Dead Celebrities
Encyclopedia
"Dead Celebrities" is the eighth episode of the thirteenth season
of the American animated television series South Park
, and the 189th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central
in the United States on October 7, 2009. In the episode, Ike is haunted by the ghosts of dead celebrities, and is eventually possessed by the spirit of Michael Jackson
.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. "Dead Celebrities" included references to several actors, singers and famous people who died in the summer of 2009, when South Park was on a mid-season hiatus. Among the celebrities featured in the episode were Billy Mays
, Ed McMahon
, Farrah Fawcett
, Patrick Swayze
, Walter Cronkite
, Dom DeLuise
, Natasha Richardson
, Bea Arthur, and David Carradine
. "Dead Celebrities" also parodied the films The Sixth Sense
and Poltergeist.
The reality series Ghost Hunters
and its stars, Jason Hawes
and Grant Wilson
, were mocked in the episode. Hawes and Wilson said they loved the parody and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter
accounts. A subplot claimed food at the Chipotle Mexican Grill
resulted in customers defecating blood, a claim which was disputed by the restaurant chain within days of the episode's broadcast. "Dead Celebrities" received generally mixed reviews. According to Nielsen ratings
, "Dead Celebrities" was seen by 2.67 million overall households.
, David Carradine
, Ed McMahon
, Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)
, and especially Billy Mays
, who repeatedly tries selling Ike products from the afterlife. When Kyle
finds out about the ghost his brother is encountering, he is terrified. He tells Stan
, Cartman
and Kenny
about the encounters and Cartman does not initially care, but suddenly changes his mind when Kyle mentions that one of the ghosts haunting Ike is Billy Mays. Cartman is an enthusiastic supporter of a product which Mays promoted, called "ChipotlAway", which cleans bloodstains from people's underwear caused by eating food from Chipotle Mexican Grill
, and therefore decides to help. The boys call the team from the reality television series Ghost Hunters
in to help, but they quickly become frightened and run away after urinating
themselves. Eventually, Ike goes into a coma
because of his multiple experiences with the ghosts.
The boys seek help from a medium
(a parody of Zelda Rubinstein
's character in Poltergeist), who explains the celebrities are trapped in purgatory
, which she compares to being stuck on a plane waiting endlessly on a runway for permission to take off. The ghosts of these annoyed celebrities are shown in this purgatory, which resembles the interior of an airplane, complete with seats, flight attendant
s and pilot voice-over announcements. The medium manages to contact the spirits and Walter Cronkite
, another recently deceased person, tells her that they are trapped because Michael Jackson
refuses to acknowledge his death
. The medium and the boys try to convince Jackson that he is dead, but Jackson insists he is not only alive, but also a little Caucasian
girl
. His denial is so strong that he emits a very powerful force which knocks the medium off her feet and through the open window of Ike's hospital room. She then falls to her death.
After the energy disturbance, Jackson's spirit takes over Ike's body, causing Ike to speak, sing and dance like Jackson himself. The boys find from online research that the only way to make Jackson accept his death is to make him experience the acceptance he sought in life, so they take him to a child beauty pageant
for young girls. Dressed like a little girl, Ike/Jackson impresses two of the male judges by singing a tune sounding similar to Jackson's "You Are Not Alone
," but they are promptly arrest
ed for masturbating
while watching the children, leaving a single, unimpressed female judge. When Cartman notices the judge eating Chipotle, he bribes her with knowledge about the ChipotlAway product, and she declares Ike/Jackson the winner as a result. A few of the other contestants are physically beaten by their parents for losing. Having found his acceptance, Jackson leaves Ike's body, and Ike is extremely surprised and annoyed to find himself dressed like a little girl. Jackson and the other celebrities in purgatory are finally able to lift off. Initially happy, they are soon taken to Hell
. To their annoyance, however, a flight attendant tells them that they must again wait as Hell is a tow gate
.
