"South Park" Season 10 Premieres: Chef Returns

In a timely allegory of recent developments at its production studios, "South Park," the hit Comedy Central animated series, kicked off its tenth season (can you believe it? Tenth!?!) with an episode titled "The Return of Chef!" The recent developments we're referring to here are, of course, the news and controversy of the resignation from the show of voice actor Isaac Hayes, who played the character of "Chef." ("Chef"'s actual character name in the show is "Jerome McElroy" -- bet you didn't know that, did you?) Hayes is a member of the Church of Scientology and had finally had enough of the satirical takes on religion that had been played out in many "South Park" episodes over the years. Scientology was the most recent religion to get the humorous take-down when an episode from last season poked fun at its beliefs. The irony of this first episode to air since Hayes' resignation is that it's initially about Chef returning to "South Park" after he quit his job at the school cafeteria and left the small Colorodo town on a long globe-trotting journey with the "Super Adventure Club." When Chef returns he's not quite the same. The episode is not so much funny as it is interesting as a sharply drawn allegory about Hayes departure from the long-running program. And there is some irony in that Hayes was not available to provide his Chef's voice for the season premiere, a problem solved by using chopped-up and mashed-up samples of his dialogue from previous episodes. There's a shocking, yet fitting ending, which, naturally, we won't reveal here. Fans of "South Park" won't want to miss it.

Posted by Thurston Ali at March 23, 2006 02:31 AM