Did Spongebob Just Jump the Shark?

Ha! Mo's in there watching it right now.

I can see it from the computer but I haven't been following the story.

Are those the Blue Meanies from "Yellow Submarine"?

Sozobe - my 7 year olds even said it was lame...Nick Jr. made this big hairy deal about it - the boys were so excited about it and it went over like a pregnant pole vaulter. Really quite a disappointment!

That's what sozlet thought when we saw previews -- that they were the Blue Meanies. Since Yellow Submarine and Spongebob are pretty much her two favorite anythings in the universe, she was psyched. They didn't really end up being Blue Meanies, though. Lame, lame, lame.

(Pregnant pole vaulter, heh...!)

Hey boomer, what did Mo think?

We have a regular, old, repeat Spongebob on right now and the contrast is rather stark. (It's the one where Spongebob and Patrick melt the Squidward wax effigy and think they've killed him.)

He really didn't say anything about it other than "It's over?" when it went off. Did they leave things kind of unresolved?

He hasn't asked to watch it again which is unusual for any show he really likes.

I liked the old SPongebob when he wasnt like all attitude. Theyeve cutened him up too, Does Pee Wee HErman do his voice??

I don't really know the difference between old and new ones -- they're all repeats and I think they're all mashed up. No real continuity anyway, except that if it's the one where he meets (insert character here) for the first time you know it's pretty old. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the ones I like the most are the oldest ones though.



Heh, that was pretty much my reaction, too... what, that's it? There was no real dramatic arc of any kind (I mean, it's Spongebob, it's not Scorcese, but there is usually a story with a satisfactory ending). It just kind of went scene scene scene all done bye now!

That's exactly what my boys said...they kept waiting for it to come back and finish...I am sure Nick Jr. will hear about it soon enough!

I'm awfully fond of Spongebob (I was so excited when I found out that Steven Hillenburg went to college where I am!)... it was so surprisingly clever and funny at first. I haven't seen it since they started making new episodes though, and I was just reading that it has gone downhill. The person that was talking about it claimed that parents had been complaining about the humor being too adult, and so it's been deliberately, well, I don't know if "dumbed down" is fitting, but anyway deliberately changed.

why? I think it's fitting

Ugh. The multi-level humor was the best thing about it! There aren't that many shows that both me and the kid like that much.

(From last night's show -- Squidward appears in white bathtowel and talcum powder after his bath and is taken to be his own ghost. He sees the possibilities, and starts ordering Patrick and Spongebob around. They lug his chaise around, but he's picky. Against various backgrounds, he proclaims that area too something. [Too hot, too wet, whatever.] Then he's lugged to an area with a painterly background of frothy can-can girls [with fish heads] and loopy cursive, all in sepia tones. "Too loose... Lautrec. <rimshot>" [The rimshot was included.])

*snort* I remember that one, good stuff.

I googled around last night after posting that, and there seems to be a pretty strong feeling some time after an episode called "Rock a Bye Bivalve" was when they started changing the tone. I guess that episode was the one that spurred most of the "Gasp! Is SpongeBob....gay?!" crap. Apparently he and Patrick raise a baby mollusk together-- it sounds hilarious to me, I've gotta see it now... anyway, after that episode Stephen H. had to explain that as a sponge, Spongebob would actually be asexual, not gay or straight

You know - Bugs Bunny was the same way...multi-level - had adult humor and kids loved it...As far as I can see - SpongeBob is the same ...parents obsess about goofy things sometimes! They don't have to let the child watch it if they think it is not suitable.

On Monday, my eight year old daughter complained, "At recess time they made us stay inside school and watch Spongebob cartoons!" I reminded her that she used to love Spongebob. She replied, "That's when I was a baby!"

Heh...!

Cyphercat, I've seen that one (the baby mollusk), it's fabulous! (I'm not entirely sure there is any episode I haven't seen, at this point...)

There are a lot of different "gay" episodes, to a greater or lesser degree. I think a "gayer" one was the "Pink/ Yellow" one (I made up that name, I don't know what it's actually called), where Patrick and Spongebob start competing for some reason (frycook games?) and get furious at each other and bulk up (they get Incredible Hulk physiques) and get into the ring for some sort of wrestling/ boxing match. They hurl insults at each other, many of them having to do with how repulsive pink or yellow is. Then at some point someone's pants get pulled down and it's revealed that he's wearing the other guy's color -- Patrick's wearing yellow undies, for example. Then the other guy's pants are pulled down -- same thing. Then they sob and hug (pants down) and walk off together (all muscley) holding hands.

I think there was at least a little purposeful tweaking going on there (maybe it was after the "Rockabye Bivalve" flap?), but I don't give a damn.

a good show for both parents and kids is the grim adventures of billy and mandy. they're always poking fun at things like dungeons and dragons and subtle, sarcastic background humor. ( grim was in the bathtub playing with dolls supposed to represent billy's mom and grim) billy's momdoll: but..you're so repulsive and yet....i'm attracted to you grim doll:yes i have that effect on people. I'm not sure if those were the exact words spoken but it was hilarious.

who knew the grim reaper was jamacian?