Kenny Dies/Trivia

Trivia

 * This episode had been initially intended to kill Kenny off for good because Matt and Trey grew tired of killing him off in every episode for the sake of humor. In addition, Kenny's repeated deaths made it difficult to develop Kenny's personality, since he was really just a "prop" character. Kenny's subsequent absence from Season Six also allowed minor character Butters to rise as a major character on the show, as well as giving Tweek a short period in the limelight.
 * In the episode audio commentary, it was mentioned that it was Kyle who was supposed to be "killed off" in the episode, on the basis that he and Stan shared similar personalities, making him a redundant character. However, in following seasons, Kyle and Stan's personalities have diverged from each other.
 * Promotional advertisements for South Park: The Complete Fifth Season mistakenly addressed this episode as "The Death of Kenny", not "Kenny Dies".
 * This is one of the few times where Kenny's death was done off-screen, whereas normally Kenny's death would be a visual gag for the audience to see.
 * The abortion doctor has the same body type as one of the geeks who helps the boys build a time machine in "Fourth Grade".
 * In this episode - as well as a few notable others - there is an Orgazmo poster on the back of Cartman's door.
 * Almost every time somebody mentions that Kenny is their friend, they would say instead "f-f-f-friend". This is usually said by Stan, however it was used by Cartman as well.

References to Popular Culture

 * Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" from the movie Honeysuckle Rose, was heard during the embryonic stem cell delivery truck montage.
 * The song that Cartman sings at the beginning was Sheena Easton's "Morning Train".
 * This is one of the episodes where we hear Cartman sing, he sings "In the Heat of the Moment" by Asia in the US Government's House of Representatives.
 * The speech he gives beforehand is also a direct reference to Billy Dee Williams's award-acceptance speech in made for TV movie Brian's Song.
 * At the time this episode first aired, embryonic stem cell research was not deemed illegal by the US Government. Then President George Bush signed an executive order limiting US federal money as well as putting restrictions onto new research of embryonic stem cells.

Continuity

 * This episode marks the first time when Kenny's death was taken seriously by the boys. With most of his deaths previously, the others would merely express surprise, then forget about it. While it is taken more seriously than usual on other rare occasions, such as in "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut", it never upsets the boys as much as in this episode.
 * Despite the intended permanence of Kenny's death, he reappeared in the Season Six finale "Red Sleigh Down". He has since made regular appearances and has died sporadically.
 * The topic of stem cell would be brought up again in the Season Seven episode, "Krazy Kripples" involving Christopher Reeve.
 * Ms. Sanders is later seen again on the abortion table in "Woodland Critter Christmas".

Goofs

 * The card outside Kenny's hospital room reads "K. McKormick". His surname is actually spelled "McCormick".
 * When the doctor gives the red-haired lady the clipboard at the beginning of the episode, her white blanket is gone for a second, then it reappears.
 * In the scene where Chef is talking to Stan about death, cow feces appear in the bottom right corner, despite there not being a cow there.