South Park: Ranking Every Season From Worst To Best

1. Season 10 (2006)

If South Park were The Beatles, Season 1 would be the group of singles that heralded the band's rise, and Season 10 would be Sgt. Pepper, the realization of the show's mature vision and a critically and popularly acclaimed masterpiece.

The one meh episode of the bunch, the Towelie feature A Million Little Fibers, can be forgiven because each of the other thirteen episodes in the season is great, if not excellent. So much of that rides on the fact that in Season 10, Cartman hits his undisputed peak. Obviously he excels in the role of sociopath, which he plays to perfection in the Cartoon Wars duology, the best statement that South Park has ever made on censorship and a huge reason that Season 10 is so good.

But Cartman also succeeds in other roles, from his heroics in Make Love, Not Warcraft to his schizoid breakdown in Tsst. He's versatile, he's ubiquitous, and he's perfect in every Season 10 episode. That said, even the non-Cartman-centric episodes are worth re-watching. Stanley's Cup is my personal favorite of the group, mostly because I can't think of any other depiction of a happy ending for the other team, especially not a happy ending that involves the absolute pummeling of Stan's motley crew of five-year-old hockey players and causes the death of poor, leukemia-stricken Nelson.

It's the sort of absurdist close to a story that could only work on South Park, and the fact that Parker and Stone were daring enough to kill off the cliché sick kid shows how little they care about their audience's heartstrings, which is to say that they know their fans welcome being gutted like that for the sake of irreverence.

From top to bottom, Season 10 represents the apex not only of South Park's second era, but of the entire series.

Best Episode: Stanley's Cup

Worst Episode: A Million Little Fibers

Agree with this ranking? Which season of South Park is your favourite? Let us know in the comments.