For the first time in the Comedy Central cartoon's history, producers were not able to make deadline in time for its Wednesday airdate.

The lights went out on South Park Tuesday night.

Los Angeles' South Park Studios, where co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker and their perpetually time-crunched team often turn in episodes less than 24 hours in advance of premieres, lost power last night -- leaving the animators too little time to put the finishing touches on Wednesday's episode before its 10 p.m. ET airtime.

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"It sucks to miss an airdate but after all these years of tempting fate by delivering the show last minute, I guess it was bound to happen," Parker said in a statement.

South Park, which premiered on Comedy Central in 1997, has made its deadline every one of the previous 240 episodes. "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers" will now air on Oct. 23, and an encore of 2001's "Scott Tenorman Must Die" will air tonight in its place.

For fans who also appreciate night vision photos, the South Park team documented their power outage on the official production blog.

South Park recently kicked off its 17th season to ratings highs, grossing 4.3 million viewers across three broadcasts.