Its hard to believe that South Park has now ran 23+ seasons. I remember as a teenager when it launched back in 1997 that I never imagined it would last beyond 2000. The show then (and even now) was so over the line I didn't think it could last. Comedy Central really wasn't considered a big cable network and this was before the Daily Show really hit its prime under Jon Stewart.
It hit in the right era as soon pro wrestling took notice. In fact you can credit Vince Russo for this idea in 1997. As a group of characters called The Oddities would be coming to the ring , one of the guys involved started carrying this.
This and Hollywood took notice as soon Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney did voices on the show. The show had crossed over more into toys and video games as well. As the 2000's rolled along ; South Park continued. It soon became more clearer on storylines ; multiple episodes could be used for one big story to tell. Soon whole seasons was being dedicated to 1 big storyline.
What is wild is this cartoon could have ended up on Fox Network at one time. The old story is South Park was given a pilot by Fox who then saw it and realized that there was no way the cartoon would survive on network. So Parker & Stone was helped by them to take it to Comedy Central who seemingly made a great decision as we know.
Now the series is so big , its spawned 2 great games. A fact many folks are now discovering just how good this show is and how 23 years later it is forever.