Stan is portrayed as the everyman of the group, [ 2 ] as the show's official website describes him as "a normal, average, American, mixed-up kid. Cartmanβloud, obnoxious, and obeseβis sometimes portrayed as the series' antihero [ 5 ] and his antisemitic attitude has resulted in an ever-progressing rivalry with Kyle.
During the show's first five seasons, Kenny died in almost every single episode before returning in the next without explanation. Stone and Parker perform the voices of most of the male South Park characters. Following the success of the short Jesus vs.
Santa , creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone conceived a plan to create a television series based on the short, with four children characters as the main stars. The series was originally set up at 20th Century Fox Television for its primetime premiere on FOX , which previously commissioned Parker and Stone to develop the short. However, FOX was not pleased with the show's inclusion of Mr.
Hankey, a talking poo character, and felt it wouldn't bode well with viewers. The network's executives also said that placing kids as the stars could not be as funny and popular as it would with the grown-ups and families, like The Simpsons and King of the Hill. They pitched the series to MTV and Comedy Central , and decided it was best suited for the latter, fearing the former could turn it to a more kid-friendly show later on.
Hankey would debut in the tenth episode, " Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo ". In tradition with the show's cutout animation style, the characters are composed of simple geometrical shapes and uninflected patches of predominantly primary colors. Stone and Parker voice most of the male South Park characters.
