Must-Seek TV

SIDESPLITTING HOWLERS!

SOUTH PARK (COMEDY CENTRAL, WEDNESDAYS, 10-10:30 PM; BEG. AUG. 13)

A profane and cheerfully mean-spirited slice of life in a bizarre Colorado town, Park is about as aggressively funny as anything you'll find on TV. The deceptively cute cutout animation belies the irascibility of the foulmouthed 8-year-olds and certifiably insane adults (think Rugrats meets Beavis and Butt-head) who confront, among other things, alien invasions, assisted suicide, and inter-species breeding. Spawned from an infamous short, The Spirit of Christmas (justifiably a cult fave with animaniacs, thanks to a now classic Santa-versus-Jesus fight costarring Brian Boitano), the series is "really for adults who remember how surreal and demented the world seemed when they were in third grade," says exec producer Brian Graden. "It's funny and it's entirely wrong."

VIVA VARIETY (COMEDY CENTRAL, TUESDAYS, 10-10:30 PM)

There's a danger in satirizing the already absurd, and nothing is more ridiculous than foreign variety shows (if you've ever seen Sabado Gigante you know what we mean). But somehow, Viva manages to pull it off. The half-hour spoof is hosted by three tackily dressed Euros (played by Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney, and Michael Ian Black — all members of the comedy troupe The State) who introduce us to a stream of real-life carnival acts (contortionist fiddle players, human torches, etc.). "Anyone can fart through their eyelids," says Black. "But it's hard to find Grade A freaks." Still, what sets Viva apart from MTV's Oddville are the smart, funny, postmodern sketches — Shakespeare done in CB lingo, for instance. It's even funnier than a Latin guy dressed as a bee.

300-POUND GUYS IN LEOTARDS, AND ONE CRANKY LADY!

JUDGE JUDY (SYNDICATED, CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS)

Don't let the dainty doily collar fool you: Judge Judy Sheindlin won't stand for any guff, mister. Watching her field complaints from hapless citizens with her customary fierceness — "You're full of baloney!" she barked at one recent plaintiff — is just as satisfying as seeing the class bully get chewed out by the principal (Judy's even testier than Judge Wapner, if that's possible). "People have become disenchanted with a meandering justice system that is expensive yet often unsatisfying in result," says Sheindlin, a former New York family-court judge. "They like to see the good guy or gal win and abusers of the system put in their place. That is what we do."

THE WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN COMPETITION (ESPN/ESPN2, CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS)

"It's a serious competition," says ESPN programmer Marc Krigsman, the man who oversees the WSM contests for the all-sports net. "But we try to come up with some intriguing ideas so that the public is, like, 'Wow!'" Or "Ha!" Krigsman is speaking of events such as the Flintstones-esque Car Walk, in which hulky combatants vie to see who can schlepp a hollowed-out automobile the farthest. Or the "money lift," wherein reigning champ Magnus Ver Magnusson hoists $16,000 worth of silver dollars. Funny, yes, but, as Krigsman points out, the show's ratings are nothing to snort at. "We put it on a few years ago thinking it was good filler programming, and it outperformed our expectations whenever we aired it." Now, that's heavy.