| Season Number: | 5 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Num Episodes: | 14 |
| Network: | Comedy Central |
| Episode List: | List of South Park episodes |
The fifth season of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on June 20, 2001.[1] The season concluded after 14 episodes on December 12, 2001. The 14-episode season length would become a standard for later years of the series, starting from the eighth season up until the sixteenth season.
In 2007, Parker called Season Five "the one where shit starts getting good",[2] and Stone said "Season Five is the best one."[3]
The penultimate episode of the season, "Kenny Dies", sees Kenny's "permanent" death from a terminal disease. Up until this episode, Kenny would be killed in (almost) every episode as a running gag. According to Matt Stone and Trey Parker, they were running out of ideas for creative ways to kill Kenny and in general had grown tired of his character, not seeing a point to keep him around.
Season 6 focused on the other boys coping with Kenny's death and trying to find a replacement (first Butters, then Tweek). Due to outcry from fans, he was eventually written back into the series at the end of the season 6 finale.
See also: List of South Park episodes.