'South Park'; "A Nightmare on Facetime" Comedy Central Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on Reddit Post a Comment Share on Whats App Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Print the Article Share on Tumblr Earlier this week, Comedy Central announced its latest episode of South Park would be delayed - once again, in two oddly scheduled back-to-back seasons. Under normal circumstances, that would spark fan outrage, Reddit conspiracy theories and at least one person posting to X that "this show hasn't been funny since 2008." But for once, fans didn't freak out - because creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are busy doing something sacred: creating a fresh South Park Halloween episode. And spirits are high. Season 27 and its glide into season 28 have been a reminder that South Park is still one of the most vicious, nimble and weirdly insightful shows on television. Colorado mountain town chaos? Check. National figure roastings? Yep. Cultural discourse delivered like a punch in the ribs from a drunk mall Santa? You bet. So if the rumors are true and this year's special involves President Trump treating the East Wing like a drywall training course, that's not a plot - that's a gift. Which brings us to this list below. With an unexpected scheduling gap and absolutely zero self-control, THR dove back into the show's ghostly archives. Behold, a definitive ranking of South Park's Halloween episodes - a list that, indeed, will become obsolete once this year's Halloween episode drops on Comedy Central. "Tegridy Farms Halloween Special" (Season 23, Episode 5) Image Credit: Comedy Central In this episode, Randy Marsh's weed-farmer story arc hit peak self-indulgence. Unfortunately, the Halloween dressing of haunted marijuana and stoner paranoia are not enough to mask how stale the Tegridy Farms plot had become by the time this episode aired. At this point, the initially clever satire on commercialization and dunking on performative integrity hit nicely, but ends up being smothered by Randy's repetitive gags (his daughter's weed problem is that she doesn't like weed; it wasn't quite funny-ha-ha the first time). A few sight gags do land, though, as Shelly gets a rare moment in the spotlight and the Butters has something to say about manipulative relationships. But it's one of the team's least funny Halloween entries (like weed without the high). "Sons a Witches" (Season 22, Episode 6) Image Credit: Comedy Central In this send-up of toxic male culture, Randy Marsh and his dad pals head to their "Witch Week" retreat - but whoops, they accidentally conjure a real witch who terrorizes the town and snatches its children. It's a classic South Park critique of male hypocrisy with an of-the-moment #MeToo-era metaphor, comparing the rituals of male bonding to predatory entitlement. Meanwhile, Cartman is annoyed with his time-burglar girlfriend, Heidi. The episode loses focus around the halfway point as slapstick broom gags take hold and a Trump-era parody is tossed up in the air but never really lands. Which is why, in the end, this one fits snugly in second-to-last place. "A Nightmare on Face Time" (Season 16, Episode 12) Image Credit: Comedy Central Perpetually hapless Randy Marsh makes the hasty decision to buy a Blockbuster video store in this excellent mid-series Halloween romp. Unfortunately for Randy and the Marshes, this is 2012 and streaming killed the video stores. But parodies of The Shining live to see another day. All failure and no business success make Randy a not-so-dull Jack Nicholson-style psycho as he starts acting odd, speaking to comic apparitions (Victorian ghosts flailing, grasping to rent videos - more like this, please). The Shining parody works, especially when filtered through Randy's unique delusion (too bad The Simpsons already did it). The kids' subplot, dressed as The Avengers, also skewers early streaming culture and online addiction with perfect timing. The satire here is more nostalgic than biting but it's funny, smart and perhaps eight minutes too long. "Hell on Earth 2006" (Season 10, Episode 09) Image Credit: Comedy Central In a sharp send-up of a certain celebutante era in the mid-aughts, South Park has everyone's problematically favorite bundle of anxiety, Satan, throwing a Halloween party that mirrors the spoiled teens on the long-gone series My Super Sweet 16. Hell is a TMZ-ready L.A. nightclub, in perfect South Park absurdism, and the summoning of Biggie Smalls ups the episode's stock. The gags come hard and fast throughout the episode, which can make it feel bloated. The show detours into Hell and its inhabitants are always welcome, but the B-plot with Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy doesn't go anywhere (aside from a necrophilia gag that's probably too much). The satire here is strong, but at times the episode gets lost in gore and noise, and is left chasing its own punchlines. "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers" (Seas