SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is a popular American animated television series shown on Nickelodeon, YTV, and Nicktoons Network created by marine biologist and animator, Stephen Hillenburg. more...

It's holdings company is Hillenburg's United Plankton Pictures, which is the studio responsible for SpongeBob. SpongeBob SquarePants is a comedy show set under the Pacific Ocean. The pilot episode first aired in the United States on Nickelodeon after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on May Day, May 1, 1999. SpongeBob SquarePants officially aired on July 24, 1999 of the same year with the second episode, "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants." Most episodes take place in the town of Bikini Bottom or the surrounding lagoon floor.

Popularity

SpongeBob is the first "low budget" Nickelodeon cartoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget cartoons had not garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as Rugrats, although when SpongeBob aired in 1999, it had obtained a substantial amount of viewers in the ratings to be considered popular, and has eventually even surpassed Rugrats in popularity, becoming more popular than that show had ever been. SpongeBob follows some other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, the Kablam! skits, Action League Now!, and The Angry Beavers. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: The Fairly OddParents and Invader Zim took a similar role when they aired in 2001, and the former is now second only to SpongeBob in popularity, while the latter has been taken off the channel. SpongeBob is currently the most popular cartoon on television, although it has not always been. The show debuted in 1999, and during that time, Pokémon was still the biggest craze. SpongeBob did not begin his gigantic popularity until 2000, and he has remained popular since then.

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