How SpongeBob SquarePants became TV's most "meme-able" show

Vulture

Why didn't other Nickelodeon classic shows become classic memes? "I’d venture to say that SpongeBob is better greased to circulate widely because of its spectacular realism," says Lauren Michele Jackson, adding: "Watching SpongeBob now... I see how the sea-dwelling characters play back adulthood with all the damning comedy it deserves. Life is endlessly mundane, if you’re lucky, and ideally endured with a sense of humor. That type of humor is the lifeblood of so many jokes propagated online, so it makes sense that the internet would latch onto a show that embraces this sensibility. It’s still not quite nostalgia — teens, who weren’t yet born or verbal when the show was at its peak, love the memes. But if it’s memory in part that makes SpongeBob a worthy candidate for memes, it’s the show’s PG appreciation for life’s hilarious humorlessness that makes it adaptable to any and every situation."