Оңтүстік Парк: Әлеуметтік сатира және балалардың бейкүнәлігі мен қатігездігінің аракатынасы

Describing the general tone of the show, Teri Fitsell of The New Zealand Herald explains that "South Park is a vicious social satire that works by spotlighting not the immorality of these kids but their amorality, and contrasting it with the conniving hypocrisy of the adults who surround them." Often compared to The Simpsons and King of the Hill, South Park, according to Tom Lappin of Scotland on Sunday, "has a truly malevolent streak that sets it apart" from these shows; he cites the repeated death of Kenny as an example. The humor of the show comes from the "disparity" between the "cute" appearance of the characters and their "crude" behavior. However, Parker and Stone said in an early interview that the show's language is realistic. "There are so many shows where little kids are good and sweet, and it's just not real  Don't people remember what they were like in third grade? We were little bastards." Claire Bickley of the Toronto Sun explains that "The show captures that mix of innocence and viciousness that can co exist in kids that age", that "the boys are fascinated by bodily functions", and that they "mimic adult behavior and language". For example, Kyle instructs Stan and Wendy to "make sweet love down by the fire", a phrase he learns from Chef. In a light hearted study of the humor of flatulence, Jim Dawson explains how the rise of adult animation in the 1990s allowed television to indulge in such humor with The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Simpsons, and Beavis and Butt Head. Beginning with "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", South Park builds on this tradition. The episode employs what literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin calls the carnivalesque. As Ethan Thompson explains in his article, "Good Demo, Bad Taste: South Park as Carnivalesque Satire", the style consists of four crucial elements: humor, bodily excess, linguistic games that challenge official discourse, and the inversion of social structures. Cartman's body—his obesity and his inability to control his farting—is supposed to exemplify the grotesque. The boys swear throughout the episode, using words and phrases such as "fat ass" and "dildo", challenging the boundaries of appropriate language. Finally, the social structure of the town is inverted, as the episode focuses on the knowledge that the four boys have of the aliens as opposed to the ignorant and incompetent adults. Moreover, the aliens perceive the cows as more intelligent than the humans, inverting the species order. South Park tends to employ large scale musical numbers in its episodes, often parodying 1930s cartoons. For example, Cartman sings part of "I Love to Singa", from the cartoon of the same name, when he is struck by a beam from the alien ship.

The episode was broadcast for the first time at 10 pm EDT in the United States on August 13, 1997 on Comedy Central. South Park was originally broadcast during prime time after Seinfeld on Canada's Global TV, with objectionable material cut from the show. Almost a year after its original air date, the episode was broadcast for the first time in Britain (outside of satellite television) on July 10, 1998 on Channel 4. A station representative said "It's for the audience coming back from the pub with a curry." "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" initially earned a Nielsen rating of 1.3, translating to 980,000 viewers, which is considered high for a cable program in the United States. In April 2007, The New Zealand Herald called the first episode "a huge success"; however, reviews at the time of the episode's broadcast were generally negative, most focusing on the low, obscene comedy. Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly thought poorly of the writing and characters, stating that "If only the kids' jokes were as fresh as their mouths" and "It might help if the South Park kids had personalities, but they're as one dimensional as the show's cut and paste animation". Tim Goodman of The San Francisco Examiner acknowledged that many viewers will find South Park "vile, rude, sick, potentially dangerous, childish and mean spirited". He argued that viewers "have to come into 'South Park' with a bent for irony, sarcasm, anger and an understanding that cardboard cut out animation of foul mouthed third graders is a tragically underused comic premise." Calling the series "sophomoric, gross, and unfunny", Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel believed that this episode "makes such a bad impression that it's hard to get on the show's strange wavelength." Similarly, Miles Beller of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a witless offering that wants to score as it seeks to be pointedly outrageous and aggressively offensive but clocks in as merely dumb." Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle considered the show "made by and for childish grown ups" and for "adults who enjoy kid shows". Seeing the show as the inheritor of The Simpsons and Beavis and Butt Head, Ginia Bellafante of Time noted its failure to cohere and considered the show "devoid of subtext". Caryn James of The New York Times commented that the series "succeeds best in small touches" but "seems to have a future". In a generally negative review of the first three episodes of the series, Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote that "Most of the alleged humor on the premiere is self conscious and self congratulatory in its vulgarity: flatulence jokes, repeated use of the word 'dildo' (in the literal as well as pejorative sense) and a general air of malicious unpleasantness." In one of the few generally positive reviews, Eric Mink of the Daily News praised the South Park universe and the "distinct, interesting characters" within it. He singled out Cartman, calling him "the most vibrant of the bunch", and describing him as "a bitter old man living in an 8 year old's body".

"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" was first released on video on May 5, 1998, as part of the three volume VHS set, which included humorous introductions to each show by Parker and Stone. The episode, along with the other twelve from the first season, was also included in the DVD release South Park: The Complete First Season, which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD completely separate from the DVDs. Like some episodes of South Park, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is available to watch for free on the show's website, SouthParkStudios. com. The HD print of this episode retains the original 4:3 aspect ratio instead of "re rendering" it in 16:9 widescreen. The original, unaired version of the pilot had seen only limited release. It was released on a DVD in 2003, which was made available by pre ordering "South Park: The Complete Second Season" through Best Buy in the United States. The back cover of this release features a description of the unaired pilot by South Park animation director Eric Stough. In 2009, the unaired pilot was made available for free online viewing for a limited time of 30 days at the show's official website. During this time, the site also featured a version of the pilot with audio commentary by Eric Stough and South Park Studios creative director Chris Brion. The unaired pilot has also been shown publicly at certain venues, such as The US Comedy Arts Festival (now called The Comedy Festival) in Aspen, Colorado, in 1998, and at Comic Con in San Diego in 2011 as part of the "Year of the Fan" 15th anniversary promotion of South Park.