"Dead Celebrities" was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. It first aired on October 7, 2009 in the United States on Comedy Central
. The day after "Dead Celebrities" was originally broadcast, T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts based on the episode was made available at South Park Studios, the official South Park website. It featured a frightened Ike standing above the phrase, "I see dead celebrities".
"Dead Celebrities" includes references to several actors, singers and other celebrities who died in the summer of 2009, when the thirteenth season of South Park was on a mid-season hiatus. The episode serves not only to parody the celebrities themselves, but also to provide commentary on the tendency of American media to exploit, idolatrize and excessively report on the lives of celebrities. The most prominently featured of these celebrities is pop singer Michael Jackson, who died from a cardiac arrest
on June 25.
Billy Mays, a television advertisement salesman, is the first dead celebrity featured in the episode, and plays a large role in the early part of the script. Mays' son, Billy Mays III, a self-proclaimed South Park fan, said he loved "Dead Celebrities", and found its portrayal of his father tasteful and respectful. He said, "South Park gets a little edgy sometimes, but at their core, they're just social satire, you know? I think it was natural for them to do a dead celebrities episode with this whole summer and how it's been, and I think the way they did it was pretty tasteful for the most part." The spirit of David Carradine
is shown wearing bondage gear, a reference to his June 3, 2009, death by autoerotic asphyxiation. Among the others featured in the episode were actress Farrah Fawcett
, journalist Walter Cronkite
, disc jockey Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)
, politician Ted Kennedy
, actress Beatrice Arthur
, television personality Ed McMahon
, actor Patrick Swayze
, actress Natasha Richardson
, hot dog magnate Oscar G. Mayer, Jr.
and actor/chef Dom DeLuise
.
message that the claim was false. In the episode's commentary, Trey Parker and Matt Stone admitted that they loved Chipotle, but found it funnier to use a restaurant with a healthy reputation rather than a place like McDonald's
or Taco Bell
. Ike's ability to see the spirits of dead celebrities serves as a parody of the 1999 thriller film The Sixth Sense
, which stars Haley Joel Osment
as a young boy who can see ghosts. Ike's line, "I see dead celebrities", is a reference to that film's most famous line, "I see dead people." The old lady psychic with a very high-pitched voice is a reference to the character played by Zelda Rubinstein
in the 1982 horror film, Poltergeist. "Dead Celebrities" also mocks the Syfy
reality television series Ghost Hunters by featuring the show's stars attempting to contact the celebrity spirits, only to be frightened and run away. The episode also mocks "The Exorcist" when the medium is flung from the window. The episode also parodies children's beauty pageants and the tendency of stage mother
s to become unhealthily obsessed with their children winning such contests.
. It received a 1.8 rating/3 share, and a 1.5 rating/4 share among viewers aged between 18 and 49. Jason Hawes
and Grant Wilson
, the stars of Ghost Hunters
said they loved the parody of themselves in "Dead Celebrities" and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter
accounts.
The episode received generally mixed reviews. Ramsley Isler of IGN
called "Dead Celebrities" one of the best episodes of the season, adding the jokes at the expense of the deceased were not too tasteless. He praised the parodies of The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist and Ghost Hunters, but said some jokes, like the masturbating judges at the children's beauty contest, were offensive and unfunny. Jason Hawes
and Grant Wilson
, stars of Ghost Hunters
, declared that "far from being offended or incensed [...] they loved being made fun of alongside Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. Carlos Delgado of iF Magazine said "Dead Celebrities" was an especially funny episode that also featured a "crapload of story" that was well-timed for the Halloween
season. Josh Modell of The A.V. Club
called it "a decent episode", but felt the dead celebrities were too obvious targets for South Park satire, adding, "It's easy to make the same jokes that the rest of the world already has." Modell said the Sixth Sense and Poltergeist references "fell a little flat", but he praised the Chipotle subplot, which he called "beautifully random [and] totally ridiculous". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
said the episode was in bad taste, but added, "I laughed until I choked". Tucker described the Michael Jackson impersonation as "first-rate" and felt the solution to freeing Jackson's spirit served as "a ruthless parody of child beauty pageants".
