SOUTH PARK CREATORS PUT JESUS IN THE RING
The creators of South Park are once again resurrecting Jesus. As devotees of the foul-mouthed cartoon know, Matt Stone and Trey Parker sold their show to Comedy Central after making a widely circulated five-minute animated short called The Spirit of Christmas, in which Jesus and Santa Claus have a battle royal on Christmas Eve and wind up being taught a lesson by the South Park gang. Tonight at 10 p.m./ET, the Son of God will fight once more in "Damien," a new South Park episode that finds Cartman's birthday party competing with the pay-per-view event of the millennium: "Jesus vs. Satan."
Unfortunately for fans, The Spirit of Christmas will remain alive in bootleg version only. "We used this Mel Torme Christmas disc, and we can't clear any of the music," explains Stone.
"We only have it on this mixed video version," adds fellow South Park mastermind Parker. "We don't know what we did with [the original]."
"Damien" is the first of four new South Park episodes to air in February. Among the future highlights: Natasha Henstridge ("The chick from Species," explains Parker) provides the voice of a sexy substitute teacher, Cure singer Robert Smith helps fight off an evil force and, in the provocatively titled "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut," the overweight tyke searches to find out the identity of his real father. — SK