SpongeBob SquarePants is the rare piece of entertainment that had something to offer viewers of all ages

The Atlantic

"SpongeBob was an eternal child who lived the life of a grownup, and Hillenburg found a balance between those two qualities that was endearing rather than off-putting," David Sims says in tribute to SpongeBob's late creator Stephen Hillenburg. He adds: "Each 11-minute mini-episode was loaded with clever zingers, random cutaways, and non sequiturs that could amuse older audiences, but the series was powered by gleeful energy, doughty goodwill, and a kind of unironic innocence. Although I was in high school when the show premiered, I was charmed by its willingness to swerve away from the darker, more acidic humor of the cartoons of my childhood, like Rocko and Ren & Stimpy."

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