Comedy Central The South Park pandemic special is the first hour-long episode in the show's 23-season history.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a lot of television production to either shut down or get very creative. Enter South Park with a new pandemic special that is bound to be full of blistering satire and lots of laughs. It premieres Wednesday, September 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.
If you don’t have cable, here’s how to watch a live stream of the South Park Pandemic Special online for free:
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Philo TV
You can watch a live stream of Comedy Central and 60 other TV channels on Philo TV, which comes with a seven-day free trial:
Once signed up for Philo, you can watch the South Park Pandemic Special live on the Philo app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast (compatible on Android mobile), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer on the Philo website.
If you can’t watch live, Philo allows you to DVR programs and watch them up to 30 days later. And even if you forget to DVR something, Philo also comes with a 72-hour rewind feature, which lets you to watch most shows on-demand if they have aired in the last three days.
FuboTV
You can watch a live stream of Comedy Central and 100-plus other TV channels on FuboTV, which comes with a seven-day free trial:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch the South Park Pandemic Special live on the FuboTV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. You can also watch on your computer via the FuboTV website.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour look-back feature, which allows you to watch most shows on-demand within three days (and sometimes longer) of their conclusion, even if you don’t record them.
Vidgo
You can watch a live stream of Comedy Central and 65+ other TV channels on Vidgo, which you can use for free with a seven-day trial:
Once signed up for Vidgo, you can watch the South Park Pandemic Special live on the Vidgo app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Vidgo website.
Sling TV
You can watch a live stream of Comedy Central and 35-plus other TV channels via Sling TV’s “Sling Blue” or “Sling Orange” bundle. It comes with a free three-day trial, but if you bypass that, you can get $10 off your first month, and get Showtime, Starz, and Epix included for free:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch the South Park Pandemic Special live on the Sling TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website.
If you can’t watch live, Sling TV comes included with 10 hours of cloud DVR.
‘South Park’ Pandemic Special Preview
On Wednesday, September 30, South Park returns for one night with an hour-long episode called “The Pandemic Special.”
The Comedy Central press release says that in the special episode, “Randy comes to terms with his role in the COVID-19 outbreak as the on-going pandemic presents continued challenges to the citizens of South Park. The kids happily head back to school but nothing resembles the normal that they once knew; not their teachers, not their homeroom, not even Eric Cartman.”
In the preview, Randy can be seen offering a “pandemic special” in his thriving marijuana business at Tegridy Farms, while the kids go back to school with plexiglass desk shields and their class being taught by a police detective.
South Park aired its 23 season in 2019; a premiere date for the 24th season has yet to be announced. The show has been renewed through season 26. The pandemic special is the first episode in the show’s history that will run an hour.
Typically, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker do their episodes almost on the fly. They want to stay up-to-date with current events, so they produce the episodes rather last minute. In a 2010 NPR interview, Parker explained, “Because of the nature of our show, a lot of people by now kind of know [that] we really do the show almost like a live show. Like an SNL kind of schedule. We come in on a Thursday and then that episode airs the next Wednesday. And so in our show what happens that week ends up going on in the show.”
But Comedy Central released the trailer for the pandemic special over two weeks ago, which means they’ve really taken their time on this one, which makes sense — the COVID-19 pandemic is hardly a “recent” issue.
The South Park COVID-19 pandemic special premieres Wednesday, September 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. It will also have two encore airings at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT and 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
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