Since FXX acquired the rights to show syndicated episodes of The Simpsons last year, it seems as though they have been taking the animated comedy show from Fox extremely seriously with regards to giving it airtime and support, with the marathon of all episodes to date in the summer perhaps expected at some point in their tenure.

A couple of months on, though, they have gone one better, with the launch today of The Simpsons World app by FX Networks. The app (only available to TV subscribers) will provide every single episode from the show’s past (currently 556) in one place (with new episodes uploaded a day after original Fox airing), already a big ask for America’s longest-running scripted show, but is added to with a number of news, behind-the-scenes, bonus content, sharing, recommended playlists, and interactive features.

The service is described by FX as an “…immersive, interactive digital and online experience … for both casual and super fans.”

Available both through website and the FXNOW app (on applicable smartphones, tablet computers, and streaming products), the service is to offer alongside the episodes a variety of clips and trivia to accompany the viewing, with features including news/social media hub Everything Simpsons, Did You Know, and The Simpsons Heartbeat (a ranking of all episodes by viewcount), alongside smart search functions for both full episode scripts and to search episodes and clips by character or guest star.

It was also claimed that they are not finished with creating new features, as a number are set to be rolled out over the next few months. For the completionist of content side, perhaps semi-related content such as all promos, inserts, cross-overs, movies, commercials, images, and Tracey Ullman shorts should also be targeted for inclusion.

The Simpsons‘ executive producer Al Jean said of the new offering: “Hello Simpsons World, goodbye free time! Seriously.”

On a technical level, FX Networks’ chief operating officer Chuck Saftler said of the new service: “We recognize that The Simpsons was found linearly on television for the last 25-plus years in syndication, where any episode could be served up in a given night. If you just flipped on the TV, anywhere across the country, you’d find an episode, and that was a great, easy experience. But we wanted to look at the new paradigms that we’re seeing in this SVOD space, this non-linear space, where people can create playlists and create the [experience] they want. We’ll make it easy for you. We’ll curate for you; you can curate for you; you can curate for us. It can be lean-forward; it can be lean-back.”

FX Networks’ ‘head of marketing & on-air promotions’ Stephanie Gibbons summarised: “The Simpsons is one of the greatest shows ever made and our goal was to create a site that pays homage to this classic iconic brand while delivering a rich, personal experience. Fans will be able to seamlessly move in and out of the deepest digital archive of any TV series online ever – wherever they are and however they want – and dive deeper into this colorful world through many additional features built into this site.”

Following their structure of episode implementation, you will be able to watch this most recent headline-making footage from the show, with a closing scene of the “Treehouse of Horror XXV” episode showcasing the characters in various styles that will appeal to fans who also enjoy other animated comedies and cartoons.

For those with a checklist, featured there was The Simpsons in Tracey Ullman form, claymation, anime, Adventure Time, South Park, Archer, The Simpsons in ‘Sylvian Chomet couch gag’ style, The Simpsons in Lego form, The Simpsons in the fantasy animal form of a previous Treehouse of Horror installment, and the movie franchise Despicable Me.

The NFL on Sunday. Your team is playing out a close 4th quarter with victory or defeat either side of a very fine line. A routine commercial break occurs… and you see the face of Eric Cartman making a mockery of your team’s name.

For fans of the Washington Redskins franchise, this is pretty much their experience watching on Fox yesterday afternoon (21 September), as complete with the misery of seeing their team fail to come back to win against divisional rivals Philadelphia Eagles, during the eventful final quarter they were the first to witness a preview clip for the new 18th season of animated comedy series South Park on Comedy Central.

The clip featured the character of Eric Cartman running a business of some sort, only to be interrupted by Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, Coach Jay Gruden, and star quarterback Robert Griffin III, confronting him over the name of the business… The Washington Redskins.

After Cartman notes he is free to use the name since the team’s trademark was revoked, the Redskins argue back in a lampshading manner that can be seen as a parallel to the arguments offended Native American groups have with the Redskins regarding the nature of the team’s 81-year-old name.

It has been reported that the advert at its time of premiere only aired in the TV market for Washington, and had a mixed reception from Redskins fans, with some offended fans on Twitter crying ‘not funny’ at the clip, while other fans did see the humour. To ease the pain for the ‘offended’ Redskins support, the NFL team of choice for the creators of South Park, Cartman, and many of the show’s other characters, the Denver Broncos, suffered an overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks in a Super Bowl rematch later that day.

