‘TV Guide’ Refused to List the Full Name of This Season One Episode of ‘South Park’

When South Park first debuted on Comedy Central back in 1997, its controversial subject matter enraged parents, sparked protests from religious organizations and ran afoul of… the folks running TV Guide?

Since the internet was still in its infancy, people back then would have to buy a TV Guide just to find out what shows would be on what channels that week. It was truly a dark time. And while they seemingly had no problem listing most TV shows, the magazine took issue with one particular South Park episode, for extremely regressive reasons.

The fourth episode of Season One, “Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride,” found Stan denying his dog Sparky’s sexuality until he visits Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Animal Sanctuary. Stan recognizes his own prejudice and learns that it’s “okay to be gay,” all thanks to Al’s Jungle Cruise-esque ride. The attraction illustrates that homosexuality has existed throughout history, and has faced oppression from “Christians and Republicans and Nazis.”

Although some aspects of the episode haven’t aged so well, the show’s basic message was clearly one of tolerance and acceptance, which would explain why it was nominated for a 1998 GLAAD Award in the category of Outstanding TV — Individual Episode. It was also nominated for an Emmy Award. But all that came after TV Guide censored the episode’s title. 

“In ‘97, to sort of do this openly gay stuff, especially in a cartoon, was pretty weird,” Trey Parker explained on the episode’s DVD commentary. “I remember that even calling it ‘Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride’ — TV Guide had a problem with that. And we had to call it ‘Big Al’s Boat Ride.’” 

Yeah, TV Guide tried to force Big Gay Al back into the closet. 

And the publication seemingly had no qualms about publicly questioning whether or not Dr. Frasier Crane was gay.

Comedy Central, too, had concerns about the content of “Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Rode.” “I remember the network being really freaked out by this episode, and wondering if it was okay,” Parker recalled. “I don’t think they ever really discouraged it, but they were definitely freaked out.”

It’s not so surprising that a ‘90s TV show about gay panic would inspire a real-life gay panic. Just three years before South Park began, ABC attempted to put the kibosh on a Roseanne storyline in which its star shared a brief smooch with Mariel Hemingway. 

Despite the unfortunate incident, TV Guide eventually embraced South Park, and even featured Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny on the cover in 1999. “Big Al,” however, was nowhere to be seen.