>>121153400>That depends on whether or not they depend on Bernadette PetersTom Ruegger said Bernadette Peters wasn't too expensive and they flat out left Rita & Runt with no episode past Season 1 by choice to focus on other characters.
>and whether they'd have to change Runt to not be a nowadays offensive Rainman parody.Runt is fucked. He has to stay with the "definitely" catchphrase and thinking Rita is a dog or he'd be a different character for no good reason.
There's no way of doing that that's both not niche and not offensive. As you said, he can't be an offensive, irrelevant parody, but then he'd become Pinky, but boring. He'd still have to be autistic to stand out. That's just another part of why Runt is gone. The writers that think Slappy is irrelevant probably won't want to include something as obscure as autism, it'd get Goodfeathers reputation. Some of us know of Sia's movie having a non-autistic play the autistic, containing restraints for autistics. Guess what. It's nominated for an award. No one cares... Even South Park themselves waited years for Aspergers to trend so a sub-plot could resolve around Cartman putting burgers in his underwear.
Even in the original series, Runt got pushed to the side in HIS segment ALL THE TIME.
In terms of cameos, I see Rita occasionally singing somewhere like a restaurant in the background, while the Warners or Pinky and Brain do the main shit. I see Runt just having 8-second traced-in cameo alongside the entire cast once a season without ever opening his mouth.
Of all the characters, Rita and Runt may have the smallest chance of having their segment revised.
