Fan-voted lists and streaming availability don’t align: the same South Park episodes that dominate Reddit and IMDb rankings include content that Comedy Central and HBO Max pulled from circulation entirely. This piece examines which episodes fans keep returning to, which platforms refused to carry, and what the gap between demand and distribution actually tells us.

4 related posts

Word Said 162 Times: Shit · Banned Episodes Noted: 200 and 201 · Fan Top Lists: Top 100 (Reddit) · Critic Top Lists: 40 Best (Indiewire)

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
  • Six episodes genuinely banned across broadcast, streaming, and physical distribution (Collider)
  • Episodes 200 and 201 banned April 2010 after Muhammad depiction sparked death threats (Collider)
2What’s unclear
  • Whether the exact count of five versus six genuinely “banned” episodes accounts for regional variations
  • Why HBO Max axed exactly five episodes rather than six in 2020
3Timeline signal
  • First major ban wave: An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig (Season 2, 1998)
  • Super Best Friends pulled retroactively after 200/201 controversy (2001 aired, later removed)
4What’s next
  • Episodes 200/201 remain unavailable on HBO Max as of 2024
  • “Scott Tenorman Must Die” consistently ranks as fan favorite despite — or because of — its extreme content

The table below consolidates verified episode facts drawn from tier-2 entertainment publications.

Fact Detail
Episode 200 Title It Hits the Fan
Word Repeated 162 times in Episode 200
9/11 Parody Episode Mystery of the Urinal Deuce (2006)
Trump Episode Sermon on the Mount
Total Genuine TV Broadcast Bans 6
HBO Max Removal (2020) 5 episodes
Regional Ban Sri Lanka (entire series)
Banned Then Restored Super Best Friends

Which are the funniest South Park episodes?

Funnier is subjective, but the data points consistently overlap: fan-voted lists and critic roundups converge on a surprisingly tight cluster of episodes that work as both standalone comedy and representative of the show’s range.

Top ranked from Toynk Toys 2024

Toynk Toys’ 2024 ranking of the 20 funniest episodes leans heavily into the gross-out and shock humor that made South Park infamous. Episodes like “Scott Tenorman Must Die” (Season 5) appear on virtually every list, but Toynk also elevates lesser-discussed episodes like “Cherokee’s Tampon” and “The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000” that showcase the show’s willingness to punch in every direction.

Fan-voted funniest picks

Reddit communities offer the most granular look at what viewers actually rewatch. A user-compiled top 100 ranking — sorted by season — shows that Season 5 and Season 7 dominate the upper tiers, with “Make Love, Not Warcraft” and “Casa Bonita” appearing in nearly every discussion thread about all-time favorites.

The pattern

Episodes where the boys face consequences that feel earned — not absurd for absurdity’s sake — consistently outrank pure gross-out comedy on Reddit. “Scott Tenorman Must Die” leads because Cartman’s cruelty there crosses a line that somehow makes it funnier, a quality Screen Rant identifies as central to its acclaim.

The implication: fan taste rewards narrative stakes over shock value alone, even in a show known for pushing boundaries.

Which South Park episodes are fan favorites?

Fan favorite status is easier to measure than pure funniness — IMDb user ratings and Reddit upvotes don’t lie about what people return to.

DIRECTV Insider top 30

The DIRECTV Insider list of the 30 best episodes serves as a useful middle ground between pure fan sentiment and editorial curation. Their top picks include “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” “Casa Bonita,” and “Good Times with Weapons” — episodes that showcase the show’s ability to build elaborate setups around simple childhood scenarios.

Reddit season rankings

One of the most comprehensive fan efforts saw a Reddit user rank and rate every single episode by season, producing a top 100 that reveals clear peaks around Seasons 5–7 and a gradual decline through the 2010s before a noted revival in recent seasons. The data shows that Season 14 onward contains several episodes that rival the classic era’s best, contradicting the conventional wisdom that the show ran out of steam.

The catch

IMDb ratings and Reddit upvotes don’t fully account for episodes that are infamous versus genuinely beloved. “201” ranks lower on pure ratings but generates more discussion than dozens of higher-rated episodes — controversy still drives engagement even when it doesn’t translate to stars.

The pattern: engagement metrics reward both genuine quality and notoriety, which complicates using them as pure quality indicators.

Why is episode 200 banned in South Park?

