" Weight Gain 4000 " is the second episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park . It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 20, 1997. In the episode, the residents of South Park excitedly prepare for a visit by celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford, whom schoolteacher Mr. Garrison plans to assassinate because of a childhood grudge. In the meantime, fourth-grader Cartman becomes explosively obese after buying Weight Gain 4000, a bodybuilding supplement.
Written and directed by series co-founders Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "Weight Gain 4000" was rated TV-MA in the United States. After the South Park pilot episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" drew poor test audience results, Comedy Central requested a script for one more new episode before deciding whether to commit to a full series. The resulting script for "Weight Gain 4000" helped the network decide to pick up the show. It was also the first South Park episode created completely using computers rather than construction paper.
Although criticized by some for its profanity and other material deemed offensive at the time of its original broadcast, several reviewers felt the episode was a significant improvement over the pilot, particularly for its satirical element regarding American consumerism. The episode introduced such recurring characters as Jimbo Kern, Mayor McDaniels, Bebe Stevens and Clyde Donovan. The show's portrayal of Kathie Lee Gifford was the first time a celebrity was spoofed in South Park . Cartman's line "Beefcake" became one of the most popular catchphrases from the series.
Plot
At the beginning of the episode, teacher Mr. Garrison announces that fourth-grader Cartman has won the South Park Elementary's "Save Our Fragile Planet" essay contest, much to the anger of his classmate Wendy, who immediately suspects him of cheating. The rest of the town becomes a flurry of excitement upon learning celebrity television host Kathie Lee Gifford will come to South Park to present Cartman with an award on national television. Mayor McDaniels plans a big event to showcase the town, with hopes of furthering her own career. She recruits cafeteria worker Chef to sing at the event, unaware Chef has plans to seduce Gifford through his song. Mr. Garrison directs rehearsals for a play with the schoolchildren depicting the history of South Park, which is to be shown at the event. Mayor McDaniels is horrified, however, to learn the historically accurate play includes children playing pioneers who attack and brutally beat the students portraying Native Americans.
Unbeknownst to the rest of town, Mr. Garrison relives a traumatic childhood memory in which a young Gifford defeated him in a national talent show. Mr. Garrison is manipulated by his hand puppet, Mr. Hat, to assassinate Gifford out of revenge. He purchases a large rifle from Jimbo's gun shop and plots to shoot her from the window of a book depository. Meanwhile, Cartman is excited to appear on live television, and Mayor McDaniels instructs him to get into shape for Gifford's visit. Later, Cartman watches a television commercial for "Weight Gain 4000", a bodybuilding supplement, and demands his mom buy it for him. Cartman becomes explosively fat from the product, although he is in excellent shape and the excess weight is strictly muscle. Back at the school, Wendy looks through Mr. Garrison's papers and confirms Cartman indeed cheated on the contest by writing his name on a copy of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Wendy also uncovers Mr. Garrison's assassination plan, and enlists her friend Stan's help to stop him.
Most of the town attends the celebratory event and Mr. Garrison takes his position in the book depository. As Gifford approaches, however, he is frustrated to see she is hidden behind a bulletproof glass bubble hitched to the top of a car. Wendy and Stan arrive and try unsuccessfully to stop him, but Mr. Garrison fires a shot and misses, hitting fourth-grader Kenny in the head. Kenny is propelled through the air and impaled on a flagpole. Gifford's bodyguards whisk Gifford away, costing a disappointed Cartman his chance to be on television. Wendy takes to the stage and announces Cartman cheated on his essay, but the townspeople are too upset about Gifford's departure to care. Mr. Garrison is taken to a mental hospital, where Mr. Hat is placed into a straightjacket, while Cartman appears on Geraldo because of his tremendous obesity, shouting, "Follow your dreams. You can reach your goals, I'm living proof...Beefcake, BEEFCAKE!" The episode ends with Chef having sex with Gifford.
Production
"Weight Gain 4000" was written and directed by series co-founders Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 20, 1997. The South Park pilot, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", did not do well with test audiences, and Comedy Central executives were unsure whether they wanted to order any additional episodes. However, they paid Parker and Stone to write another script when Internet buzz began to generate about the duo and their work on "The Spirit of Christmas", the 1995 animated short film that served as a precursor to South Park . The network opted not to commit to a full Comedy Central series until they could read the newly-commissioned script. The result was "Weight Gain 4000", which the two South Park creators wrote while they were working on their 1997 comedy-action film, Orgazmo .
In writing the script, the duo sought to give Comedy Central executives an idea of what the series would be like and how each show could differ from the others. Parker and Stone also said they would not write another script until the network signed off on the full show with a season of at least six episodes. Comedy Central liked the script and agreed to commit to a series. While "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" was created almost entirely with construction paper, "Weight Gain 4000" was the first South Park episode made completely using computers. It was created in little over a month in a studio in Westwood, California, by about 15 animators using PowerAnimator, the Alias Systems Corporation animation program most commonly known as "Alias", which would be used in subsequent episodes. In the future, South Park shows would be created within a week of their broadcast dates and require about 40 animators. "Weight Gain 4000" was animated in chronological order from beginning to end. Although Parker and Stone sought to improve the details and textures of the characters and overall animation, they also specifically chose Alias because it would allow the animation to maintain the show's deliberately crude visual style they first created with construction paper in "The Spirit of Christmas" and "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".
The South Park creators and animators said they were still developing the characters and trying to figure out the future direction of the show with "Weight Gain 4000", which was more slow-paced than the series would eventually become. The 30-page script was shorter than in later episodes, which would average between 45 to 50 pages. The child protagonists also spoke slower. While recording their voice performances, the actors read the lines slowly and the dialogue was then sped up to create the characters' distinctive voices. At that time, Parker and Stone had not mastered the pace at which they needed to speak. The crowd shots in "Weight Gain 4000" took a particularly long time to animate due to the large amount of people featured, and the animators were especially proud of the use of depth and motion in the perspective of the crosshairs in Mr. Garrison's rifle scope as he tried to assassinate Kathie Lee Gifford. Mr. Garrison's hatred for Gifford was foreshadowed in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", where the sentence "I'm not positive, but I think Cathy Lee Gifford is much older than she claims to be," can be seen on his classroom's chalkboard. During a flashback scene in "Weight Gain 4000", an eight-year-old Mr. Garrison is shown to already be bald on top with gray hair on the side of his ears. This led to an inconsistency in the first season episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", in which he has a full head of hair during a flashback.
Themes
Describing the general tone of the show, Teri Fitsell of The New Zealand Herald explains that "South Park is a vicious social satire that works by spotlighting not the immorality of these kids but their amorality, and contrasting it with the conniving hypocrisy of the adults who surround them." The humor of the show comes from the disparity between the cute appearance of the characters and their crude behavior. However, Parker and Stone said in an early interview that the show's language is realistic. "There are so many shows where little kids are good and sweet, and it's just not real...Don't people remember what they were like in third grade? We were little bastards."
Although these elements were established in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" and the Spirit of Christmas precursor cartoons, "Weight Gain 4000" further pushed the conventions of television, and especially of animated television entertainment. In addition to a continued stream of profanities and the promiscuous activities of Chef, an elementary school employee, the episode presents the character of Mr. Garrison as more and more unhinged
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