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Cathal Gunning
Published 4 minutes ago
Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.
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If South Park season 28 releases a Thanksgiving episode, this will mark the first time that the series has acknowledged the holiday since 2013. South Park season 28, episode 4 didn’t arrive on November 19 as the show is now taking two-week breaks, instead of its usual one-week breaks, between each new episode.
This means that South Park seasons 27 and 28 run from late July until December, effectively doubling the length of the season without adding any extra episodes. This approach allows the writers of the series more time to react to real-life news stories as they unfold.
While earlier seasons of South Park featured episodes that needed to be written, animated, and produced in only five days, seasons 27 and 28 have a comparatively luxurious amount of time and attention to devote to each new outing. This seems to be paying off for the controversial comedy, which has dominated the streaming charts since season 27 began.
South Park Season 28 Will Likely Feature The First Thanksgiving Special Since 2013
A still from South Park featuring the core four around a fire.MovieStillsDB
Of course, there are other fringe benefits to the show’s new release schedule. For example, because season 27 began taking two-week breaks between episodes, season 28 had just begun in October 2025. This means that viewers got not one, but two Halloween specials from South Park for the first time since 2019.
South Park has plenty of classic Halloween episodes, and the show’s gory, gross sense of humor is perfectly suited to the holiday. However, seasons 25 and 26 were released between February and April, meaning they never had an opportunity to mention Halloween. Similarly, the show’s full-length specials never acknowledged the holiday, either.
In contrast, South Park season 28, episode 4 now seems almost sure to end a 12-year streak by finally releasing the first new Thanksgiving episode since season 17’s Black Friday trilogy. An ambitious parody of Game of Thrones, the Black Friday trilogy accounted for three of season 17’s final outings.
Episodes 7, 8, and 9, “Black Friday,” “A Song of Ass and Fire,” and “Titties and Dragons,” were all critically acclaimed outings for South Park. However, while their chaotic, crude humor harkened back to South Park’s early seasons, the show would go on to ignore the holiday of Thanksgiving for a whopping 12 years until now.
South Park’s Thanksgiving Episodes Were Much More Frequent In Early Seasons
This marks a major change from earlier seasons of South Park, which frequently made fun of Thanksgiving alongside Christmas and Halloween. Season 15, episode 13, “A History Channel Thanksgiving,” poked fun at the titular History Channel’s dubious documentaries with a spoof of Ancient Aliens that doubled as a Thor parody.
Before that, season 4, episode 13, “Helen Keller! The Musical,” showed just how comically offensive South Park could be in its early seasons, as did both season 3, episode 13, “Starvin’ Marvin in Space,” and its predecessor, season 1, episode 8, “Starvin’ Marvin.” This long history shows that South Park celebrated Thanksgiving as early as its first few episodes.
While South Park season 28 recently changed its release schedule, this isn’t the only thing that the show has altered in recent episodes. After the disastrous end of season 20, the series largely abandoned its attempts to pull off season-long narrative arcs. However, these have returned with a vengeance between seasons 27 and 28.
Between Cartman getting abducted by Peter Thiel, Donald Trump cheating on Satan with his Vice President, and Randy Marsh finally giving up on Tegridy Farms, the plots of South Park seasons 27 and 28 are practically completely serialized. The show has a whole network of storylines that are paid off across numerous episodes, making new outings feel less episodic.
Why South Park Season 28 Episode 4 Is Likely To Be A Thanksgiving Special
It is not yet clear whether South Park season 28, episode 4 will be a Thanksgiving special, but all signs point toward this likelihood. For one thing, the episode is being released on Thanksgiving, and for another, it’s been over a decade since the Black Friday trilogy arrived. Furthermore, South Park season 28 already had two Halloween episodes.
Since South Park season 28’s satirical stories have acknowledged other holidays, it seems likely that this outing will also include a Thanksgiving and Christmas episode. Furthermore, since the show’s season-long arcs are building toward an ending, it would make sense for South Park to revisit the approach of the Black Friday trilogy.
Rather than just a standalone Thanksgiving special, season 28, episode 4 could be the start of a story that won’t wrap up until the season ends in December. Part of what made South Park’s last Thanksgiving episode so notable was the decision to extend its story across the next two outings, and the show’s creators now have more experience with this serialized storytelling.
As such, it makes perfect sense for season 28, episode 4 to be a Thanksgiving special that, like “Black Friday” 13 years earlier, sets up the season finale in advance. However, only time will tell whether the creators of South Park opt to take this approach with the show’s latest outing.
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South Park
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Animation Comedy Release Date August 13, 1997 Network Comedy Central Showrunner Trey Parker Directors Adrien Beard Writers David A. Goodman, Nancy M. Pimental, Kenny Hotz, Philip Stark, Dave Weasel, Dan Sterling, Susan Hurwitz Arneson, Trisha Nixon, David R. Goodman, Tim Talbott, Pam Brady, Robert Lopez, Dani Michaeli, Kyle McCulloch, Karey Dornetto, Jonathan Kimmel, Jane Bussmann
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Kyle arguing with other students while Jesus stands in the background in South Park season 27 episode 5
Donald Trump and Satan departing Air Force One from South Park
A Labubu doll from South Park
Kristi Noem with prisoners behind her in South Park season 27 episode 2
Mr Mackey dressed in an ICE uniform in South Park season 27 episode 2
JD Vance and Donald Trump standing together in South Park season 27 episode 2
The characters in South Park, especially Cartman, look shocked while staring a phone
Cartman looks sad wearing a Woke is Dead t shirt on South Park season 27
Canadian wave a Canadian flag on a battlefield in South Park season 27Close
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Eric Cartman / Stan Marsh (voice)
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Kyle Broflovski / Kenny McCormick (voice)
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Do you think South Park's new release schedule of taking two-week breaks between episodes allows for better storytelling and satire?
Cathal
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4 minutes ago
Some fans may appreciate the extra time for writing and animation, arguing it results in higher quality episodes with sharper satire. Others might prefer the breakneck pace of the old 5-day production cycle, as it forced the creators to be more spontaneous and topical. A third perspective is that the longer breaks make the show feel less timely and relevant compared to current events.
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