‘South Park’s’ Neighborhood Has Become Prime Real Estate

There were heady times, in the late ‘90s, when the exploits of the lewd and lovable “South Park” kids were de rigueur water-cooler conversation, peppered with catch phrases from the most recent episode. The uninitiated got an earful, and a mandate: “You must see this show.”

There were stratospheric ratings in cable terms, when 6.2 million people watched Cartman sift through his mom’s sordid sex life in search of his father at the show’s peak in spring ’98. That was the highest rating up to that point for an entertainment series on basic cable. And there was a merchandising phenomenon--when everything from Cheesy Poofs and talking dolls to CDs and books sold at a quick clip.

Those days are gone. What remains, though, is a series about to enter its fifth season that’s still one of cable’s best draws and one of Comedy Central’s branding touchstones. It’s become a beachhead for launching original shows. As the new shows gain traction, the strategy has been to shift them to other nights, at times increasing ratings in their new time slots by as much as 140%. “South Park” has become the “Friends” of Comedy Central.

“It’s the best tool we have to show off new programming,” said Michele Ganeless, the network’s senior vice president of programming. “It pulls in the 18-to-49 demographic better than any show we have.”

Comedy Central executives are so confident in the show’s drawing power that they will use it to launch Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s newest offering, “That’s My Bush,” tonight. That strategy will be used in June to launch Martin Short’s return to series TV, “Prime Time Glick,” coinciding with new original episodes of “South Park.”

Two shows that have occupied the post-”South Park” Wednesday night berth did so well there that they’re now anchoring other nights. “BattleBots,” based on the premise of teams-build-robots, robots-turn-competitors-to-scrap-metal, moved to Tuesdays at 10 p.m. after a strong launch last summer behind “South Park.” Since its move, “BattleBots” has built on its lead-in by an average of 86% with viewers age 18 to 49, with 1.1 million viewers tuning in. Compared with the time-slot average from the year before, ratings among those viewers have increased 135%, and have jumped 141% in households, according to Nielsen Media research.

“The Man Show,” which wears its piggishness proudly on its sleeve, went from Wednesdays to Sundays and improved ratings on that night by 78% in the 18-to-49 range, and by 82% in households, averaging 1.3 million viewers each week. Jimmy Kimmel, “The Man Show” co-host and co-creator, said “South Park” was pivotal in bringing it to Comedy Central in the first place.

“When the network said they’d put us on after ‘South Park,’ that more or less sealed the deal, because we were still shopping our show, and other networks were interested,” said Kimmel, an early fan of Parker and Stone who had interviewed them at his former radio gig on KROQ-FM (106.7). “In cable, you have to get pretty lucky for people to sample your show. This gave people an opportunity to get hooked.”

Kimmel said he figured the two shows were compatible in tone and would appeal to much the same audience that liked “aggressive, sophomoric humor.” The series that Kimmel hosts with former radio cohort Adam Carolla, intended to be a man’s-eye view of the world, originally was bought by ABC as an hourlong project, (“I still don’t know what they were thinking,” Kimmel says). Being picked up by Comedy Central, and having “South Park” as a lead-in, helped shape “The Man Show’s” content, allowing it to dip further into risque territory.

“It’s like, the older brother gets away with some stuff,” Kimmel said. “Then, the younger brother gets away with even more. The parents are just worn out by that time.”

On one hand, it was a compliment to be shifted to its own night, but, on the other, it was added pressure on “The Man Show” to perform outside the protective “South Park” hour.

“But there was a certain stigma to being paired with a really successful show,” Kimmel said. “We were worried about moving, and we’d go back in a heartbeat, but we’re glad to be doing as well as we did on Wednesday.”

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Not every show in the coveted Wednesday slot has soared once it moved. Some have flopped, like “Strangers With Candy” and “Upright Citizens Brigade,” after showing promise during their initial airings. The audiences didn’t move with the shows, and new viewers didn’t find the programming, which is always the risk of time-slot shifting, executives said.

“South Park,” unlike many long-running shows on cable or broadcast TV, has occupied the same spot since August 1997. The current deal with Parker and Stone calls for a minimum of seven seasons; and it’s likely to keep its Wednesday home.

“There’s so little appointment TV out there,” Ganeless said. “ ‘South Park’ helped make us distinct; it helped define our personality. And it boosted distribution. We had no idea it would reach the heights it did, and it stayed there longer than anyone expected. It’s been key to introducing new shows to the audience.”

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* “South Park” can be seen Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central. The network has rated it TV-MA (may be unsuitable for young children).