As animated stalwarts like Family Guy and The Simpsons feel increasingly tired, desperately trying and embraessingly failing to recapture some of their earlier glory, another animated show seems to buck the trend of decline. South Park.
The show goes from strength to strength, mainly as the real world around it gets more and more ridiculous. Its creators simply lean into the insanity and laugh in the face of it all. There seems to be no part of modern cultural insanity that South Park won’t completely rip to shreds.
All is not well in the world of Cartman and his friends, though. South Park has gone from Paramount+ outside of the United States, pulled without warning in the night.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is because the license to stream the show internationally has expired, and negotiations so far have not landed. The reason – the ongoing merger between Paramount and Skydance.
Season 27 had been delayed two weeks to try and make room for ongoing negotiations, with the series now due for a July 23rd debut. The show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone had already commented about the delay online, saying on social media:
“This merger is a s—show and it’s f—ing up South Park. We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”
The specials are still on the streamer as these were specifically created for the channel. Next up for negotiation is the digital rights for the show, and Paramount only has two years left on that deal after paying $900 million.
$900 million. No wonder Stone and Parker felt rich enough to buy Casa Bonita in real life.
