*1514: The Poor Kid* Pre-Air Discussion

[triplemultiplex]

And just to let you know: It's widely accepted (but not that official) that Kenny's mom is Carol, Kenny's brother is Kevin, and Kenny's sister is Karen, although that;s subject to change.

Now where did someone come up with "Carol" as Kenny's mom's name? That is never mentioned in an episode. And I was kinda hoping they'd finally name her this week. The only Carol I remember is when Lianne Cartman calls Sheila Brovfloski "Carol" way back in the first season. (ep. 105 "Death")

I've also never heard of Kenny's sister by name before. I was going to comment on the fact that character kinda of disappeared for several years before somebody remembered to include her in scenes at Kenny's house or whatever. Lots of unanswered questions at the ol' McCormick place.

This has a lot of promise because it's a great opportunity to explore Kenny a lot more and expand on some of the stuff they got into in the Coon & Friends trilogy. Not necessarily the superhero stuff, but the idea that Kenny is not satisfied with his home life and was working to change it. He creates Mysterion as an outlet for his anger about his parent's & shit. They wouldn't even have to have a Kenny death to get a good ep this week.

That preview seems to be designed to get me to think that Fatass has something to do with the McCormicks' arrest. But that's too obvious, right? What a self-deluded shithead. Rips on Kenny for being poor but what's Lianne doing for money these days? Haven't heard about a career change for the lady from the cover of Crack Whore Magazine circa 1998.

[99 i fail]

And I was also thinking: Don't make this the Kenny version of Smug Alert!.

(When Kyle moves to San Francisco and Cartman wants him back so he has someone to rip on. I feel it could be just like that with Kenny this time around. Hope not.)

[JVM]

Okay, boys and girls, sit down and I'll lay the facts on you regarding the McCormick family's names...

SURNAME
'McCormick' is generally accepted as official, but the spelling 'McKormick' was used for most of Seasons 4 and 5 and reappeared in "Bass to Mouth"

KENNY
He's always been Kenny, and while it's likely short for Kenneth, I don't think that has ever been confirmed in the series. I was told by a reliable friend that a Comedy Central marathon once called him 'Kenny J. McCormick' but I haven't seen any other evidence, and said friend has admitted it may be a mistaken recollection.

FATHER
Mr. McCormick's name was given as 'Stuart' in "Chicken Pox" and has been reused a few times since then. It's official and verified. Of note, there was another character named Mr. McCormick seen in "Death" but he seems to be unrelated.

OLDER SON
Kenny's brother's name is given in "Chicken Pox" as 'Kevin' by his mother: "Kevin, you're gonna have to share your waffle with your brother", or something along those lines. Although there are two other Kevins in the show, it's an official name.

MOTHER
Mrs. McCormick has no official name, as reinforced by Mary Kay Bergman in a 1999 interview. A few fan names have been coined: many old sites from 2000 and 2001 seem to cite 'Peggy' but this was never used on any official materials. The name 'Carol', first officially used for Stan's mother and again for Butters' mother, as well as various one-off and minor characters, was popularized in recent years by fans based on a conversation in "Cripple Fight" where, after Stuart mentions his wife being part of a girl scout troop (or something along those lines), Mr. Grazier mentions 'Carol' works for a girl scout troop. The implication is obviously that Carol is Grazier's wife, but no wife is otherwise mentioned and while I'd say it's an understandable error.

YOUNGER SISTER
Although she was mentioned in the script for "Starvin Marvin", she never appeared in the show outside of "Best Friends Forever" until now. Some folks at Wikipedia had a brief edit war on the McCormick family page, both making un-citated claims on Matt Stone's feelings on her: one saying he had referred to her as 'Karen' in an interview, another saying he had said she was "news to him". The first note eventually won out. I am quite sure Matt Stone has never spoken of her one way or another. I feel it's also worthy of note I remember seeing an old note - perhaps it was at the Scriptorium? - that said an image was posted prior to the series premiere showing Kenny with a girl who resembled Ike who was to be his sister.

I'll add, you can possibly blame me for popularizing the name Karen since I used it in quite a number of fanfics, and spread it to a few other authors as well.

I hope this helps some of you out in understanding the confusion with the names

[Big-Will]

Also, Mr. McCormick'a first name is Stuart.

[Mrs.KennyMcCormick]

First of all: YESH A K-EEE-NNY EPPY!!! (prononces Kenny the way Cartman does.)
Second: This episode better not have a subplot that has to do with Cartman (though I have a feeling it will. )
Third: I'm so glad Kenny's family gets some screen time, especially Kevin and "Karen." (But mostly Karen. Isn't she *sigh* adorable?)
Fourth: Kenny. Must. Die. Seriously.
And lastly: Maybe the reason the McCormicks are being arrested is because of the Cult of Cthulhu? Is that going to come back to haunt them? And if it does, does that mean Mysterion might directly or indirectly play a roll in this episode?

Alsoooo: I hope that this is not a cliffhanger. "You're Getting Old" made it hard for me to sleep.

[HAcoreRD]

so, cartman will realize his family is the poorest next to Kenny's?

Holy crap and Kevin and Karen's return.

[cloverbeatme1]

Who cares if Karen was made by Matt Stone or just made up? I am guessing her name will be said on the episode...

[203177]

Karen looks so much like heidi if you look closely.

[nwt000]

Karen looks so much like heidi if you look closely.

She's pretty much a smaller and filthier version of Heidi Turner appearance wise.

[Unassumption]

cartman will realize his family is the poorest next to Kenny's

His mum doesn't seem to work anymore...

Maybe the reason the McCormicks are being arrested is because of the Cult of Cthulhu?

Hope so but this show doesn't...do continuity. As is shown in the various names for the same character.

[JOSHSKORN]

I predict this will be a Cartman episode, actually. Is Kenny going away after his parents get yanked to jail? Cartman will need Kenny to rip on for being teased.

I can't really predict what will happen, I never get it right but I still think at least this will be a Cartman episode.

[Brendle]

"Poor people getting arrested. What a rare occurrence." Wow, Cartman actually said something funny for once.

[Unassumption]

It sounds like a Character driven episode. That's all I need to know to have hopes for it ._.

[francisjairam121]

Don't worry guys. Its not the end of South Park. Comedy Central said that they gave Matt and Trey a contract for 2 years, which means that their will be 2 more seasons for South Park. Season 16 may start on April of 2012 and I'm guess season 17 may start in October 2013 (not 100%) sure. Also Matt said he wants to make Movie to end the south park series but that won't be until 2013.

[dragongirl9888]

OMG you guys don't even know how happy I am! A Kenny-centric episode!!!

I literally had been ranting to my friends at lunch, if they don't do one, it'd be the only season without a Kenny centric, and he did like nothing this season, and I'd be disappointed and upset. Plus its Year-Of-The-Fan and all and Kenny I've come to know is a lot of people's favorite character.

I'm thinking this is going to be a very big/important episode. Why? Well, they pushed the Thanksgiving ep back for this, they had the whole "Who killed Kenny?" voting thing online, and it seems to me they were saving Kenny for this, only giving us a little fanservice with the hoodless Kenny twice this season to hold us off. But you never know with SP.