So last night, South Park probably set some kind of basic cable record for using the word “shit” unbleeped 162 times in a half hour.
What’s sad about this is that none of the social commentary (once a word is used “on TV”, it’s legitimized for everyday use, hense teaching the children the proper use of “shit” in a sentence) and none of the biting satire (“the Royal Order of Standards & Practices”??) in this episode will be remembered. But saying “shit” 162 times on basic cable? That, for some reason, will be remembered.
And for the record, BBC America, which is obstensively basic (digital) cable, allows use of “shit”, along with a number of other unsavory words that would never see the light of day on any broadcast network, including UPN.