South Park Fans Agree On When Mr. Garrison Is At His Best

After over 300 episodes and several specials, the Comedy Central series "South Park" continues to entertain audiences, and fans agree that the Emmy-winning, mature cartoon is still going strong ... for the most part. Over the years, the show has undergone many changes, most notably with some of the fan-favorite personas. Some of them have been met with varied results, and certain followers aren't thrilled with the direction they've taken.

While many of the show's main players like Eric Cartman (Trey Parker), Kenny McCormick (Matt Stone), Stan Marsh (Parker), and Kyle Broflovski (Stone) have all changed somewhat since the first entry, several background characters have moved in and out of the spotlight, with some of their actions being more favored than others. Randy Marsh (Parker) is an excellent example, as fans have noticed he had changed the most since "South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2" special on Paramount+, and fans have admitted the Tegridy ordeal has gotten worse over time. 

But it isn't just Stan's dad. Mr. Herbert Garrison (Parker), the outspoken cynic who has been around since the beginning, is another candidate. Garrison has gone through some pretty wild changes, and not all of them have been a hit with fans. In fact, some followers believe he excels above all else when the shameless South Park citizen is portrayed a certain way.

Fans prefer Mr. Garrison when he is the teacher at South Park Elementary over his arc taking the Donald Trump approach to being president. Several years ago when Garrison's time as Commander-in-Chief came to a close, u/tunnelsnakefool posted on Reddit that they "Can't wait to have him back in the classroom honestly."u/Bball1997 agreed, saying, "I'd like at least one episode to wrap up his time in office but after that I agree I'm ready to see teacher Garrison again." u/royrogersmcfeely3 voiced their frustration with a reference to a classic "South Park" bit, "Where my teacher gone," and u/TheCastaway2007 also agreed by posting, "I just want everything to go back to how it used to be."

Even the creators weren't fans of putting this storyline together. In a discussion with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Matt Stone and Trey Parker claimed that year was rough, with one of them saying, "We just wanted to go back to the kids, which we still do. But it's also like, you can't avoid [Mr. Garrison as Trump]. So, we are not actively putting it in, but we are not actively leaving it out." Thankfully, the character eventually lost the election and returned to being a teacher in the "South ParQ Vaccination Special."

While his controversial run as Commander-in-Chief wasn't favored by all, the character continues to be another entertaining personality on "South Park." It will be interesting to witness what Mr. Garrison will experience down the road, and one can only wonder if he will ever return to the blonde-haired, bad-tanned presidential persona.