THE STARS OF SPONGEBOB FAN FAVORITES SPECIAL
Nickelodeon, 7:00 p.m. ET
SPECIAL: SpongeBob SquarePants is a cultural icon. I know this mostly because I teach college, and my college students, though they rarely have a shared viewing experience of anything, are invariably, enthusiastically, 100 percent familiar with that animated Nickelodeon children’s show. SpongeBob premiered in 1999, and my students have watched it, and loved it, all their lives. And they’re not alone: For the past 17 years, SpongeBob SquarePants has been the top-rated kids’ animated series on TV. The creator of SpongeBob, Stephen Hillenberg, died in 2018 at age 57, but the rest of the cartoon gang has gathered together – from safe distances – for this virtual table read featuring some of the show’s vocal cast members. Tom Kenny, who plays the titular porifera, is taking part. So are, among others, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy, and a personal favorite, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs.