SpongeBob SquarePants, often shortened to SpongeBob, is an American animated television series created by former marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It is chronologically the twelfth Nicktoon to debut.[3] The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and United Plankton Pictures, Inc.
The series was first broadcasted on May 1, 1999 as a "sneak peek" after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards, pr emiering with the episodes "Help Wanted," "Reef Blower," and "Tea at the Treedome."[4] The series began regularly airing on July 17 of the same year, with the premiere of "Bubblestand" and "Ripped Pants." The show was initially only greenlit for six half-hour episodes (twelve total segments), with creator Stephen Hillenburg saying, "I thought if it did go to a full season that we'd get twelve chances to write stories and that might be it...twelve shows and get cancelled."[5] To his surprise, the show became a ratings success, becoming the most-viewed Saturday morning children's cartoon within a few months,[6] and amassing over 56 million total viewers (with almost a third of that between ages 18 and 49) by 2002.[7] The show is currently in its sixteenth season, which premiered on June 27, 2025, and has aired over 300 half-hour episodes.
The series focuses on an optimistic sea sponge named SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in an underwater pineapple with his pet snail Gary. He lives with his two nearest neighbors: Patrick Star, SpongeBob's best friend who lives under a rock, and Squidward Tentacles, a grumpy octopus who lives in an Easter Island Head. SpongeBob and Squidward work together at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab. Their boss is a cheapskate crab, Eugene H. Krabs, who lives with his whale daughter, Pearl. SpongeBob is enrolled in a boat-driving school run by Mrs. Puff, a pufferfish, and often spends time with a thrill-seeking squirrel from the surface, Sandy Cheeks. The villains of the show are Plankton and his computer wife, Karen, who own a failing restaurant, the Chum Bucket, located across the street from the Krusty Krab.
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