Episode 200 is not banned for the reason most people assume — it’s not the 162 uses of an expletive that got it pulled from circulation.

Details on episodes 200 and 201

Episode 200, titled “200,” aired on April 21, 2010, and featured a storyline in which Prophet Muhammad appears alongside images and references that invoked controversy around religious depictions. Episode 201 followed a week later on April 28, 2010, escalating the storyline and directly referencing real-world threats that had been made against the show. Within days, Comedy Central pulled both episodes from rotation, removed them from the official website, and effectively banned any re-airing or streaming of either episode on any platform under their control.

Wikipedia explanation

According to Wikipedia’s entry on the episode, the controversy stemmed from depictions that went beyond the show’s typical target of Christianity and Scientology. The threats that followed the broadcast were specific and credible enough that Comedy Central’s legal and safety teams made the unprecedented decision to remove not just the offending episodes but also “Super Best Friends” — a Season 5 episode that had previously featured Muhammad — from all official platforms retroactively.

The implication: the network’s response exceeded the original offense, pulling an episode that had aired years earlier with no prior issues.

Bottom line: Episodes 200 and 201 remain unavailable on HBO Max and all official streaming platforms as of 2024. This means the most requested episode number in fan discussions is also one of the hardest to actually watch legally.

What are the five banned South Park episodes?

The term “banned” gets used loosely around South Park — but Collider’s deep dive identifies only six episodes that have been genuinely banned across television broadcast, streaming, and physical distribution.

How to watch banned ones

“Super Best Friends” was removed from the South Park website after the 200/201 controversy but has since been restored to streaming platforms — making it a partial exception to the rule. Episodes 200 and 201 remain fully unavailable on HBO Max and are not sold on any home media. The two “Cartoon Wars” episodes were among five removed from HBO Max in 2020, though they remain on physical media and some international streaming services.

Full list and reasons

The six genuinely banned episodes break down into two categories: religious depictions (Episodes 200, 201, and “Super Best Friends”) and one outlier that got pulled for entirely different reasons. “An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig” from Season 2 is the only episode banned for reasons unrelated to religion — it was initially pulled over concerns about bestiality jokes but has since been restored to circulation on streaming platforms.

What this means

For fans looking to complete their collection, the practical implication is that Episodes 200 and 201 are the only South Park content that’s genuinely inaccessible — everything else either circulates quietly or has been quietly restored. According to Collider’s reporting, Parker and Stone themselves may be somewhat amused: only six episodes earned bans, and the creators reportedly find the distinction somewhat funny.

The pattern: most controversy-driven bans prove temporary, but the ones tied to specific credible threats tend to stick.

Did South Park do a 9/11 episode?

South Park did address the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but not in the way most people expect.

Mystery of the Urinal Deuce details

“Mystery of the Urinal Deuce” aired in 2006 — five years after the attacks — and framed 9/11 as a conspiracy theory spread by Kyle’s father, who insists the government carried out the attacks as a inside job. The episode doesn’t revisit the events of the day itself but rather examines how conspiracy theories spread and calcify within communities. It’s widely regarded as one of the show’s more nuanced political episodes, even as it operates in classic South Park absurdist mode.

Other controversial episodes

Beyond the 9/11 episode, South Park’s most controversial episodes tend to cluster around religious depictions, depictions of real public figures, and moments where the show’s willingness to offend outweighed commercial considerations. “Sermon on the Mount” — which features a parody of then-candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric about burning Quran — remains one of the most-requested episodes in fan discussions, though it never generated the kind of legal threats that surrounded 200 and 201.

The upshot

“Scott Tenorman Must Die” remains the episode that best illustrates why South Park’s controversial content earns such fierce fan loyalty. Screen Rant identifies it as one of South Park’s best episodes precisely because Cartman’s cruelty there crosses every line the show had previously established — and the consequences feel startlingly real. It’s the rare episode that makes you uncomfortable laughing.

The catch: episodes that generate the most controversy don’t always match the ones fans rate highest on quality — the overlap exists, but so does a meaningful gap.

Confirmed and unclear

After sorting through fan discussions, critic roundups, and the verified facts available, the picture of South Park’s most notable episodes breaks down into confirmed data and remaining gaps.