Ingela Ratledge of TV Guide
favorably described the episode as the exact opposite of award show segments that reverentially pay homage to the year's departed celebrities, calling it "a wonderfully tasteless farewell." Sue Bergerstein, an arts and celebrity writer with Examiner.com
, called "Dead Celebrities" a "new low" for South Park, adding "It's not only tasteless but this episode just adds to the sadness currently experienced by all the mourning relatives." Newsweek
writer Joshua Alston said few of the jokes in "Dead Celebrities" were funny, and so the mocking of celebrities "in the absence of laughs, felt tasteless and unnecessary". Alan Sepinwall, television journalist with The Star-Ledger
, said many of the episodes seemed rehashed and predictable, especially those targeting Michael Jackson and children's beauty pageants. Sepinwall added he liked the Chipotle subplot, but commented, "Overall, 'Dead Celebrities' was a misfire."
Mitch Norton of the SLC Cartoon Analysis found the episode to be extremely funny. "Genius is not only found in the reference to the deaths of celebrities, but creates a new way to view death as a way to live on. We can view death as the end, or a new beginning to something else."
set and two-disc Blu-Ray
set in the United States on March 16, 2010. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and a special mini-feature Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of South Park Studios, which discussed the process behind animating the show Inside xBox.
A deleted scene from this episode is included on the complete thirteenth season DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets. Featuring the boys taking Michael Jackson (in Ike's body) to a cemetery to prove he is dead, Jackson's grave shows his date of death as July 25, 2009, when in fact he died on June 25.
South Park (season 13)
The 13th season of South Park, an American animated television comedy series, originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central between March 11 and November 18, 2009. The season was headed by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who served as executive producers along with Anne...
of the American animated television series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, and the 189th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States on October 7, 2009. In the episode, Ike is haunted by the ghosts of dead celebrities, and is eventually possessed by the spirit of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. "Dead Celebrities" included references to several actors, singers and famous people who died in the summer of 2009, when South Park was on a mid-season hiatus. Among the celebrities featured in the episode were Billy Mays
Billy Mays
William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products on the Home Shopping Network, and through his company, Mays Promotions, Inc...
, Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
, Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
, Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...
, Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death and the father of: actor, director, pianist, and writer Peter DeLuise; actor David DeLuise; and actor Michael DeLuise...
, Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
, Bea Arthur, and David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
. "Dead Celebrities" also parodied the films The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
and Poltergeist.
The reality series Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
and its stars, Jason Hawes
Jason Hawes
Jason Conrad Hawes is the founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which is in its seventh season.-Family:He and his wife have five children - three girls and twin boys...
and Grant Wilson
Grant Wilson
Grant Steven Wilson is the co-founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which has just been renewed for its seventh season.-Personal life:He and his wife Reanna have three sons...
, were mocked in the episode. Hawes and Wilson said they loved the parody and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
accounts. A subplot claimed food at the Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. is a chain of restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada specializing in burritos and tacos, founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and based in Denver, Colorado...
resulted in customers defecating blood, a claim which was disputed by the restaurant chain within days of the episode's broadcast. "Dead Celebrities" received generally mixed reviews. According to Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, "Dead Celebrities" was seen by 2.67 million overall households.
Plot
Ike is terrified by frequent encounters with the ghosts of recently deceased celebrities. He is haunted by people such as Farrah FawcettFarrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
, David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
, Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
, Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)
Adam Goldstein
Adam Michael Goldstein was an American DJ, remixer, record producer and musician better known as DJ AM. Goldstein was a member of the rock band Crazy Town, co-owner of a management company called Deckstar and worked on albums for Papa Roach, Madonna and Will Smith, among others...
