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Bait And Switch / South Park

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  • In the early episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", Kenny (who dies horribly in almost every episode) is continually subjected to a series of extremely hazardous situations. But nothing ever happens and he survives to the end of the episode for the first time.
  • Another example is the episode "Mecha-Streisand". Instead of being trampled by the giant metal Barbra Streisand, Kenny gets strangled playing tetherball.
  • Happens multiple times in the more recent episodes when you expect Kenny to die like being held at gunpoint, but doesn't.
  • If there is an episode where the preview involves anything that will get a large portion of the fanbase going "Ha ha, they're making fun of X" the actual episode will likely portray X in a much more endearing manner, while those that see it as okay to mock will be the ones on the receiving end of a Take That!. These episodes typically center around Cartman. One notable example is "Poor and Stupid", with regard to NASCAR and its fanbase.
  • Part 2 of "Cartman's Mom is A Dirty Slut!"... WILL NOT BE SHOWN TODAY to bring you this special showing of Terrance And Philip! (To explain, this episode was supposed to reveal Cartman's father after the previous episode left fans hanging for SIX WEEKS. Fans were not pleased.)
  • In "You Have 0 Friends", the whole sequence of Stan trapped inside the world of Facebook is a homage of TRON, and it appears that everything is all set for the inevitable Lightcycle race... when the bikes are abruptly replaced with a game of Yahtzee.
  • In "#HappyHolograms", the last few minutes of the episode seem like they're going to be bringing in Mr. Hankey to save the day, but it ends up being PewDiePie instead.
  • In "You're Not Yelping", the father of the new Mexican family hopes their restaurant does well so they won't have to move back to "that horrible place". It later turns out he was talking about Boise, Idaho.
  • In "Freemium Isn't Free", Satan appears when Stan prays for help with his addiction problems, promising in ominous fashion to "explain the darkness of the human soul". Cut to Satan sitting next to Stan on his bed calmly explaining how dopamine affects the brain and reassuring him that there's nothing spiritually wrong with him.

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