South Park Season 23 Episode 9 “Basic Cable” Review

Yo Ho! Nightrider here!

Scott Malkinson finally has a TV show called The Scott Malkinson Show. South Park has a sort of meta-continuity in the form of certain characters having their own spinoff show (Randy, the PC Babies, the Ladies of South Park). So let’s check out The Scott Malkinson Show.

Beware of spoilers ahead!

After a spy-movie-intro to The Scott Malkinson Show reminiscent to an episode from the 60’s show The Avengers, Scott Malkinson tries to convince his dad Clark to get Disney+. Clark angrily refuses and rants about how streaming services are destroying the market and possibly his livelihood as he works for a cable company. This causes Scott to have an insulin shot because he has Type 1 diabetes.

A new student comes to school in the form of Sophie Gray. She reveals to the class that she has diabetes; Scott immediately falls in love with her. He asks the guys in class for help but they declare he can’t be with her because she has diabetes and mock him for having diabetes again. However, Scott shuts them up and takes control so he can win Sophie’s love.

This episode treats diabetes as a spy thing because of the constant actions young people with Type 1 diabetes have to do in order to control their sugar levels. In Scott’s case, he is no different than anyone else but gets ripped on for having diabetes whilst talking with a lisp. This doesn’t mean that South Park mocks people with diabetes but rather shows the hypocrisy of society; the guys don’t rip on Sophie Gray and want to “be her friend.”

Another thing to note in “Basic Cable” is the ongoing debate of streaming services versus cable television companies. Clark Malkinson hates streaming because he thinks that streaming services will destroy the cable culture and that “shows within shows to make more shows,” niche Hollywood programming and access to many streaming apps will ruin the town. On one hand, Clark has a point because cable television companies provide many channels of TV without making accounts, remembering passwords, diverse programming, and the availability to access these channels is easy; streaming services do not provide diverse channels and shows. Also, streaming services are dependent on internet access thanks to the cable companies.

However, South Park pokes fun at some of the reasons why cable television is on the decline: the question of why there are windows of availability for the cable repairman to show up is humorously answered. Even Clark calls out his fellow cable repairmen out by stating that a 12-to-2 PM window should not allow a repairman to arrive at 1:50 PM. The diversity of cable programming can be a pain when one wants to find their favorite show; streaming services give you instant access to your favorite shows at any time and any place. Customer service issues on streaming services are almost quickly resolved on the spot compared to cable services. And most importantly, cable companies provide many channels for a high price while streaming services provide what you want for a fraction of the cost.

In the end, the cable repairmen win the battle. As for Scott, he confronts the guys and calls out Cartman’s hypocrisy about love. But because of Scott’s delusion of Sophie, Sophie tells Scott she is not his girlfriend and that she is more than her type of diabetes. Scott reveals to her that he is nothing more than his diabetes because he is just Scott Malkinson. But as Scott mopes alone on a playground, Sophie consoles him and tells him she is glad to be friends with someone who knows about the plight of diabetes. She also likes The Scott Malkinson Show.

As the cable men lose to the ending title with “Trey’s” number for streaming services, there are reports that this number is for real: this number is from Fairplay, Colorado. The result: Trey Parker provides buying options for some of the various “shows within shows” of Season 23. This makes a humorous reference to the $500 million HBO Max acquisition of South Park’s streaming rights from Hulu. Here’s the link to the call!