Quest for Ratings/Trivia

General

Trivia

Images

Script

Extras

Watch Episode

"Pre-School/Trivia"

"Quest for Ratings/Trivia"

"Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset/Trivia"

This page contains trivia for "Quest for Ratings". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the talk page.

Trivia

• Neither Stan or Kyle wear their trademark hats at any point during this episode; Cartman only wears his in a flashback.
• Whistlin' Willy's was formerly known as Crust E. Krotch's in the episode "Child Abduction is Not Funny".
• This is one of the few episodes Kyle and Stan call Cartman by his first name, yet Cartman pronounced it "Ric".
• During the report on cough syrup abuse, they show Middle Park Elementary. This is the only time it was shown in the series. Their mascot appears to be a dog.
• Matt Stone's dog Mr. Yes, and Trey Parker's cat Jake, can both be seen in Close-Up Animals with a Wide-Angle Lens.
• The ending of this episode mirrors the frustration that Matt and Trey experienced while trying to make their film, Team America: World Police, and South Park at the same time. By contract, they had only one week to complete an episode.
• Craig is recommended for surgical castration in this episode - however, since by "Pandemic" he still has one of the deepest voices in the class, he probably didn't go through with the operation.
• In this episode, Craig's voice is somewhat higher pitched and less nasaly than usual.

Cultural References

• The boys struggle to compete with Craig's show is a satire of major news networks and the tactics they employ for better ratings. Kyle and Token's suggestion that they make reports about how dangerous it is to be alive is an example of sensationalism. Another example is Butters' idea to "lie about celebrities", which parodies tabloids.
• The appearance of the boys as newscasters is a parody of 1970s-1980s newscasters, who were famous for big poofy hairstyles. It may also be a reference to the Will Ferrell film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
• The cough syrup news report is made to look similar to the news reports done by Nightline and 20/20.
• "Yakety-Sax", the theme from The Benny Hill Show, is played during Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens Wearing Hats.
• When Cartman tells Token to change his TV persona becuase people only like to see African Americans on TV and not hear them is a reference to music in the 50's. Record companies tried to hide the fact that their artists were African American because people liked hearing them on radio, but probably wouldn't listen to them if they knew they were African American due to the racism back then. Also, record companies tried to get white singers who sounded African American, with Elvis being a popular example of such.

Continuity

• The Raisins girls are seen again in Stan's news report - he has evidently gotten over Wendy since the episode "Raisins" since he says "If I were a little older, I would be aroused."
• Cartman's rivalry with Craig is reinforced in this episode.
• When the boys' news team is coming up with ideas for their show, a City Wok container can be seen.
• When the Sexy Action School News is trying to come up with new ideas Crab People are mentioned. This was a last minute idea used in "South Park is Gay!" a year earlier.
• Until "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset", Wendy was absent, so Bebe was on her own for a while.

Goofs

• At Whistlin' Willy's, Kevin Stoley is seen both sitting at the table and also standing behind Stan. This duplicate is also seen in the following scene.
• When Kyle does the report on the girls' basketball team, he talks about how they had to forfeit their last game and haven't won one at all. However, Cartman makes the error of saying they had been on a 6-0 slide instead of 0-6 slide.
• At Middle Park Elementary, a girl can be seen walking off screen to the left to reappear on the upper floor on the other side of the screen 1-3 seconds later.
• When the children are shown from behind watching Close-Up Animals with a Wide-Angle Lens at Whistlin' Willly's, there are two girls who look like Milly briefly shown standing in the crowd.