South Park type TV Show network Comedy Central genre Animated

South Park. It’s the 17th season. And yet Wednesday night’s premiere delivered the animated comedy’s biggest rating in years.

The Comedy Central hit came back to 4.3 million viewers across three telecasts, with the first airing delivering the most viewers for the show since 2011 and the highest young male demo ratings since 2010.

The episode titled “Let Go, Let Gov” mocked the NSA’s mass surveillance scandal (clip below). In the episode, Cartman played the role of an Edward Snowden-style whistleblower who infiltrates the NSA and rants about privacy violations — yet can’t stop revealing his every thought online to anybody who will listen.

South Park fans had a longer-than-usual wait for new episodes this year, given that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s decision to produce fewer episodes (10 per year). On Sunday, South Park also won its fifth Emmy for outstanding animated program.

See our annual Fall TV Ads Graded gallery, where we snarkily critique the posters for American Horror Story, Dracula, The Michael J. Fox Show and more.

Episode Recaps Previous The most popular animated series, by state By Gerrad Hall

The 10 best TV shows-within-shows By Chancellor Agard

14 Father's Day Gifts for Pop Culture Fans By Cristina Everett

South Park: The Biggest Moments From 20 Seasons By Darren Franich Next