10 TV Deaths That Totally Trolled Audiences

9. Kenny McCormick - South Park

Family Guy Brian Death
Comedy Central

When South Park first hit the airwaves in 1997, it brought with it a new kind of trope, which saw the killing off of a main character in each and every episode. Sadly, Kenny wasn't able to see the credits because, no matter what, he was going to die sometime in the episode.

When that finally happened, one of the other boys, most often Stan, would cry out, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny," which was always followed by Karl, who would scream out, "You bastard(s)!" With that, the viewers would be sated until the next episode found a crazy way to kill off the young boy in the orange hoodie.

The killings were done so often, the trope itself became a troll carried out by series creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. 'How would they kill Kenny off this week' was a popular talking point online as each episode hit the airwaves, but it wouldn't last for the entirety of the series.

South Park has run for more than 23 seasons, and even the funniest killing of a character gets old after a while. The killing of Kenny was put aside for other, less overused jokes, but every once in a while, Kenny meets his end, which lets the show troll the audience as they wait to see if Kenny makes it to the credits.

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Jonathan is a graphic artist, illustrator, writer, and game designer. Jonathan retired from the U.S. Army in 2017 and enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects. He writes for ScreenRant, CBR, NerdBastards, Listverse, Ranker, WhatCulture, and many other sites online. You can check out his latest on Twitter: @TalkingBull or on his blog: jonathanhkantor.com