Will South Park "Bloody Mary" episode ever air again?

Will South Park "Bloody Mary" episode ever air again?

Back in December, I wrote about Comedy Central's asinine decision to cancel a scheduled showing of the South Park episode "Bloody Mary". Boing Boing picked up the story, then zillions of other blogs picked it up, then the MSM (as we angry bloggers like to call it) picked it up, and it became the second-biggest religious-fanatics-protesting-offensive-cartoons news story in recent memory.

Catholic civil rights leader Bill Donohue took credit for pressuring Comedy Central into "finally making the right decision". Many viewers complained to Comedy Central about the censorship, and the network responded with a form email stating in part, "Though Comedy Central did not include the 'Bloody Mary' episode in a special year-end marathon of 'South Park' episodes in deference to the Holidays, 'Bloody Mary' did in fact air in every one of 'South Park's' normally scheduled repeat timeslots. . . . Despite misleading claims from those who would like to claim victory, we have not permantly (sic) shelved the 'Bloody Mary' episode from future airings due to outside pressure nor will we exclude it from future DVD releases."

So was the December cancellation a onetime seasonal sop to the "war on Christmas" crowd? Or has Comedy Central permanently shelved the "Bloody Mary" episode from future airings due to outside pressure? We'll find out soon with the next normally scheduled repeat timeslot: Wednesday, March 15, 10:00 pm EST.

New episodes of South Park air on Wednesday nights at 10:00 pm eastern. The tenth season is scheduled to begin on March 22. Until then, Comedy Central has been re-running the ninth season episodes in order. The recent schedule:

Jan 04 — Best Friends Forever (9-04)
Jan 11 — The Losing Edge (9-05)
Jan 18 — The Death of Eric Cartman (9-06)
Jan 25 — Erection Day (9-07)
Feb 01 — Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow (9-08)
Feb 08 — Marjorine (9-09)
Feb 15 — Follow That Egg (9-10)
Feb 22 — Ginger Kids (9-11)

According to ComedyCentral.com's schedule of upcoming episodes, this pattern continues for the next two weeks:

Mar 01 — Trapped in the Closet (9-12)
Mar 08 — Free Willzyx (9-13)

"Bloody Mary" was the 14th and final episode of the ninth season, which makes it the logical choice to air on March 15. So what's on the schedule for that timeslot?

Mar 15 — Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina (9-01)

Looks like "Bloody Mary" is still shelved from future airings due to outside pressure. Goddammit! For what it's worth, ComedyCentral.com has an online feedback form for viewers "to submit your comments or questions about Comedy Central programming".

UPDATE (February 28): Comedy Central has fiddled with the upcoming schedule since my post. It now lists:

Mar 01 — The Passion of the Jew (8-04)
Mar 08 — Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina (9-01)
Mar 15 — Trapped in the Closet (9-12)

Meanwhile, New Zealanders got to see "Bloody Mary" last week despite local complaints.

An appeal from the Catholic Church for New Zealanders to boycott an episode of South Park has resulted in a record audience there for the controversial cartoon.

The "Bloody Mary" episode of South Park drew more than six times the normal audience, New Zealand broadcaster TV Works announced Thursday.

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