, and especially Billy Mays
Billy Mays
William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products on the Home Shopping Network, and through his company, Mays Promotions, Inc...
, who repeatedly tries selling Ike products from the afterlife. When Kyle
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
finds out about the ghost his brother is encountering, he is terrified. He tells Stan
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
and Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
about the encounters and Cartman does not initially care, but suddenly changes his mind when Kyle mentions that one of the ghosts haunting Ike is Billy Mays. Cartman is an enthusiastic supporter of a product which Mays promoted, called "ChipotlAway", which cleans bloodstains from people's underwear caused by eating food from Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. is a chain of restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada specializing in burritos and tacos, founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and based in Denver, Colorado...
, and therefore decides to help. The boys call the team from the reality television series Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
in to help, but they quickly become frightened and run away after urinating
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
themselves. Eventually, Ike goes into a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
because of his multiple experiences with the ghosts.
The boys seek help from a medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
(a parody of Zelda Rubinstein
Zelda Rubinstein
Zelda Rubinstein was an American actress and human rights activist, best known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the movie Poltergeist and its sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side , and Poltergeist III . Playing 'Ginny', she was a regular on David E...
's character in Poltergeist), who explains the celebrities are trapped in purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
, which she compares to being stuck on a plane waiting endlessly on a runway for permission to take off. The ghosts of these annoyed celebrities are shown in this purgatory, which resembles the interior of an airplane, complete with seats, flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
s and pilot voice-over announcements. The medium manages to contact the spirits and Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, another recently deceased person, tells her that they are trapped because Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
refuses to acknowledge his death
Death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication after he suffered a respiratory arrest at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said he found Jackson in his room, not breathing, but with a faint pulse,...
. The medium and the boys try to convince Jackson that he is dead, but Jackson insists he is not only alive, but also a little Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
girl
Girl
A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.-Etymology:...
. His denial is so strong that he emits a very powerful force which knocks the medium off her feet and through the open window of Ike's hospital room. She then falls to her death.
After the energy disturbance, Jackson's spirit takes over Ike's body, causing Ike to speak, sing and dance like Jackson himself. The boys find from online research that the only way to make Jackson accept his death is to make him experience the acceptance he sought in life, so they take him to a child beauty pageant
Child beauty pageant
A child beauty pageant is a beauty contest featuring contestants up to 18 years of age. Divisions include talent, interview, sportswear, casual wear, swim wear, western wear, theme wear, outfit of choice, decade wear, and evening wear, typically wearing makeup as well as elaborate hairstyles...
for young girls. Dressed like a little girl, Ike/Jackson impresses two of the male judges by singing a tune sounding similar to Jackson's "You Are Not Alone
You Are Not Alone
"You Are Not Alone", released on the 10th of August 1995, is the second single from Michael Jackson's album HIStory. The R&B ballad's composition has been attributed R. Kelly in response to difficult times in his personal life. He then forwarded a bare demo tape to Jackson, who liked the song and...
," but they are promptly arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed for masturbating
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
while watching the children, leaving a single, unimpressed female judge. When Cartman notices the judge eating Chipotle, he bribes her with knowledge about the ChipotlAway product, and she declares Ike/Jackson the winner as a result. A few of the other contestants are physically beaten by their parents for losing. Having found his acceptance, Jackson leaves Ike's body, and Ike is extremely surprised and annoyed to find himself dressed like a little girl. Jackson and the other celebrities in purgatory are finally able to lift off. Initially happy, they are soon taken to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. To their annoyance, however, a flight attendant tells them that they must again wait as Hell is a tow gate
Gate (airport)
A gate in aviation is a long, movable, "bridge" that allows passengers to embark and disembark their aircraft.* Jetway bridges* Air stairs, either built into the aircraft or from a mobile vehicle* Mobile lounges...
.
Production and theme
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. It first aired on October 7, 2009 in the United States on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
. The day after "Dead Celebrities" was originally broadcast, T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts based on the episode was made available at South Park Studios, the official South Park website. It featured a frightened Ike standing above the phrase, "I see dead celebrities".
