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South Park originated from Parker and Stone's 1992 animated short, Jesus vs. Frosty. The low-budget, crudely-made film featured prototypes of South Parks main characters. Fox executive Brian Graden saw the film and in 1995 commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film, which became Jesus vs. Santa. This short more closely resembled what would become the style of South Park. It became popular and was widely shared over the Internet. This led to talks to create a series, first with Fox, then with Comedy Central, where the series debuted on August 13, 1997. Comedy Central originally ordered only six episodes of South Park for the first season's initial run. However, when the show proved to be a success, it requested an additional seven, which Parker and Stone had to produce quickly. The show was released on DVD in November 2002 in region 1, and in October 2007 in region 2 and 4. The first season was a ratings success for Comedy Central. Its Nielsen ratings rose from 1.3 for the first episode to 6.4 by the tenth episode. Several episodes received award nominations, including nominations for a 1998 Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)" and a GLAAD Award in the "Outstanding TV � Individual Episode" category for the episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". During the season, South Park won a CableACE Award for "Best Animated Series", and was nominated for a 1998 Annie Award in the "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program". Critics gave the season mixed reviews, from rating it so offensive that it "shouldn't have been made" and "it doesn't just push the envelope; it knocks it off the table," to "coming pretty damn close" to being a "perfect" television series season. |