Death (South Park)

In the episode, Grandpa Marvin tries to convince Stan to kill him, while the parents of South Park protest the crude cartoon Terrance and Phillip.

The episode, along with the Terrance and Phillip show, were inspired by early criticism that South Park was little more than flatulence jokes and primitive animation.

The episode portrays the parents as being so invested in protesting television programs that they fail to pay any attention to what is going on in their children's lives.

In addition to Terrance and Phillip, the episode introduced recurring characters Grandpa Marsh and Sheila (then known as Carol), Kyle's mother.

Kyle's mother gets outraged by the foul language and crude humor, and contacts other South Park parents to organize a boycott at the Cartoon Central headquarters in New York City.

Carol proclaims that if Cartoon Central does not take the show off the air, the protesters will kill themselves, and they start using a slingshot to send themselves flying into the building.

During the first few weeks of South Park's run, Parker and Stone received criticism from some commentators and media outlets that the series was little more than flatulence jokes and primitive animation, and thus must be a simple show to produce.

[1] The episode's script parodied parents who voiced strong opposition to South Park, portraying them as so invested in fighting the television program that they fail to pay attention to what is going on in their children's lives.

[4] The episode also takes the position that parents who blame their children's behavior entirely on television are evading true responsibility for problems that likely have roots elsewhere.

[5] The plot of "Death" heavily influenced the screenplay Parker and Stone wrote for their 1999 film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

The plot and theme of both scripts revolve heavily around the parents of South Park protesting Terrance and Phillip due to the perceived negative influence it has over their children.

Marvin Marsh was not based on any real-life person, but Parker and Stone wanted to create a rude and unlikeable grandfather character because they felt most elderly people were portrayed as sweet and lovable on television.

[2] Originally, they wanted Marvin Marsh to be known as the "molesting grandpa" who kept making sexual comments to Stan and attempting to play inappropriate games with him, but Comedy Central refused to allow it, which Parker said was "probably the right call".

[1] Terrance and Phillip are loosely based on Parker and Stone themselves, and were also inspired by the Itchy & Scratchy characters from The Simpsons, as well as the protagonists from the MTV cartoon Beavis and Butt-Head.

They have made frequent appearances throughout the rest of the series, and played a major role in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

The parody of Enya's Orinoco Flow used in "Death" was sung by Toddy Walters, who played protagonist Polly Pry in Trey Parker's 1996 film, Cannibal!

Savage Jr. said the episode "reveals a fine edged attack on censors and a thoughtful and subtle consideration of issues regarding assisted suicide.

"[8] In the book The Deep End of South Park, Anne Gossage complimented the ambition of the episode's themes of censorship and the morality of assisted suicide, which she called "a great deal of ground to cover in 20 minutes".