"Dead Celebrities" includes references to several actors, singers and other celebrities who died in the summer of 2009, when the thirteenth season of South Park was on a mid-season hiatus. The episode serves not only to parody the celebrities themselves, but also to provide commentary on the tendency of American media to exploit, idolatrize and excessively report on the lives of celebrities. The most prominently featured of these celebrities is pop singer Michael Jackson, who died from a cardiac arrest
Death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication after he suffered a respiratory arrest at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said he found Jackson in his room, not breathing, but with a faint pulse,...
on June 25.
Billy Mays, a television advertisement salesman, is the first dead celebrity featured in the episode, and plays a large role in the early part of the script. Mays' son, Billy Mays III, a self-proclaimed South Park fan, said he loved "Dead Celebrities", and found its portrayal of his father tasteful and respectful. He said, "South Park gets a little edgy sometimes, but at their core, they're just social satire, you know? I think it was natural for them to do a dead celebrities episode with this whole summer and how it's been, and I think the way they did it was pretty tasteful for the most part." The spirit of David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
is shown wearing bondage gear, a reference to his June 3, 2009, death by autoerotic asphyxiation. Among the others featured in the episode were actress Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
, journalist Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, disc jockey Adam Goldstein (DJ AM)
Adam Goldstein
Adam Michael Goldstein was an American DJ, remixer, record producer and musician better known as DJ AM. Goldstein was a member of the rock band Crazy Town, co-owner of a management company called Deckstar and worked on albums for Papa Roach, Madonna and Will Smith, among others...
, politician Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
, actress Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both...
, television personality Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995...
, actor Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...
, actress Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
, hot dog magnate Oscar G. Mayer, Jr.
Oscar G. Mayer, Jr.
Oscar Gustave Mayer was an American business executive who served as chairman of the Oscar Mayer meat and cold cut production company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, the third Oscar Mayer to lead the family business, following his grandfather, company founder, Oscar F. Mayer, who died in...
and actor/chef Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death and the father of: actor, director, pianist, and writer Peter DeLuise; actor David DeLuise; and actor Michael DeLuise...
.
Cultural references
"Dead Celebrities" makes frequent mention of the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain, describing the food as extremely tasty, but claiming it resulted in bloody stool. Shortly after the episode first aired, a Chipotle spokesperson said via a TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
message that the claim was false. In the episode's commentary, Trey Parker and Matt Stone admitted that they loved Chipotle, but found it funnier to use a restaurant with a healthy reputation rather than a place like McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
or Taco Bell
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
. Ike's ability to see the spirits of dead celebrities serves as a parody of the 1999 thriller film The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
, which stars Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
as a young boy who can see ghosts. Ike's line, "I see dead celebrities", is a reference to that film's most famous line, "I see dead people." The old lady psychic with a very high-pitched voice is a reference to the character played by Zelda Rubinstein
Zelda Rubinstein
Zelda Rubinstein was an American actress and human rights activist, best known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the movie Poltergeist and its sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side , and Poltergeist III . Playing 'Ginny', she was a regular on David E...
in the 1982 horror film, Poltergeist. "Dead Celebrities" also mocks the Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
reality television series Ghost Hunters by featuring the show's stars attempting to contact the celebrity spirits, only to be frightened and run away. The episode also mocks "The Exorcist" when the medium is flung from the window. The episode also parodies children's beauty pageants and the tendency of stage mother
Stage mother
In the performing arts, a stage mother is a term for the mother of a child actor. The mother will often drive her child to auditions, make sure he or she is on the set on time, etc...
s to become unhealthily obsessed with their children winning such contests.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on October 7, 2009, "Dead Celebrities" was watched by 2.67 million overall households, according to Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. It received a 1.8 rating/3 share, and a 1.5 rating/4 share among viewers aged between 18 and 49. Jason Hawes
Jason Hawes
Jason Conrad Hawes is the founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which is in its seventh season.-Family:He and his wife have five children - three girls and twin boys...
and Grant Wilson
Grant Wilson
Grant Steven Wilson is the co-founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which has just been renewed for its seventh season.-Personal life:He and his wife Reanna have three sons...
