A season without Kenny

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 10 years, or you're Amish, you've seen "South Park," Trey Parker and Matt Stone's cartoon about four kids from a small mountain town in Colorado. What was once a late '90s craze that blew up, continued for a few seasons and turned into a movie -- the-end all-be-all of television series' -- is still going strong, with a new season ready to air on Comedy Central. In terms of the DVD market, this most recent release is season six.\nUnless you follow the show religiously, you have no idea when season six was or what episodes were part of it. For starters, season six was the first without Kenny. Parker and Stone were sick of having to think of a way to kill him every episode, so he was temporarily-permanently removed. While this may upset some, it opened the doors for a slew of new characters, most prominently Butters and Tweek. \nSome noteworthy season six episodes include the one with alleged psychic John Edwards, Jared from Subway, the timeshare trip to Aspen, the "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and the ladder to heaven. In total there are 17 episodes (399 minutes of DVD fun) and special features include commentary from Parker and Stone.\nWhat impresses me most about "South Park" is that, after all this time, it seems to keep getting better. Season six epitomizes this change. Parker and Stone prove that they can get rid of their most prominent catch phrase ("Oh my god! They killed Kenny!") and actually make the show better. In order for a cartoon to last this long, things need to change. For "The Simpsons" it was for the worse (I can't stand any episode from the past four years), and the verdict is still out on "Family Guy," which has become significantly weirder and more obscure in its humor. In the post-movie lull, where a show can surge on or fade away, "South Park" went to another level. And season six was a key step in this change.\nIn terms of price, different stores take a lot of liberty with DVDs. It runs for $35 on Amazon, and $40 on the Comedy Central Web site. I'm sure Best Buy or Target or any mega-store sells it in the $30 to $40 range. There aren't many special features, but entire seasons usually aren't released for that purpose. The episodes are all you need.