20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About South Park
9. Comedy Central Originally Wouldn't Air "It Hits The Fan"
South Park always loves to push the boundaries and see what the censors will let them get away with, and that was pretty much the entire basis of the episode It Hits The Fan. They decided to try to get away with saying the world "shit" on television, and then promote the episode entirely based around that. Parker and Stone hoped Comedy Central would let them do the stunt, but at first the network said no.
Originally, the word was only going to be said a few times, and Comedy Central wouldn't let them. Then Parker and Stone had a brilliant idea. "So we went away and we thought about it," Parker explained, "and then we're like, 'well, what if we say it like 200 times?'" By saying the word an absurd amount and turning that into a statement, Comedy Central was intrigued, and eventually decided to let the episode air.
It was broadcast with a TV-MA rating, and in the end the word "shit" is said 162 times, complete with a counter on the lower left corner of the screen. So basically, saying the word just a few times was a huge no-no, but saying it 162 times was totally okay. Censorship makes a whole lot of sense, huh?