IN THE WEIRD and wacky world of South Park, nothing is more common than the unusual, the furious and the insane. We all know the animated show that centres on the four foul-mouthed 4th graders and the strange happenings in their small Colorado town. The humour is character-driven and the entire plot of the show is to follow the day-to-day lives of Kenny, Kyle, Stan and Cartman. In later episodes, the characters Leopold "Butters" Stotch and Tweek have also gained prominence.

The extremely successful South Park TV series was conceived in 1996 from a five-minute internet Christmas card, Spirit of Christmas, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. While the early episodes mainly were based on shock value, the more recent episodes are often more oriented toward poking fun at current events, challenging deepset convictions and taboos through parody and black humour.

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In the Nordic countries, the South Park TV series has been sold to TV4 in Sweden, Tv Danmark in Denmark and Nelonen and MTV3 in Finland, in addition to also being aired on MTV and Canal+ in all Nordic countries.

Few properties within the target group have such a high awareness level as South Park, and the series has become a contemporary satire classic. With a new season recently launched and a new style guide underway, South Park consumer products are prepared for a re-launch at retail.

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In South Park, we meet third grade friends Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny. The cast keeps growing as the show continues into its fifth season - among the latest residents are Tweek, the Underpants Gnomes and Timmy.

Eric Cartman is the "fat kid" and the other kids constantly make fun of him because of his weight. He's also the stupid one who mixes things up and makes himself look like an idiot. He lives with his hermaphrodite mother who tries to make him feel better by feeding him "chocolate chicken pot pies" and "Cheesy Poofs". Eric owns a cat called Kitty and a pig named Fluffy. Throughout the year he searched to find out who his father was, only to realize that his mother was his father and his mother is unknown. When Officer Barbrady is fired for his illiteracy, he becomes Deputy Cartman, and he begins to enforce the law in South Park.

Kyle Broflovski is the smart one. Everyone makes fun of him because he is Jewish. At Christmas he plays with his "imaginary" friend Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo. He owns an elephant and has tried to mate him with Cartman's pig, Fluffy to form a new species of pot-bellied Elephants. Each week he announces that Kenny's killers are Bastards.

Stan Marsh is a normal, average, American, mixed-up kid. He dates Wendy Testaburger but throws up every time she talks to him. He is the South Park Elementary Cows star Quarterback. He has a gay dog named Sparky and an older sister named Shelly who beats him senseless and accuses him of making fun of her "appliance". His aging grandfather also lives with him and continually pressures Stan into killing him. Every episode he announces Kenny's death by saying "Oh my god, they killed Kenny!"

Kenny McCormick is the unlucky one and dies a different way each episode. He is poor and lives in a run-down shack with his violent and drunken family. He is muffled when he speaks, and we are left only to guess at what he has said.

Plus Licens represents MTV Networks for merchandising and promotional rights to South Park in the Nordic countries and the Baltic states.