p. 64.
^ Alston, Joshua (March 24, 2010). "Is 'South Park' Losing Its Border?". Newsweek . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ Sepinwall, Alan (October 8, 2010). "Due south Park, "Expressionless Celebrities": Ignorance, not elation". What'due south Alan Watching? . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ Foster, Dave (December 14, 2009). "South Park Flavour 13 (R1/Us BD) in March". DVD Times. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
^ Liebman, Martin (March five, 2010). "South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Flavor Blu-ray Review". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
^ Stone, Matt; Parker, Trey (2010). Deleted scene from the South Park episode "Expressionless Celebrities" (DVD and Blu-ray Disc). Comedy Central.

External links [edit]

"Expressionless Celebrities" Full episode at S Park Studios
"Dead Celebrities" at IMDb