In a bit of completely unsurprising news, Comedy Central has announced that it has no intention of shutting down the immortal ratings machine that is South Park any time soon. The network has just picked up the show for three more seasons, meaning it’ll survive through at least 26 seasons and 327 episodes, which Comedy Central’s press release bills as “unprecedented” in what we can only assume is an irreverent dig at The Simpsons—because it definitely is precedented, unless that’s just a reference to Comedy Central itself, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot since nothing lasts especially long on Comedy Central as it is. (Also, The Daily Show has been on longer than South Park, so this renewal is even less unprecedented, but whatever.)
In a statement, Comedy Central president Kent Alterman (who also oversees the Paramount Network and TV Land!) referred to South Park as “the greatest comedy in the history of television” and predicted that, “if humanity is still intact in 1,000 years,” people will put Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the same level as The Beatles and Muhammed Ali. Speaking of, in their own statement, Parker and Stone joked, “Apparently, our efforts to get our own show canceled have fallen short,” adding that they’re “looking forward to new cancellation opportunities in the next few years.” So that’s fun.
Season 23 of South Park will premiere on September 25.