SPONGEBOB TENPANTS

SpongeBob SquarePants, the animated so-square-he’s-cool fry cook, celebrated his 10^th anniversary with 50 hours of weekend programming, starting Friday, July 17. Conjured up by Stephen Hillenburg in 1996 after his “Rocco’s Modern Life” was cancelled, “SpongeBob” debuted on Nickelodeon May 1, 1999 but the official premiere was July 17. “It’s a show about a sponge,” said an incredulous Hillenburg to USA Today’s Gary Strauss, “ — I thought we’d get one season.” It’s been the top-ranking kids show since 2002 and appears in 170 overseas markets. “We were just trying to make something we’d want to watch and laugh at,” said Hillenburg. Tom Kenny, who voices the character, agrees. (He told reporter Jayme Deerwester that he bases SpongeBob’s rubbery high-pitched vocalizing “on an angry dwarf. For the trademark laugh, he hits his throat while saying ‘ah.’”) Nickelodeon prexy Cyma Zarghami, who was among the network’s execs who screened the 1999 pilot, knew “it was special. It broke the creative mold.” Zarghami predicts another ten good years for the porous protagonist, which is fine with Kenny: “I couldn’t dream up a gig this fun,” he said. “I feel like I’ve won the lottery.”

Comments

[Bruce Bills]

Happy birthday to Spongebob! It's kinda funny how the creators didn't anticipate the success of the show. The young and the young at heart appreciate his silliness. They simply could not resist that trademark laugh, and smile!