But the writers kept it simple, and just went for the laughs, and enough time had passed for the jokes to not seem, "South Park shows Michael Jackson and Patrick Swayze in purgatory", "Chipotle Says Their Food Does Not Cause Underwear Blood", "Syfy 'Ghost Hunters': Living Normally Within Paranormal Pop Culture", "South Park, "Dead Celebrities": Ignorance, not bliss", "South Park Season 13 (R1/US BD) in March", "South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season Blu-ray Review", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dead_Celebrities&oldid=975250549, Television episodes about spirit possession, Television episodes about beauty pageants, Short description is different from Wikidata, Television episode articles with short description for single episodes, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 27 August 2020, at 16:20.
Eventually, Ike goes into a coma due to his multiple experiences with the ghosts, and is hospitalized.
Sir Ike Moisha Broflovski, born as Peter Gintz, first appeared in the Season One episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".
[4], 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. 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. [12] 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. 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 arrested for masturbating while watching the children, leaving a single, unimpressed female judge (much to the shock of the boys, who were unaware of the men's lewd acts and considered them the best judges).
"Dead Celebrities" is the eighth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park. [2][3][4] 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 and deaths of celebrities. Dr. Philips manages to contact the spirits and tell them that they have passed on. Cartman then shows commercials that feature Mays on television, implying that he is an enthusiastic supporter of a product which Mays promoted while he was still alive, called "ChipotlAway", which cleans bloodstains from people's underwear caused by eating food from Chipotle Mexican Grill. "Dead Celebrities" also parodied the films The Sixth Sense and Poltergeist. [19], "When I first learned of the premise of this episode, I was expecting some biting social commentary on our culture's obsession with celebrities and the hypocrisy of treating them like dirt when they're alive and practically worshiping them when they die. The reality series Ghost Hunters and its stars, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, were mocked in the episode. Stan at first opposes but he, with Cartman and Kenny take shovels and the scene ends with the boys digging Jackson's grave to show he is dead while Ike/Jackson dances. It received a 1.8 rating/3 share, and a 1.5 rating/4 share among viewers aged between 18 and 49. Ike's voice has been provided by many children, usually relatives of show personnel due to their young-sounding voice, as described during the commentary of "Trapper Keeper". ", "Dead Celebrities", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Park's thirteenth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set and two-disc Blu-ray set in the United States on March 16, 2010. According to Nielsen ratings, "Dead Celebrities" was seen by 2.67 million overall households. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode,[17] 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 with Inside Xbox host Major Nelson. "[7][8] 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. [2][4] Mays' son, Billy Mays III, a self-proclaimed South Park fan, said he loved "Dead Celebrities", and found its portrayal of his late father tasteful and respectful.
After the energy disturbance, Jackson's spirit takes over Ike's body, causing Ike to sound and act like Jackson himself. It first aired on October 7, 2009 in the United States on Comedy Central. 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. Two deceased celebrities, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite and Patrick Swayze, explain to Dr. Phillips that his refusal to acknowledge his death is the main cause of them being stuck. The boys find from online research that the only way to make Jackson believe he is dead is to give him the acceptance he sought in life, so they take him to a child beauty pageant for young girls. The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States (specifically for adults, with coarse language).
Shortly after the episode first aired, a Chipotle spokesperson said via a Twitter message that the claim was false. He has also been mistaken for both a trash can and a table post, as well as compared to a football. [3] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said the episode was in bad taste, but added, "I laughed until I choked". It featured a frightened Ike standing above the phrase, "I see dead celebrities".
[4], In its original American broadcast on October 7, 2009, "Dead Celebrities" was watched by 2.67 million overall households, according to Nielsen ratings. [18], A deleted scene from this episode is included on the complete thirteenth season DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets. It shows the boys taking Michael Jackson (in Ike's body) to the Glendale location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries to prove he is dead. At the hospital, the boys seek help from Dr. Philips, 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 that isn't quite ready to take off. The 189th overall episode of the series, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 7, 2009. The 189th overall episode of the series, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 7, 2009.
Hawes and Wilson said they loved the parody and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter accounts. "Dead Celebrities" is the eighth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park. We can view death as the end, or a new beginning to something else. Sepinwall added he liked the Chipotle subplot, but commented, "Overall, 'Dead Celebrities' was a misfire. Surprisingly to her, the celebrities are all too acceptant of the fact, with the only exception being Michael Jackson. "[5] 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". Some of the celebrities help Dr. Philips and the boys try to convince Jackson that he is dead, but Jackson keeps denying it and insists that people are ignorant and he is not only alive, but also a little white child. Among the celebrities featured in the episode were Jackson, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite, Dom DeLuise, Ted Kennedy, Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, David Carradine, DJ AM, Ricardo Montalbán, and Steve McNair. [4][5] The most prominently featured of these celebrities is pop singer Michael Jackson, who died of multiple drug intoxication on June 25.[2][4].