South Park’s eighteenth season gets off to a mediocre start in season premiere “Go

Fund Yourself.” Last year’s season premiere struck me as simply okay, and this year was no different.

The episode starts with the boys rattling off ridiculous, filthy names that I cannot repeat because this is a school website. As it turns out, they aren’t saying dirty names just for kicks – they’re trying to come up with a name for their new Kickstarter company.

The task is easier said than done, however, since every good name has already been taken.

The boys finally agree to settle on a long name, which I also cannot repeat, until Cartman comes up with the plan to use the Washington Redskins’ name because “some dumb court thingy happened” and the trademark and logo are up for grabs.

Cartman spends a great deal of time boasting about how his company does nothing, yet somehow earns money. His slogan is only two letters away from the episode’s title.

The episode does a fantastic job ripping on Dan Snyder, the Redskins, and the NFL as a whole. I’ll admit the satire is excellent, even if the episode itself only made me laugh a few times.

South Park even takes a few digs on Ray Rice. They don’t use his name, but we all know who they’re talking about.

The beauty of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators, doing each episode in a week is the remarkable timeliness. The Ray Rice situation only just happened and South Park was able to pounce on it.

“Go Fund Yourself” was a smart and clever episode – it just wasn’t that funny. I enjoyed the episode, but it only got laughs when Cartman was yelling something outrageous. I hope Parker and Stone can quickly get back into the South Park rhythm and produce a better episode next week.

Grade: C+

Best quotation: “NFL, Catholic Church, same thing!” -Cartman

Best character: Cartman. He was the only truly funny part about his episode.

Funniest moment: My favorite part would have to be when Cartman’s company has a minor setback and he immediately freaks and blames Kyle.