Oh My God, Will They Overkill Kenny?

A staple on nearly every episode of the hit cable TV cartoon show “South Park” is the death of the hapless Kenny character by any means possible.

That kind of crude humor--along with scenes that feature Jesus boxing Satan--offends many parents and educators who fret that the cartoon is luring unsuspecting kids into its fold. The show carries a TV-MA (mature audiences) rating.

But “South Park” undoubtedly is clicking with fans who’ve purchased 1.5 million videos, spent $150 million for licensed merchandise--including a shirt listing the six most popular ways to kill Kenny--and turned the fledgling TV show on Comedy Central into the cable world’s second-most popular program.

Yet, even as the show’s creators prepare an R-rated movie for a summer release by Paramount Pictures, its licensing arm has taken the risky step of significantly expanding retail distribution beyond cutting-edge specialty stores that cater to the show’s ultra-hip fans. Big chains such as J.C. Penney, Target and Mervyn’s now are stocking G-rated “South Park” merchandise, including T-shirts that have been carefully stripped of the racy slogans that make “South Park’s” politically incorrect fans chortle.

“South Park” is chasing a potential pot of gold, hoping the edgy show hits home with middle-of-the-road shoppers.

But Comedy Central is taking a chance because broad distribution could push “South Park” out of favor with consumers responsible for its popularity, said Ira Mayer, president of EMP Communications, a New York-based company that publishes licensing newsletters.

And in the hotly competitive world of product licensing, observers say, once goods and apparel move from specialty to big retail chains, it’s usually a sure sign that a hot trend is about to cool down. Leading-edge chains such as Pomona-based Hot Topic, which has sold shirts like the “Oh my God, they killed Kenny” model since August 1997, are keeping close tabs on “South Park’s” distribution plans.

“Going to mass merchandise is the last step in the process,” said Betsy McLaughlin, Hot Topic’s senior vice president of merchandising. “We will not carry merchandise that’s in wide distribution, because once our customer moves on to something else, we move with them.”

Hot Topic showcased “South Park” merchandise during the 1997 holiday shopping season. But come Thanksgiving weekend, Kenny & Co. will be relegated to the second tier. Premiere display space in the front of Hot Topic stores has been reserved for a new product line that the chain won’t reveal.

“South Park’s” handlers know that the show’s migration to a more genteel neighborhood eventually will dull the cutting-edge image that Kenny and his pals enjoy among stylish teenagers and young adults. But they also believe that there’s still plenty of money to be made.

“There’s no exact science to when you broaden retail distribution,” said Bert Gould, senior vice president of marketing for New York-based Comedy Central. “But at some point you feel that the time is right to make that move. And we have every confidence that ‘South Park’ will continue to be around for a while as a licensed property.”

Licensing industry observers credit Comedy Central with carving out a profitable niche in an industry dominated by powerful partnerships that link fast-food chains and Hollywood movie studios. That was particularly tough for “South Park,” because no fast-food chains wanted to ally themselves with the show’s content, Gould said.

At the outset, “South Park,” created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, relied heavily on an underground buzz that stretched from college campuses, where rabid fans formed clubs, to Hollywood, where, Comedy Central says, stars such as George Clooney began circulating hundreds of copies of the early shows.

“There’s never been anything like ‘South Park’ before,” said Hot Topic’s McLaughlin, who credits the Internet with helping to drive interest in both the show and the licensed product. “Back when ‘Beavis & Butt-head’ hit, the Internet wasn’t really a factor. With ‘South Park,’ the timing was just so right.”

Said Debra Joester, president of Hamilton Projects, “South Park’s” New York-based licensing firm: “People laughed at us in 1997 when we unveiled a two-year marketing plan for ‘South Park,’ They figured we had, at best . . . a fad. Well, 15 months later, we have a top-rated TV series, the No. 1 entertainment site on the Internet [for older teens] ahead of ‘Titanic’ and MTV, and we’ve done no real marketing of any kind--not one kid’s meal sold.”

The numbers suggest that “South Park’s” cash register will continue to ring. Despite its 10 p.m. Wednesday slot on a cable channel available in just 48% of American homes, “South Park” was the second-most popular cable show during the week ended Sept. 30--lagging behind only ESPN’s popular Sunday night NFL game.

Publisher Simon & Schuster is readying “South Park” books, a “South Park” CD from Columbia Records hits stores Nov. 24, and the show is on the air in countries such as Britain and Australia, where ratings are climbing and merchandise is on sale.

Comedy Central is betting that merchandise sales will soar next summer, despite the movie’s R rating and the marketing muscle that other Hollywood studios will throw behind their big-budget summer films.

The network says it’s taken extraordinary steps to ensure that its goods aren’t aimed at younger children. The show is broadcast relatively late at night, and Comedy Central says it has prohibited licensing partners from making plush toys and manufacturing T-shirts in smaller sizes, and has rejected orders from big toy store chains.

Nonetheless, some “South Park” wind-up toys, doll-like figures and buttons are being sold through smaller toy stores in Southern California. And, Gould said, when a planned video game is ready, it will be stocked at Toys R Us.

Hoopla around the upcoming movie is certain to trigger complaints that preteens are ill-prepared to deal with story lines in which third-graders refer to a neighborhood mom as a “crack whore.” As children’s television advocate Peggy Charren wryly notes, rather than reshaping the show to make it fit in mainstream department stores, Comedy Central instead opted to tinker with its licensed goods.

“Interesting, isn’t it, that they censored the T-shirts but not the show?” Charren said. “And the big chains are simply going to pretend that that [racy] stuff isn’t in the TV show.”