“South Park” will not be airing a new episode this week after all. In a rare turn of events, the aggressively topical show missed its deadline. The comedy will return on Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
“Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” Trey Parker and Matt Stone said in a Wednesday statement. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and ‘South Park’ fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!”
Additional new episodes in Season 27 are set to air on Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 12, Nov. 26 and Dec. 10.
This isn’t the first time a “South Park” episode has been delayed. In 2013, “Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers” didn’t make it to air because of a power outage at South Park Studios. Season 4’s “Pip” was also meant to run as the fifth episode in the season, but it was pushed back to Episode 14 after the new sets the episode required took too much time. As covered by the lauded documentary “6 Days to Air,” “South Park” traditionally has a chaotic production schedule, which is why the series has consistently been so eerily timely.
This also isn’t the first hiccup Season 27 has seen. Parker and Stone’s negotiations with Comedy Central’s parent company Paramount Global originally led to the series premiere being pushed back a week. That resulted in a $1.5 billion deal for the duo, as well as a five-year, 50-episode renewal. Plus, Episode 2, “Got a Nut,” which mocked Charlie Kirk, was pulled from Comedy Central’s linear broadcast after the right-wing activist’s murder. It’s still available to stream.