, the stars of Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
said they loved the parody of themselves in "Dead Celebrities" and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
accounts.
The episode received generally mixed reviews. Ramsley Isler of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
called "Dead Celebrities" one of the best episodes of the season, adding the jokes at the expense of the deceased were not too tasteless. He praised the parodies of The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist and Ghost Hunters, but said some jokes, like the masturbating judges at the children's beauty contest, were offensive and unfunny. Jason Hawes
Jason Hawes
Jason Conrad Hawes is the founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which is in its seventh season.-Family:He and his wife have five children - three girls and twin boys...
and Grant Wilson
Grant Wilson
Grant Steven Wilson is the co-founder of The Atlantic Paranormal Society , which is based in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is also one of the stars and co-producers of Syfy's Ghost Hunters, which has just been renewed for its seventh season.-Personal life:He and his wife Reanna have three sons...
, stars of Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
, declared that "far from being offended or incensed [...] they loved being made fun of alongside Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. Carlos Delgado of iF Magazine said "Dead Celebrities" was an especially funny episode that also featured a "crapload of story" that was well-timed for the Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
season. Josh Modell of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
called it "a decent episode", but felt the dead celebrities were too obvious targets for South Park satire, adding, "It's easy to make the same jokes that the rest of the world already has." Modell said the Sixth Sense and Poltergeist references "fell a little flat", but he praised the Chipotle subplot, which he called "beautifully random [and] totally ridiculous". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said the episode was in bad taste, but added, "I laughed until I choked". Tucker described the Michael Jackson impersonation as "first-rate" and felt the solution to freeing Jackson's spirit served as "a ruthless parody of child beauty pageants".
Ingela Ratledge of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
favorably described the episode as the exact opposite of award show segments that reverentially pay homage to the year's departed celebrities, calling it "a wonderfully tasteless farewell." Sue Bergerstein, an arts and celebrity writer with Examiner.com
Examiner.com
Examiner.com is a media company based in Denver, Colorado, that operates a network of local news websites, allowing "pro–am contributors" to share their city-based knowledge on a blog-like platform, in 238 markets throughout the United States and parts of Canada with two national editions, one for...
, called "Dead Celebrities" a "new low" for South Park, adding "It's not only tasteless but this episode just adds to the sadness currently experienced by all the mourning relatives." Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
writer Joshua Alston said few of the jokes in "Dead Celebrities" were funny, and so the mocking of celebrities "in the absence of laughs, felt tasteless and unnecessary". Alan Sepinwall, television journalist with The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
, said many of the episodes seemed rehashed and predictable, especially those targeting Michael Jackson and children's beauty pageants. Sepinwall added he liked the Chipotle subplot, but commented, "Overall, 'Dead Celebrities' was a misfire."
Mitch Norton of the SLC Cartoon Analysis found the episode to be extremely funny. "Genius is not only found in the reference to the deaths of celebrities, but creates a new way to view death as a way to live on. We can view death as the end, or a new beginning to something else."
Home release
"Dead Celebrities", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Parks thirteenth season, were released on a three-disc DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set and two-disc Blu-Ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
set in the United States on March 16, 2010. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and a special mini-feature Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of South Park Studios, which discussed the process behind animating the show Inside xBox.
A deleted scene from this episode is included on the complete thirteenth season DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets. Featuring the boys taking Michael Jackson (in Ike's body) to a cemetery to prove he is dead, Jackson's grave shows his date of death as July 25, 2009, when in fact he died on June 25.
External links
- "Dead Celebrities" Full episode at South Park Studios
- "Dead Celebrities" Episode guide at South Park Studios