10 Amazing TV Shows With Surprisingly Weak First Seasons

3. South Park

We're not going to sit here and try to argue that the first season of South Park wasn't groundbreaking and innovative comedy television that would influence other animated programs for years to come. When it first aired, it was subversive and unlike anything that had been on television before. But when compared to its later seasons...yeah, the first season is sort of weak. The stories, with a few exceptions, aren't that memorable, and would quickly be eclipsed by the material Parker and Stone put out later. In general, the comedy feels more juvenile and just trying to push boundaries, where in just a few seasons it seemed more like biting social commentary. A lot of this has to do with the logistics of the animation style they used. Once they had more funding, they were able to animate an episode on a much shorter time line, allowing them to reference things that were more relevant and present in the quickly moving social sphere.