Thursday, March 15, 2007

THURSDAY THEME SONG: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

If anyone askes who the most popular cartoon character of the mellenium is, most will say SpongeBob SquarePants. Who is this sponge and why is he so special? Those questions and more will be answered in this week's "Underwater Adventure" Thursday Theme Song!


SpongeBob and the denizes of Bikini Bottom
SpongeBob SquarePants

Ever since SpongeBob Squarepants debuted in 1999, the show has mega-high ratings. In fact, it is the only cartoon to contently be in the Neilson Rating's Top 10. It beat down the Pokemon wave of popularity and his image appears on virtually everything that can be sold.

The premise of the show is simple: It is about the day to day adventures of a sponge living at the bottom of the pacific ocean. SpongeBob lives in a pinapple in Bikini Bottom where he goes to school, works at a fast food restaurant and plays with his neighbours, Patrick the starfish, Squidward the squid, and Sandy the squirrel.

Creator Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist until he desided to switch careers and join Nickelodeon in 1993 and worked as a writer and storyboard artist on Rocko's Modern Life. When Rocko was canelled, Hillenburg decided to create his own show based on the sea creatures that he grew to love in marine biology.


SpongeBob's Macy's Day Parade float
The appeal of the show is the absurd humour. The writers have been smart by making a lot of the humour appeal to adults. While the goofy characters are great for the kids and international markets, many of the situations and character traits are those that only adult would understand. This created a large fan base for the show.

The show took a hiatus of sorts after the movie was released in 2003. Between 2003 and 2005 only seven new episode were made and the show saw its lowest ratings and was threatened with cancellation. This may have been a really elaborate marketing gimmick because the major comeback and new season of SpongeBob brought in record numbers and many more new fans.

SpongeBob SquarePants will be back for a sixth season and Gene Simmons is going to provide the voice for a sea monster in one of the episodes.

3 comments:

Peetu said...

I watch anime shows very rarely. But one day when i came from office, my children was watching the episode of Spongebob tv show and i like it and after that it becomes my habbit to watch this show.

Anonymous said...

Nice post. Thanks. SpongeBob SquarePants is a great great great comedian series to watch with friends. And I like this show very much.

Anonymous said...

I am crazy for animated TV series. I always watch SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes Online. Its amazing series.