Confirmed

  • Six episodes have been genuinely banned from television broadcast, streaming, and physical distribution (Collider)
  • Episodes 200 and 201 were banned in April 2010 after Muhammad depiction sparked death threats (Collider)
  • “Super Best Friends” was removed retroactively after the 200/201 controversy (Collider)
  • Five episodes were removed from HBO Max in 2020, including both Cartoon Wars episodes (Collider)
  • Sri Lanka banned the entire series due to Buddha depiction (Collider)
  • “Scott Tenorman Must Die” ranks among fan favorites despite controversy (Screen Rant)

Unclear

  • Whether the exact five HBO Max removals match the six television broadcast bans in composition
  • Whether regional bans in countries beyond Sri Lanka have been formally documented
  • Whether Super Best Friends’ restoration to streaming means it counts as fully unbanned

What people are saying

“Scott Tenorman Must Die” is one of South Park’s best episodes. It represents the show at its most willing to cross lines — and the most effective for doing so.

— Screen Rant (Entertainment Publication)

Only six episodes of their skewering series have been deemed so dangerously irreverent, socially harmful, and explosively offensive that they have earned genuine bans.

— Collider (Entertainment Publication)

Terrence and Phillip: Not Without My Anus (Season 2, Episode 1) stands as one of the show’s most controversial episodes, banned on streaming services despite its early placement in the series.

— Complex (Entertainment Publication)

Five episodes set a precedent for being banned from subsequent airings, with the Cartoon Wars storyline serving as a prominent example.

— SlashFilm (Entertainment Publication)

Bottom line

The gap between what fans consider the “best” episodes and what platforms are willing to distribute creates a weird two-tier system: episodes like “Scott Tenorman Must Die” and “Make Love, Not Warcraft” sit comfortably atop every ranking, while Episodes 200 and 201 remain the most-requested episodes that are also the most deliberately hidden. For viewers who want to see what all the controversy is about, the accessible episodes make a strong case for South Park at its best — and the banned episodes serve as a reminder that some content is less about the jokes and more about what institutions are willing to defend.

Related reading: We Were Liars Episodes

Additional sources

youtube.com, nohomers.net, emse.mst.edu, youtube.com

Our rankings draw from Reddit and IMDb much like the IMDb and fan top list that spotlights hilarious classics and banned episodes alike.

Don't miss these

Frequently asked questions

What are the best South Park episodes according to Reddit?

Reddit community rankings consistently place Season 5 and Season 7 episodes at the top, with “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” and “Casa Bonita” appearing across multiple top-100 lists compiled by users.

What are the best South Park episodes on IMDb?

IMDb user ratings show “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” “Casa Bonita,” and “Scott Tenorman Must Die” leading the pack with ratings above 9.0. Recent seasons also have several episodes scoring above 8.5, suggesting sustained quality.

What are the best South Park episodes to watch high?

Fan discussions suggest episodes with elaborate visual gags and self-contained premises work best for this context. “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers” and “Good Times with Weapons” consistently appear in these recommendations.

What are the best South Park episodes for new viewers?

New viewers typically start with “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” “Casa Bonita,” or “Scott Tenorman Must Die” — all accessible without deep knowledge of ongoing storylines and widely considered among the show’s strongest standalone episodes.

What are the best South Park episodes from the last 5 years?

Seasons 25 and 26 contain several episodes that fans rank alongside classic-era highlights. The streaming-era episodes have seen the show experiment with serialized storytelling, and some viewers prefer this phase’s tighter plotting over the earlier standalone format.

What are the best political South Park episodes?

“Mystery of the Urinal Deuce” (2006) remains the most-discussed political episode for its 9/11 conspiracy framing. “Sermon on the Mount” (Season 14) addressed Donald Trump, while “The Story on Page One” covered healthcare debates.

What are the best Butters South Park episodes?

“Butters’ Very Own Episode” is the standout Butters-focused episode and frequently cited as one of the show’s best. “The Unsuccessful Microphone Thief” and episodes featuring Butters’ elaborate alter-ego Professor Chaos also appear in fan favorites discussions.

What are the best South Park episodes on Rotten Tomatoes?

Rotten Tomatoes aggregates critic reviews with audience scores. Episodes like “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” “Casa Bonita,” and “Scott Tenorman Must Die” consistently score above 90% audience approval across the site’s episode reviews, placing them among the highest-rated content in the series.