The Bell Ringer

Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: Arts & Life

Ten years ago, I was sitting in the living room of my grandmother's house watching television when a commercial came on Nickelodeon about a brand-new show premiering that night.

As a young and exuberant 12-year-old, I was perplexed by the strange, new cartoon that was about to come on the tube. The announcer called the show "Spongebob Squarepants," and I remembered thinking to myself afterwards that the stupidity I had just witnessed would never last.

Little did I know that I would learn to love that stupidity, and I honestly never imagined it would have lasted 10 years, thus making it a staple show during my teenage years. Maybe it was the stupidity that made it so funny.

I can only imagine how high those guys were when they were sitting around coming up with the concept for a show based on a sponge wearing square pants, working in an underwater burger joint. I wonder if they knew 10 years ago that they would have hit underwater gold with their hair-brained idea.

Spongebob has become a staple for American television as it is Nickelodeon's most- watched show, and in 2007 it was named one of the greatest television shows of all time by TIME magazine.

Since its debut in 1999, Spongebob has been bringing viewers to tears with his nautical nonsense as he lives his undersea life in a pineapple along with his meowing pet snail, Gary. Spongebob's best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick, and they live on opposite sides of the grumpy Squidward, who is a squid. Nope you're not tripping on acid; that was just the synopsis for the show.

And if the show wasn't enough of a moneymaker with its hilarious antics, Spongebob has become the target of a product phenomenon, with his face on every type of toy and clothing item you can think of. Don't believe me? Just walk into any Wal-Mart, and you'll see his face and the face of his friends and enemies plastered all over everything in the store. And as if toys and clothes weren't enough, the sponge made $85 million when his movie debuted in the United States.

For all the haters out there, you can't deny his sales. His dedicated followers include many adults and quite an impressive list of celebrity guest appearances. Topping the list off are Alec Baldwin, Mark Hamil, Scarlett Johanson, Dennis Quaid and Johnny Depp.

Although I wasn't too impressed when I saw those first fateful episodes, I am thankful that I got to grow up with the comedic styling of Spongebob and his friends.

Happy 10-year anniversary buddy! Here's hoping for another 10 so that my kids can run around singing your theme song. Maybe they can annoy me like I used to annoy my parents with it.

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