 Before its release on Comedy Central , " Pinkeye " was shown at the first annual New York Comedy Film Festival at New York Film Academy on October 26 , 1997 . Out of about 50 films shown in the festival , " Pinkeye " was chosen as the final exhibition to close the festival . Parker and Stone appeared on The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn on October 27 , to promote the episode and the first season in general . In its original American television broadcast , " Pinkeye " received a Nielsen Rating of 3 @.@ 8 , meaning the episode was seen by about 1 @.@ 75 million households . Television journalists said the rating was unusually high for Comedy Central standards ; the network averages a 0 @.@ 6 rating ( 276 @,@ 000 households ) during prime time , and prior to South Park , the channel 's highest rating was a 2 @.@ 7 ( 1 @.@ 24 million households ) for the second season premiere of Absolutely Fabulous . In 2000 , The Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills , California held a three @-@ month horror festival called " Monster in the Box : Horror on Television " , which included " Pinkeye " in its selection of classic or excellent horror @-@ related television comedy episodes . It also included The Munsters episode " Munster Masquerade " and The Simpsons episode " Treehouse of Horror V " . 
