Armed with a recumbent bike and the desire to keep myself distracted while burning calories, I'm wading through all of the episodes of SouthPark. One of the most interesting things about watching the first season is how unremarkable it is. It's good stuff and funny, but has nowhere near the edge that it presently does. Anna and I watched it when it first came out and I remember getting the Kyle and Stan characters confused. While watching seasons 6 and 7 I wondered how I possibly could have been so oblivious. Watching season one reminded me that the two characters were somewhat interchangable. Cartman wasn't quite Cartman yet. And, of course, the social satire wasn't nearly as biting as it has been more recently. Midway through the first season, the show hasn't quite found itself yet.

The other thing about watching it and ruminating on SouthPark in general is how much Comedy Central has really siezed the "young and cool" demographic that MTV has always so craved. Chapelle is another example. Chapelle is on indefinite hiatus, but that's by no fault of the network and the important achievement CC was the one that gave the man a show and it worked tremendously. And, of course, the Daily Show. They've succeeded by finding the better talent while MTV seems to languish producing shows that focus groups think that young people should like, coming across as the aging hippy trying to remain relevent.