South Park Held Hostage: Corporate Battles Blamed for Season 27 Delays, Fans Outraged!
We’ve been closely following the ongoing drama behind the scenes with South Park, and the situation has reached a boiling point. Fans expecting new episodes of South Park Season 27 are facing yet another frustrating delay, and it’s clear this is a massive mess driven by corporate disputes. What was originally set to premiere on July 9th has been quietly pushed back by Comedy Central to Wednesday, July 23rd.
The show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are not holding back their frustration. They issued a direct statement from their official account in response to Comedy Central’s announcement, saying, “This merger is an issue working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow”. This points directly to the core of the problem: a colossal battle among Comedy Central, Paramount, and other major players. The creators have specifically urged fans not to blame the creative team for this postponement.
The Billion-Dollar Streaming War and Corporate Interference
This delay comes amidst Paramount Global’s long-pending $8 billion merger with Skydance, a process that has been ongoing since October 2019. For years, HBO Max held exclusive streaming rights to South Park, but that deal expired last month. Now, the highly coveted South Park streaming rights are being shopped around to other platforms, with major players like Warner Brothers Discovery (HBO Max’s parent company) and Netflix reportedly making bids.
However, Parker and Stone have accused Paramount President Jeff Shell of interfering in their contract negotiations with these potential streaming partners. This alleged interference highlights Paramount’s desperation to hold onto South Park. Our view is that South Park is essentially the “only chip” Paramount has left. Think about it: who’s even hosting The Daily Show anymore, and who’s watching Comedy Central for anything else? South Park has been the primary reason people have subscribed to Comedy Central for roughly the past decade.
Adding another layer to this corporate chaos, some outlets, like Cracked.com, are even suggesting that the delay could be linked to Paramount’s decision to pay President Donald Trump $16 million to drop his lawsuit against 60 Minutes. The theory is that Paramount’s PR department had more pressing matters than the cartoon’s release schedule while pushing for their merger through Trump’s FCC.
Fans Are Furious: Short Seasons and Zombie Years?
While we understand the show might not be as “exciting” as it once was for some, and we agree that “Into the Panderverse” was pretty good, it’s hard to say South Park is completely irrelevant after 27 years. However, fans are undeniably “pissed off,” and much of that anger stems from the criminally short six-episode seasons. As viewers have rightly pointed out, when animation studios like Fox can dish out 20 episodes a year, there’s no reason South Park can’t do the same, especially given that Matt and Trey are essentially billionaires at this point.
Many fans yearn for the days of 20-30 episodes a season, released annually and on time, lamenting that short seasons don’t allow for any momentum or steam to build. The creative process for South Park is notoriously stressful, with episodes often finished just minutes before airtime, but according to Parker and Stone, their time management skills are not responsible for this delay. This is more “BS from their corporate overlords and prospective new patrons” getting in the way.
In 2021, Paramount reportedly paid the creators a massive $900 million for a deal that included new South Park episodes and movies. So far, that deal has only yielded seven exclusive “South Park events” for Paramount Plus, which works out to an astonishing $125 million per episode. It’s no wonder Paramount might be trying to “milk” this situation.
This whole situation is wild, and it truly feels like South Park is being held hostage. We hope the fans get to see the new episodes soon.
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