What actually constitutes a season of South Park? Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit animated series has been going for fourteen straight seasons, but it takes an MIT theoretical physics team to come up with an equation for when we can expect new episodes. The 13th season supposedly ended a few months ago and this week we got the premiere of the next. The only indication that we're looking at new material is that the story in "Sexual Healing" is more outdated than the usual lickety-split response of your average episode of South Park. After fourteen seasons, if this episode is the best the folks at South Park Studios can do, maybe it's time to consider whether or not a fifteenth is worth the effort.

I think the main problem with South Park as of the past couple seasons is that it has confused media reactions with public reactions. Just because every cable news network went crazy over the Tiger Woods sex scandal doesn't mean most regular people gave a damn about it. It was just another non-story in an increasingly irrelevant industry's 24-hour cycle of non-stories. Just because the talking heads jumped on board the faux-shock train of Woods's many affairs doesn't mean the average joe even knew it was happening.

That's why "Sexual Healing" just wasn't that funny. South Park has always relied on an atmosphere of sharp, honest social commentary. Even a couple years ago when the show was making keen observations about the national financial crisis, there was a sense that South Park was on our side. Now it just seems to be wagging fingers at society in general, as if there's some conglomerate "them" who go crazy over nothing.

So, for all of its heavy-handed commentary on nonsense pop psychology like "sex addiction" and how it relates to celebrity behavior, this episode of South Park mixed low-hanging fruit with repetition of things we already know. There's nothing astute about pointing out that rich, famous people take advantage of their status and it's downright insulting to assume that most people don't understand the concept.

When it comes down to brass tacks, I just want South Park to make me laugh. There was a time when it could do that regularly and it wasn't all that long ago. If "Sexual Healing" is any indication of the season to come, I'd say that the show has lost itself in its own self-image as a source of meaningful social commentary and now it has lost any connection to the wild, absurd series that made it so funny for so long.

Best Moment: Butters going crazy over the little bit of sexual knowledge he has. How is it that the one-liner bumpkin of the show has become such a reliable source of humor?

Notes: We're still talking about Bill Clinton's sex scandal? That was more than a decade ago. The guy has done more to establish himself as an international peace advocate than he ever did to brand himself a deviant.

Episode Rating: 2/5- I'm being generous because I know South Park can do better. I didn't laugh once and the commentary was particular ham-fisted. Let's hope Season 14 improves upon tonight's uniform stinker.