South Park
Gnomes (a.k.a. Underpants Gnomes)
TV Flash files “Gnomes (a.k.a. Underpants Gnomes)” as hour 30 of 335 in the TV Flash guide — South Park (1997–present) on Comedy Central, season 2, episode 17, aired 1998-12-16, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E17: listed hour 30 of 335 in the South Park guide, hour 17 of 18 in season 2. It aired 1998-12-16 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!” (S02E16). Next is “Prehistoric Ice Man” (S02E18).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The boys work on a project with a high-strung kid whose parents' coffee shop faces strong competition from a conglomerate that hopes to set up in South Park.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Gnomes (a.k.a. Underpants Gnomes) sit in the South Park guide?
S02E17 is listed hour 30 of 335 — hour 17 of 18 in season 2, season 2 episode 17.
When did South Park S02E17 air?
Gnomes (a.k.a. Underpants Gnomes) aired 1998-12-16 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Why can it react so quickly to current events?
Episodes are often produced in roughly a week, trading polish for immediacy so a Monday scandal can air as Wednesday farce.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Construction-paper kids roasting the news cycle before the week is over. Trey Parker and Matt Stone built Comedy Central's meanest appointment ritual: Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny as a Greek chorus of American outrage, plus a pipeline that trades polish for currency. Celebrity lawsuits, bleep battles, and the perpetual too-soon dare — satire that refuses to age into nostalgia.
The drop window is the week itself. Comedy Central puts four construction-paper Colorado kids on the air August 13, 1997, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone do not wait for a prestige season to mellow. Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny roast celebrity feuds and sacred cows as crude farce before Friday. The pipeline is the product: episodes often produced in **roughly a week**, a Monday scandal already a Wednesday cut. Rex will tell you satire used to need a living-room appointment and a laugh track with manners. Fine.…
Filed against
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Trey Parker’s Stan and Cartman roasted the news cycle on South Park before the week was over — construction-paper kids, Comedy Central’s meanest appointment ritual, a Greek chorus of American outrage that trades polish for currency. Matt…
- Matt Stone as Kyle / Kenny
Matt Stone voiced the moral kid and the weekly death as Kyle / Kenny on South Park — construction-paper children roasting the news cycle before the week is over, Comedy Central’s meanest appointment ritual. Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny as a…
- Isaac Hayes as Chef
Isaac Hayes voiced Chef on South Park as the adult who could still sing the problem — construction-paper kids roasting the news cycle, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's meanest Comedy Central appointment, Stan Kyle Cartman Kenny as a Greek…