A surefire way to screw something up is to try too hard. More and more often, this seems to be what kills an episode of South Park. Rather than play to the show's strengths (crude humor, unique shock value, attention to detail), a bad episode spends all of its energy focusing on its premise, even when that premise isn't very good to begin with. This is the TV equivalent of going to a restaurant where the chef emerges from the kitchen to describe the merits of the food he cooks, only neglecting to actually let you eat any of it. It's hard to describe South Park as being lazy, exactly. It's still visually impressive, well-acted and even strangely affecting, but the ideas themselves end up falling short too frequently these days.

So, in short, here's this week's premise: the entire town of South Park gets Facebook fever, with the exception of 9-year-old creator mouthpiece Stan, naturally. Kyle, Cartman and Kenny build a page for him as a gift despite his aversion to the site and the entire culture surrounding it, leading to a series of social pressures from Stan's loved ones. A few of these jokes, like Wendy's irrational relationship drama, work. Most of them go stale the minute they hit the air.

Because South Park always has to escalate to something absurd, Stan's profile grows so unwieldy that it sucks him into his computer when he tries to delete it (get it? Stan keeps on saying he doesn't want to get sucked into the... and then he literally... and then... joke... right?). We're then treated to a lifeless Tron parody that lasts half the episode. Seriously, Tron. I'm not sure if that joke would have been more or less funny if the decades-in-the-making sequel weren't coming down the pike in just a matter of months.

The better part of "You Have 0 Friends" is the introduction of a new character, the ultimate sad sack 7-year-old, Kip. He's a desperately lonely, hopelessly gawky child who nobody likes, and for seemingly no reason at all. Kyle feels bad for him, so he adds him as a friend on Facebook. Cue various scenes of Kip excitedly telling his parents about his "best friend Kyle" and taking his laptop to the movies. Oh, if only the episode had concentrated on this thread and all of its hilariously tragic potential. If Kip shows up in future episodes, it may have all been worth it.

The biggest laughs of the night came from Cartman's thinly veiled Mad Money with Jim Cramer ripoff Mad Friends, a bombastic guide to getting more friends on Facebook. All the little props and sound effects were awesome. Still, it's likely that South Park will run out of ridiculous cable news personalities to mock through Cartman before too long.

Best Moment: It's a toss-up between Kip's endearing agony and Cartman's podcast.

Notes: I've never in my life played Yahtzee, but if it's anything like its depiction in this episode, I think I'd instantly grow old after just one game.

Episode Rating: 2.5/5- Cultural absurdities aren't always funny. Sometimes they're just stupid. Facebook obsession is one of them. Everything that was good about this episode didn't have to do with its main premise, so the majority of it was just flat.