By Jenny May

Amy Davis has just finished her homework. Following her usual routine, she and two of her friends gather around the television to watch their favorite show, but it isn't "Friends" or "Melrose Place" they turn on. It's "South Park."

Kenny, Cartman, Stan and Kyle have replaced Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo and other faithful entertainers from the childhoods of Generation Xers. Although each generation has had its own cartoons, Generation X is different because 15 years later cartoons remain the television shows of choice.

Davis, a senior broadcast journalism major, enjoys "South Park" because it satirizes real life situations.

"The characters... say things that everyone knows exist but would not come out and say," she says. "It's hilarious because you know in real life little kids do know swear words. They just don't let on that they do.

"The kids on 'South Park' aren't the sweet, sugar-coated [Mary] Kate and Ashley Olson twins."

"South Park," the product of co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, was first aired in August 1997. Cruder than most cartoons it contains swear words and blatant stereotypes, giving it a TV-MA (Mature Audience) warning. However, the warning does not seem to be hurting the show's popularity.

According to New York Variety magazine, "South Park" is the highest-rated series on cable. One Wednesday it even beat out ABC's "PrimeTime Live."

Stone and Parker are reaping the financial benefits of their cartoon. They will be paid a minimum of $15 million in serveral deals to keep new episodes coming to Comedy Central through the year 2000, and Paramount Pictures will distribute a feature film in spring 1999.

So what is it that attrats so mny college students to this cartoon? According to Jack Nachbar, professor of pop culture at Bowling Green State University, it's acombination of things, including the fact that so many college students are away from home.

"For one thing, young people grow up on cartoons, and there's that sense of familiarity," he says. "As the people are moving away from home, they are drawn to irony and anti-social things. It meets their changing needs."

Nachbar said students away from home for the first time are comforted by cartoons, which remind them of when they were youn - a more sheltered, familliar time.

He says despite the bad rap some people give them, he sees nothing wrong with cartoons.

"It's sort of a sign of good taste because it's creative and imaginative," he says. "It kind of flaunts its violation of taboo with the language, but that's OK."

Robert West, associate professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State, says he does not see the animated shows of the past or today bein just for adults.

"From the very beginning, the original cartoons were made for two levels - a humor for adults and a humor for children - because adults and children watched them together," he says. "The idea that animation is for adults only is very limited."

Nachbar adds that he just recently realized how big a trend the shows are among college students.

"I gave a graduation address [last] December," he says, "and one of the biggest rounds of applause came when I mentioned 'South Park.'"