To not ease the pain, they would watch the first episode of the new season of South Park, which airs on Wednesday (24 September) on Comedy Central, and is likely to carry an elaboration on the commercial clip, which can be seen below:

Fans of South Park can get a little excited as the entire back catalog of shows is coming to Hulu and Hulu Plus. All the 240 plus episodes are available to stream on both Hulu’s with new episodes being made available the day after airing on broadcast TV.

But if you want to watch them free then you had better start watching soon, as Hulu will host the cult cartoon until September 24 after which they head over to subscription only Hulu Plus.

Reported by The New York Times, the deal is said to be worth a reported $80 million+, and was inked by he South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The deal gives Hulu streaming rights to all 17 seasons of the show.

Currently fans can watch all episodes on the official South Park site,  South Park Studios which will still have the full library available until season 18 premieres, then the website will just offer a changing selection of free episodes.

Speaking for Hulu, chief Craig Erwich said of the show which debuted in 1997, “South Park has revolutionized TV and pushed boundaries with unparalleled topicality and daring humor. South Park has been one of the top 10 most popular shows of all time on the platform. We’re thrilled to offer the series to fans in its entirety.”

Matt Stone said of the deal,  “Content came out of its hole, saw its shadow and ran back down the hole for protection. What we do is expensive; it takes a lot of people; and it makes sense to put it through windows in a way that produces a lot of value. We do what we do because we act like we own the stuff and try to surf whatever wave is out there.”

He said that by giving Hulu streaming rights will mean that, “the new stuff is always available to fans”,  and will handily bring in mor revenue as they will now enjoy both, “advertising and subscriptions.”

Of all the animals on our planet, the humble goat is up there amongst those that make the noises the internet most loves, and apparently that feature crosses over with most HBO subscribers’ favourite show, Game of Thrones, with a combination of these unlikely factors having attracted over 1 million YouTube viewers in just 2 days.

The video, created by YouTube comedy channel ‘Marca Blanca’, is one which takes the Game of Thrones title music but quickly overlays it with the sounds and sights of goats around the world singing along.

The official video description reads: “Os presentamos la mejor temporada de Game of Thrones. Otra gran exclusiva de Marca Blanca. #GOaT”

The passage, translated into English, states: “We present the best season of Game of Thrones. Another great exclusive of Marca Blanca. #GOaT”

And in ‘goat’… there is a video here that you can watch to figure it out. So capping off a big and sometimes difficult week for the Game of Thrones, its theme tune, in all its goatish glory, can be viewed below:

Compared below to the real thing:

And of course, the apparent subtext that George R.R. Martin wrote the original novels with:

Like South Park, though, goats are not just limiting their prospects to TV:

Continuing a process of being listed as ‘in development’, licenced video game South Park: The Stick of Truth has been hit with another delay, with publishers Ubisoft announcing that the title will no longer be able to fulfil a previously-announced December 2013 release date.

The role-playing game based on the popular Comedy Central animated comedy series will now appear in North America on 4 March 2014, with a roll-out in Australia planned for 6 March, followed by a European release the next day.

Ubisoft North America’s president Laurent Detoc said of the reasoning behind the delay: “Within three weeks after acquiring the game, we sadly realised we had to turn this thing upside down if we hoped to deliver the experience everybody wanted. It’s been such a major overhaul to get to the point where we are that we couldn’t let it go, even if that meant missing December.”

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park and writers on the game, added: “We always wanted the game to feel like you’re actually in an episode of South Park. Getting the game up to the crappy standards of the show has been a real challenge and we’re excited to say it’s taken way longer than we thought it would.”

However, not to leave those anticipating the title in the dust with the setback, the first ‘gameplay trailer’ for South Park: The Stick of Truth was this week made publicly available for the first time, a 7-minute video which is viewable below.

For the game as a whole, though, it appears as though a 1-month wait between now and its release has turned into a 4-month one, but will the added time to work on it (for its writers, presumably after they have completed the ongoing 17th season of the show it is based upon) produce an even more comprehensive release? With all the delays that the title has faced in its history, perhaps a recent ‘2032’ joke wasn’t so unrealistic after all…

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