Scott Tenorman Must Die - Production and Broadcast

Production and Broadcast

According to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "Scott Tenorman Must Die" represented significant shifts both in the writing of the show, and the characterization of Eric Cartman. Although originally just an annoying, spoiled kid, Cartman got somewhat meaner over the course of the show's previous episodes. However, with "Scott Tenorman Must Die", he became "the most evil kid in the world", and got progressively darker throughout the series' run. The creators debated whether it was okay to have Cartman kill Scott's parents and feed them to him, as it was a "crazy to do with a kid", and would be setting a new bar for the series and the character. Eventually, after a long time of debating, the writers decided to go ahead with the idea. However, they found it very important to make sure that Cartman kills Scott's parents indirectly, without having to "pull the trigger himself".

Parker and Stone had also cited this episode as a big milestone in the writing of South Park, as the first episode to only have a single plot, without another subplot (that is, a B story or even a C story) to support the episode. The creators could only come up with the cat and mouse situation between Cartman and Tenorman, which they had described as reminiscent of the relationships in classic cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. The creators feared that not having a subplot would negatively affect the episode, but upon finishing, they realized that a single, strong plot worked well. Since then, most episodes have contained just one plotline, or two strongly related stories.

"Scott Tenorman Must Die" was written by Trey Parker, and directed by South Park animation director Eric Stough. Whereas most episodes of South Park are done within a single week, writing on this episode began in the middle of May 2001, more than a month before the start of the season on June 20, and the episode was assigned a production code number of 501 (meaning the 1st episode of the 5th season). The early start was because the creators sometimes try to have one episode "in the bank" – meaning that they have "at least half-start" animating it. This way they can take off a few days during the two-month long, demanding run, and then go back and finish work on the banked show.

The episode's first draft was written during the time when Parker and Stone were still finishing editing the last episode of their 2001 TV show That's My Bush!. In its first draft, the episode's title was "Scott Tenorall Must Die", but Parker decided to change the character's name afterwards, as he thought that Tenorman sounded funnier. By the end of May, several drafts of the episode have been completed, and animation production had started. By early June, writing on episode 502 (which became "It Hits the Fan") started, and the creators decided to make that the season premiere. Before the season started, "Scott Tenorman Must Die" was pushed back as the fourth episode of the run.

The episode eventually aired on July 11, 2001 on Comedy Central in the United States, after "It Hits the Fan", "Cripple Fight", and "Super Best Friends". The original broadcast of the show did not have a visible ghost of Kenny, when he laughed himself to death. This was added by the episode's rerun on the following Saturday. Minor tweaks like that occasionally happen on South Park, given the rush the creators are in when delivering the show on the day of its broadcast.

The script of the episode reveals some minor differences from the finished episode. After the long "mad scientist" scene of Cartman designing the plans for his revenge, it was supposed to be revealed that whatever he was drawing so intently was "only a stupid crayon drawing of a pony". In the finished episode, Cartman's drawing is not revealed; however, the pony drawing is featured earlier in the episode, during Cartman's briefing to the children. In the scene where Scott Tenorman burns the money in front of Cartman, the script direction said that Cartman should look like William Wallace in the 1995 historical drama film Braveheart, at the moment he realizes that he was betrayed. Within the same scene, it is written that Cartman would fall down on the muddy lawn, and then use the mud to put war paint on his face.

Previous seasons of South Park have been animated with the software PowerAnimator. The studio started using Maya from the fifth season on. The pubic hairs in the episode were scanned in hairs from the back of the neck of Adrien Beard, South Park's lead storyboarder.

The members of the band Radiohead – Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway – provided their voice for their characters. The band was on tour in Santa Barbara, and Matt Stone drove there from Los Angeles to record their lines. While directing singer Thom Yorke, Stone told him to "emote more", as his acting was not exaggerated enough for animation voiceovers. Stone found it ironic to direct Yorke to put more emotion into his delivery, considering that Yorke is "brilliant at emoting perfectly, exactly, in such a complex and beautiful way" when he sings. The episode also features regular voice acting from Parker and Stone for most characters, as well as Eliza Schneider and Mona Marshall for female voices. Scott Tenorman's voice was provided by Toby Morton.