South Park seems to atone for its "ManBearPig" episode that mocked Al Gore for warning about global warming

The A.V. Club

On last night's episode, “Time To Get Cereal,” Trey Parker and Matt Stone issued a what seemed to be a rare mea culpa for one of its biggest mistakes, the 2006 "ManBearPig" episode. "There’s a strong case to be made that over the course of South Park’s 22-season run, 'ManBearBig' is the most regrettable episode they’ve ever done," says John Hugar. "Don’t get me wrong; it’s far from the worst in terms of humor (who doesn’t love watching Cartman sh*t out fake treasure?), but by mocking Al Gore by having him get hysterical about a half-man half-pig half-bear creature that appears to be imaginary, there was the undeniable implication that global warming wasn’t real." He adds: "More than anything else, I’m surprised this episode exists. Over the last few seasons, Trey and Matt have looked inward, and considered the notion that some of what they had to say hasn’t aged well, but it’s pretty jarring to see them take a previous episode and say 'sh*t, we f*cked up.'"