1) It's "Terrance and Phillip".

2) It was created for said flatulence and stupidity. Some People criticized South Park as just being bad animation and fart jokes. The creators decided to show what nothing but bad animation and fart jokes would *truly* look like.

3) "Terrance and Phillip" is not a cartoon. The two are Canadian actors. It's becoming somewhat apparent that you haven't seen a whole lot of T&P...

4) Better? No. Different? Yes. Both are irreverent takes on older wildly popular cartoons. Itchy and Scratchy are obviously modern, violent versions of Tom and Jerry. Terrance and Phillip are essentially Beavis and Butthead without the social graces. Both pairs are indicative of the times in which their shows' shows(?) were created. Both I&S and T&P adequately and appropriately serve a purpose for The Simpsons and South Park: to give us insight into the children watching them.

5) "Weak" and "flatulence jokes" do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. I cite one of the Halloween episodes in which T&P were wearing ghost costumes: "That fart was simply ghoulish!"

Did you smile a little there?

Yeah, I thought so.

I've watched The Simpsons since it premiered and I've always loved Itchy & Scratchy. The zany, gruesome violence is wonderful. Yet if you added up all the laughs I&S gave me over the past two decades, it still wouldn't equal those T&P gave me in the South Park movie during their song "Unclef**ker".

In the South Park universe, not only are Terrance and Phillip on a hit show, but they are huge stars whose influence causes a war with Canada and the subsequent attempt by Satan and Saddam Hussein to take control of the Earth. Yes, they were the focus of the whole movie, and you can clearly see their influence on their viewers. I&S, while funny, doesn't have nearly the influence as a rule.

Would I be more likely to watch I&S on its own than T&P? Does T&P fare less well independent of its parent show? Probably so. But when I assess a show-within-a-show, I have to take into account its purpose in the show. While T&P might fare less well on its own, it is far more integral to South Park than I&S is to The Simpsons. And since it's a show-within-a-show that makes it (for me) a better show-within-a-show.

Well, I'm not going to pretend that I have even a remote shot at taking the lead here, but I'm sticking to my arguments. T&P are integrated into the South Park universe not only as a show watched by the main characters but also as characters themselves. They have their own place in the plots of multiple episodes, as well as the movie. Plus, their creation was largely a response of "Eff You" too those who were criticizing South Park's animation and humor.

I&S are largely standalone gags that, while funny, provide little to The Simpsons other than a little break from the characters.

Both "shows" do what they were intended. To say one is better than the other is a little like saying My wife's Honda Odyssey is better than my Ford Explorer. It's better for transporting the kids, gets better gas mileage, and is ten years newer. But my Explorer is better for my work, which involves carting around chainsaws, gasoline and hand tools and pulling trailers loaded with a couple thousand pounds of wood waste, all on rutted out (and often muddy) dirt roads.