'South Park' reaches 100
Talk to TV pioneer Norman Lear and "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone about their friendship, and they all mention the age difference first.
At 80, Lear is nearly 50 years older than Parker and Stone. The two animators weren't even grade-school age when Lear made his mark with "All in the Family."
"He's so young at heart and young at mind," Stone says of Lear.
For the 100th episode of "South Park" (10 tonight on Comedy Central), Lear's fingerprints are all over the plot.
The episode has Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman joining in anti-war protests in order to get out of school.
Their teacher, Mr. Garrison, an extreme supporter of the war, retaliates by assigning them book reports on the country's Founding Fathers. Ever the lazy student, Cartman induces his own flashback to avoid studying and travels back to 1776, when he plays an important role in the historic signing of the Declaration of Independence.
(Terry Morrow, Scripps Howard News Service)
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