SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants, often shortened to SpongeBob, is an American animated comedy television series created by Stephen Hillenburg. The show begins on May 1, 1999.

It's Nickelodeon's most popular program. It's been made into many pieces of merchandise. The main character, SpongeBob is an adult sea sponge who acts like a child. He lives in a pineapple under the sea. The show has 3 spin-offs: Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, The Patrick Star Show and one with Squidward Tentacles.

As of 2025, the series is the fourth longest-running American animated series and the longest-running American children's animated series, surpassing Arthur in 2025.

Characters

The show gets its name from its main character, SpongeBob SquarePants, a sponge. He looks more like a yellow sea sponge. His best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick Star. His grumpy neighbor is a teal, grumpy and skinny octopus named Squidward Tentacles.

SpongeBob and Squidward work as employees at the Krusty Krab in Bikini Bottom. The Krusty Krab, which is run by a greedy red crab named Mr. Krabs, is famous for its Krabby Patty burgers. The recipe for Krabby Patties is top secret. The owners of a competing restaurant called the Chum Bucket, Plankton and Karen, often try to steal the recipe.

 SpongeBob SquarePants is the main character and a yellow sea sponge. He is a fry cook in the Krusty Krab. He is very cheerful and sometimes annoys his selfish neighbor, Squidward. His favorite things to do are jellyfishing (catching jellyfish with a net) and blowing bubbles. He is voiced by Tom Kenny.
 Patrick Star is a pink starfish and SpongeBob's best friend who lives under a rock. Patrick is goofy, but is a fun-loving character and eats a lot. He is unemployed but has worked at several places before. He is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.
 Squidward Tentacles is a teal octopus and SpongeBob's next-door neighbor. He plays the clarinet and is not good at it, even though he thinks so. He works at the Krusty Krab as the cashier. He says he does not like SpongeBob, but SpongeBob thinks they are friends. Squidward is not friendly and thinks that he is better than almost everyone. He is voiced by Rodger Bumpass. 
 Mr. Eugene H. Krabs is a red crab who is the owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant. He is a single father with one daughter, a whale named Pearl. He and Pearl live in a big anchor. He is very greedy and loves money. He never wants to spend a lot of his money, and sometimes cheats to make more of it. He is voiced by Clancy Brown.
 Sheldon J. Plankton is a green copepod. He's an evil genius and Mr. Krabs' rival. His goal is to steal the secret recipe for Krabby Patties. He runs a restaurant called the Chum Bucket with the help of his computer wife named Karen. The Chum Bucket is unpopular and they never get customers. He is always trying to steal the secret Krabby Patty Formula. He is voiced by Mr. Lawrence.
 Karen Plankton is a talking light blue computer who's Plankton's wife. She gives him his evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty recipe. She lives in the laboratory of the Chum Bucket which is labeled from the outside as the "kitchen". Karen does not have a face, but her screen shows a wavy green line that moves when she talks. She is voiced by Jill Talley.
 Sandy Cheeks is a brown land squirrel from the state of Texas. She lives in a glass house called a Treedome that lets her breathe underwater. When she is out of the dome, she wears a space suit and a fishbowl-like glass helmet around her head filled with fresh air. She's always very athletic. She is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence.
 Mrs. Puff is a peach prickly pufferfish who is SpongeBob's teacher at the underwater driving school, Mrs. Puff's Boating School. She is old and easily scared. She wears a blue sailor hat and a yellow wig. SpongeBob really wants to pass Mrs. Puff's class, but he always fails his driving test. She is voiced by Mary Jo Catlett.
 Pearl Krabs is a big gray sperm whale with blonde hair who is the daughter of Mr. Krabs. She is sixteen years old and has a job at the Bikini Bottom Mall. When she grows up, her dad will give his restaurant and his money to her. She wears a pink shirt with a dark pink letter P on the front, a purple skirt, and white boots. She is voiced by Lori Alan.
 Gary the Snail is SpongeBob's pet blue sea snail. He is voiced by Tom Kenny as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, a sea sponge who hangs out with Patrick Star.

Episodes list
 Episodes 

Main places
 The show takes place in a fictional city called Bikini Bottom, which is in the floor of the Pacific Ocean. The citizens are mostly fish who live in ship funnels and boatmobiles. It is based on the Bikini Atoll located in the Marshall Islands.
 SpongeBob's pineapple house is SpongeBob's home. It has many big rooms even though on the outside it looks just like a small pineapple. It has a large library with many books.
 The Krusty Krab is a restaurant in the city of Bikini Bottom. It is run by a crab, Eugene H. Krabs. SpongeBob SquarePants works there as a fry cook, and Squidward Q. Tentacles works as the cashier. The fast food items that are sold include the popular Krabby Patty (which is similar to a burger), fries, and drinks.
 The Chum Bucket is a restaurant across the street from the Krusty Krab. It is owned by Sheldon J. Plankton and Karen Plankton, but it is very unpopular because the food is very bad. Plankton and Karen are always trying to steal the secret recipe for the Krabby Patty, which only Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob know how it is made.
 Mrs. Puff's Boating School is the driving school where SpongeBob often goes to try to get his driver's license. SpongeBob is normally not good at driving and can never get his license without help from a friend. Whenever he gets his license, he soon loses it for different reasons.
 Patrick's boulder is Patrick's home where Patrick lives and sleeps in. In some episodes, Patrick falls out of his boulder.
 Squidward's house, an Easter Island head owned by Squidward. In his house, Squidward practices his clarinet and paints pictures.
 Mr. Krabs and Pearl's anchor house, a hollow anchor with lots of paintings on the walls. Mr. Krabs and Pearl live inside of it.
 Sandy's Treedome is where Sandy Cheeks lives, she needs a helmet to breathe underwater. However, in her treedome she does not. All sea creatures need a helmet in her treedome to breathe.
 Goo Lagoon is a popular beach. Even though the beach is underwater, the water on the beach is called "goo." In some episodes, it is just a lake but in some, it is an entire ocean.
 Patchy's House is the residence of Patchy the Pirate and Potty the Parrot. It is located at 6248 Agnes Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 91606. It first appears in the episode "Christmas Who?". It is in Encino, California.

Reception
Ratings and run-length achievements
Within its first month on air, SpongeBob SquarePants became the most highest-rated Saturday-morning children's series on television. It held an average national Nielsen rating of 4.9 among children aged two through eleven, denoting 1.9 million viewers. Two years later, the series had firmly established itself as Nickelodeon's second highest-rated children's program, after Rugrats. SpongeBob SquarePants was credited with helping Nickelodeon take the "Saturday-morning ratings crown" for the fourth straight season in 2001. The series had gained a significant adult audience by that point—nearly 40 percent of its 2.2 million viewers were aged 18 to 34. In response to its weekend success, Nickelodeon gave SpongeBob SquarePants time slots at 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM, Monday through Thursday, to increase the series' exposure. By the end of 2001, SpongeBob SquarePants boasted the highest ratings for any children's series, on all of television. Weekly viewership of the series had reached around fifteen million, at least five million of whom were adults.
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