South Park: Ranking Every Season From Worst To Best

3. Season 6 (2002)

Kenny's "permanent" death opened up a world of possibilities, and the most significant result was that Butters Stotch stepped into the spotlight as both a driver of story and the funniest character on the show. He slides easily into his role of the group's bitch from the beginning. From his relative innocence to his relationship with his incredibly strict parents, Butters' differences from the other boys open up a totally new dynamic that finishes Cartman's transformation from harmless jerk to powerful, sociopathic manipulator.

However, Butters doesn't reach peak Butters until he's kicked out of the gang and assumes his alter ego of Professor Chaos, the embodiment of pitiful alienation that solidifies his character for perpetuity. And though Butters doesn't reprise the role in The Return of The Fellowship of the Ring to The Two Towers, his turn as a Gollum-type porn addict provides the highlight of a top five episode of the show's history; a perfect mixture of the "boys just being boys," a beautifully coherent story, and references to the pop culture world.

The non-Butters episodes in Season 6 are nearly as funny, particularly when Parker and Stone have fun with the notion of Kenny's soul becoming trapped inside Cartman in A Ladder to Heaven and The Biggest Douche in the Universe. The introduction of Mr. Slave makes Garrison even more hilariously disturbing, and Tweek is flat-out adorable in his stint as Kenny's stand-in. The cast was expanding and so were the plots' scales, but the show wasn't even close to reaching the massively overblown nature it would achieve in its teen years.

Season 6 is the ideal transitional period that most shows wish they could achieve, and it's one of the best efforts South Park has ever thrown together.

Best Episode: The Return of The Fellowship of the Ring to The Two Towers

Worst Episode: Fun With Veal