This Bizarre Episode of ‘Arthur’ Parodied Both ‘South Park’ and ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’

For as much as Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Mike Judge all loved to goof on the decidedly-not-adult animated shows of the 1990s, nothing could have prepared them for what happened when one kids’ show decided to bite back.  

During the Clinton Administration, the emergence of shows like South Park and Beavis and Butt-Head into the zeitgeist shocked and appalled the parental pearl-clutchers whose cultural influence peaked long before the advent of social media and smartphones. At the time, conservative Christian groups like the Parents Television Council argued that allowing TV-MA cartoons onto television would confuse and corrupt children who associated animation exclusively with kid-friendly content.   

Well, if the kids of the Nineties weren't already confused by the colorful, crass antics of South Park whenever they wandered over to Comedy Central while channel-surfing, then they certainly couldn't have comprehended what they were seeing when the PBS cartoon Arthur put out an entire episode parodying/paying homage to their more mature contemporaries with the 1999 entry "The Contest.”   

In the surprisingly meta Arthur episode, the titular aardvark and his anthropomorphic friends all participated in a story-writing competition hosted by their favorite TV show, which was, of course, a stand-in for Arthur itself. The entries from each Arthur character paid homage to different popular animated shows at the time, with the most surprising spoofs featuring the art style and pacing of South Park and Beavis and Butt-Head respectively.  

There was even a depressing, slightly disturbing take on the mental-health-focused adult animated sitcom Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.  

The other two pastiches in “The Contest” were decidedly more age-appropriate – Dexter's Laboratory and the WWE both got nods from the Arthur staff. Still, you have to wonder why the writers and animators at PBS put so many references to decidedly-not-kid-friendly media into their children's cartoon. Were they trying to entertain the parents of Arthur fans with inside jokes that go over their kids' heads? Were they bored of the TV-G constraints and wanted to tease the censors?  

Whatever the case may be, the end result was a disorienting Arthur episode for kids growing up in households with parental controls on the TV. And if any of the many repressive, sanctimonious, “won't somebody please think of the children?” parents groups objected to Arthur playing nice with South Park, they should have just been thankful that PBS never touched Terrance and Phillip.