South Park to continue skipping episodes this week as well amidst controversy

South Park is on a temporary holiday this week, but it is supposed to return soon. The hiatus is being leveraged by Comedy Central to air a marathon of its recently fan-filled South Park Day on August 13, between 9 pm and 10 pm, where critics and fans argue over the overt, topical premiere of the season and the way it returned to the center of the cultural hubbub.

The skip does not appear to be a meltdown but more like a temporary break between acts as a combination of scheduling, promotional decision making, and the notorious eleventh-hour creativity. And provided you were prepared to see new chaos in South Park, there are still new episodes to come, only the dates have been rattling around in press reports, as networks and streaming partners negotiate an optimum time.

The skip, explained

South Park will be off this week, but it is not an apocalypse; it was intended to be so, a break. Comedy Central has replaced a new episode with a South Park Day marathon of older episodes and features, so it could be nostalgia day for you with old faves. This is sometimes done by networks to create buzz or maybe give creators a little extra time and in this instance the short delay appears to be a result of both. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone often tend to make last-minute changes in the episodes, and this flexibility allows them to adjust dates. The skip is not an indication that the season is off the rails; even press reports and network previews continue to indicate new South Park episodes returning sometime in the near future, just that the precise date has fluctuated somewhat between the various sources.

The South Park controversy

What is the fuss about? Because the first episode of the season pulled a classic South Park move and threw big, bold jokes right in the middle of the current events. For the premiere, the show went all in on parody with a fictionalized version of Donald Trump placed in exceedingly explicit situations, such as being paired with Satan in one scene, and even spoofed network and political responses in a way that made headlines. Such audacious lampooning inevitably boomerangs: the White House and assorted media responded, Twitter went bonkers, and the post-midnight banter turned the incident into a trending discussion topic.

On top of that, the creators made a huge streaming-money tie-up with Paramount that is reportedly worth about 1.5 billion dollars, and that results in a larger focus on what the show is and is not allowed to show. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have responded in typical, sarcastic, nonchalant fashion, laughing in interviews at their decisions and regrets, laying more emphasis on the satire of the events. Summing up, the show accomplished what it always does, that is, poking, prodding, and provoking; and that poke this time had more eyeballs than usual. That is why showrunners sometimes scramble schedules on networks, to help cool tempers and at times just because it is time to.

How to keep up

Want to keep up with it? Then this cheat sheet has you covered: The latest South Park episode is mostly launched on Wednesdays at 10 pm on Comedy Central, after which you could stream it via Paramount+ the next day. Since the show is legendary in terms of how quickly it goes through production and how easy it is to pivot with promos, official social media, and broadcast schedules are likely your best bet in case something changes last-minute. A week skipped means expect to see encore airings or themed marathons instead. Comedy Central has done so on anniversaries, special programming, or to keep the hype alive.

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