The only downside to this collection comes in the form of the Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of South Park) creation, That’s My Bush. I understand that the sitcom, starring Timothy Bottoms as President Bush, aired early on in the Bush administration (middle of 2001), but I still think it could have been better than it was. The episode on the DVD is the sitcom’s first episode, "An Aborted Dinner Date." I really like the idea of the episode, in which the President tries to host a dinner uniting members of the pro-choice and pro-life movements while at the same time keeping his promise of a dinner with his wife. I think mocking the reused sitcom themes we have all seen on TV (in this case being in two places at once) while at the same time tackling a rather complicated political issue is admirable. My problem is with the execution. Maybe I’m just spoiled with great impressions of President Bush that I’ve seen over the years, but Timothy Bottoms’ recreation of Bush is rather pathetic. Perhaps they were attempting to mock the bad acting in most sitcoms, but even if that was the case, it was a move that made the episode more of a burden than a joy to watch. In addition, the use of a surviving aborted fetus as the head of the pro-life movement was just a bit too tasteless for me. I consider myself a fan of South Park, but just could not get into this Parker and Stone creation. I can see what they were trying to do, but the overuse of the laugh track, the poor acting by the principle characters, and many of the other things they poked fun at were all at the expense of actual humor.
Quite possibly the funniest section of this DVD comes from an episode of Root of All Evil. The show is hosted by its judge, comedian Lewis Black, while fellow comedians Greg Giraldo and Patton Oswalt argue against each other in order to discover if Paris Hilton or Vice President Dick Cheney is the true root of all evil. I absolutely love this show and this episode is the perfect summation of Dick Cheney’s time in office. I laughed the whole way through. Both comedians argued their cases masterfully and their interaction with each other and between both of them and Lewis Black made for an even more entertaining experience.
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