Improving Nickelodeon Premiere Schedule (SpongeBob)

 Improving Nickelodeon’s Cartoons Premiering Schedule (SpongeBob)

This is just a what-if situation I decide to create. Since I am impatient Nickelodeon fan who have years of putting up with their bullshit scheduling issues, I want to make fantasy premiere dates on how they would’ve finished their cartoons’ season/run with a constant timeslot, a faster rate than other countries, and no burnoffs on the Nicktoons network. And maybe people wouldn’t have so much beef with this company.

SpongeBob

Season 1

The first season had a rather quick premiering schedule, as Nick was pushing it hard when it was new. However, there was one episode that didn’t premiered by the time season 2 started airing. It was Hooky / Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy -  and I would have it premiered on April 8, 2000 as it was originally intended, but it got pushed back to 2001, according to newspaper listings. Plus it became the first ever episode pairing to premiere separately, albeit a week apart.

Season 2

Some of the early episodes would’ve aired in late 2000 as it was originally intended. Middle section would still be left intact due to decent scheduling, and yes, I’d have Gary Takes a Bath premiere the same day as Shanghaied instead of waiting until 2003 to officially premiere. I would actually have Graveyard Shift and Krusty Love premiere the same day as Welcome to the Chum Bucket and Frankendoodle (or premiere it where the same date as Just One Bite and The Bully, see more details below).

Season 3

The season aired new episodes for 4 different years since Nick premiered it early for Just One Bite and The Bully. Like season 2, it was all over the place, and I would actually have the episode aired in production order for the most part. However, it came out in a time when the show stopped production so the crew members could work on the movie. So for better or worse, I would have most of the regular episodes premiered by the end of 2002 or early 2003 while the specials were held back for 2003 and 2004 (even Party Pooper Pants, which premiered much earlier). It would be the last time we’ll have to deal with this.

Season 4

Early season 4 had a decent schedule, although I’ll move Have You Seen This Snail? either for the summer or Labor’s Day. By the time it came out from hiatus, Nick was airing in 11 minute segments rather than paired up. If I’m being honest, the first half of the season would’ve easily been finished by the end of 2005. Except for Dunces and Dragon, I think its Presidents Day 2006 premiere date was perfect (if not, a Veteran Day 2005 premiere would’ve been great as well). This is how it would go if they didn’t air the segments separately (according to archived schedule, SpongeBob only aired 11 minutes due to Friday Night Slimetime’s hosted segments):

Selling Out / Funny Pants - September 23, 2005

Enemy in Law/MM&BB: The Motion Picture - September 30, 2005

Patrick SmartPants/SquidBob Tentacles - October 7, 2005

Krusty Towers/Mrs. Puff, You’re Fired - October 14, 2005

Chimps Ahoy/Ghost Host - October 21, 2005 (you got to admit, Ghost Host really felt Halloween-esque)

#69 would been replaced by #71 for the lead-in the KCAs 2006. And let’s face it, the entire 4th season was already complete by the end of the year (evident by Germany releasing the new episodes before the US). So here’s how it would’ve fare if it didn’t ended in 2007 since the season 4 volume 2 DVD had unaired episodes by the time it was released:

All That Glitters/Wishing You Well - May 5, 2006

New Leaf/Once Bitten - May 12, 2006

Bummer Vacation/Wigstuck - June 2, 2006

Squidtastic Voyage/That’s No Lady - June 9, 2006

The Thing/Hocus Pocus - September 22, 2006

Driven to Tears/Rule of Dumb - September 29, 2006

Born to Be Wild/Best Frenemies - October 6, 2006

The Pink Purloiner/Squid Wood - October 13, 2006

Night Light/The Gift of Gum - October 20, 2006

Season 5

Before any of you wonder why Night Light and Best Day Ever are switched out, it’s because they were produced in the wrong season. Night Light was really a season 4 episode in disguise because Casey Alexander was paired up with Chris Mitchell instead of Zeus Cervas. Best Day Ever was a season 5 in disguise because Nate Cash and Tuck Tucker didn’t officially joined the show until that season. So what better ways I would have open up the new season? By having a Presidents Day takeover marathon. I know the actual Patrick themed marathon that we got that day was neat and all, but at least season 5 would’ve still started on the same day. (And MLK Day 2007 would’ve been a complete Ned’s Declassified marathon due to being called Devon’s Day Off) Unlike the actual event back in November 2006, I would’ve have every single ranked episodes to be actually shown (I know that 10 episodes were skipped over) and that the poll would’ve been a lot less rigged. Don’t get me wrong, season 4 was great, but it didn’t need to dominate the top 10, so who knows how different the the list would’ve been? Maybe people wouldn’t have such hatred for Karate Island. And by the end of the marathon, the actual Best Day Ever premiere, paired up with The Original Fry Cook. Boy, wouldn’t that be the perfect season 5 premiere? And of course, all of this is followed by the official Nick premiere of the movie.

As you may know, while season 5 started off rather slow due to overlapping with season 4, it had a rather unique premiere schedule. Half of the season premiered during two weeks of daily premieres and while it sounded like a cool idea at first, it was a major case of burning off the season. Some of the episodes that they premiered were already released on DVD first. So instead, I would’ve reduced the event to one week and some of the episodes that premiered there would’ve came out earlier. The infamous #83 pair (the first of the pair with the three segments) would’ve served as the lead-in for the Kids Choice Awards instead of #78. Friend or Foe keeps its April 13, 2007 premiere date.

Too lazy to list episode titles, so I’m going by episode # instead but this is how it would’ve looked like if the show was paired up with El Tigre on Saturday mornings.

#84 April 21, 2007

#85 April 28, 2007

#86 May 5, 2007

#87 May 12, 2007

#88 May 19, 2007

#89 May 26, 2007

#90 June 2, 2007

Eventually, the show would have its NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW premiere week either the day it was supposed to start (July 23) or the second week (July 30):

#91

#93

#94

#95

#97

The September 29, 2007 episode should’ve went with #99. Who would’ve wanted Handsome Squidward as a lead-in for the premiere of Back at the Barnyard? Because of the fact that Atlantis SquarePantis didn’t aired the Patchy segments on its original airdate, I would’ve moved it up to November 23, 2007 (in which the entire day is dedicated to seasons 4 and 5 episodes). And while season 5 won’t be completely done by 2007, I would’ve have Pest of the West aired on MLK Day, and Whatever Happened to SpongeBob? on Presidents Day, leading up to Fairly OddBaby (I know, I should’ve scheduled for a FOP marathon since the original schedule didn’t even had one, but it has to be done before we move on to that infamous season).

Season 6

What is known as one of the worst seasons of the entire show, season 6’s schedule was erratic and ONLY 3 episode pairings were aired together and the rest were separate by 11 minute premieres, often aired in daily premieres, which is often referred as “bombs” by cartoon fans. So here’s how I’d improve the season schedule.

The first half of the season can be used for the Saturday morning block (which consists of Tak, Barnyard, and later The Mighty B!).It will go on hiatus every other few weeks.

#101-103: March 2008, although #104 would’ve be used as the lead-in for the KCAs

#104-106: April-May 2008

#107-109: July 2008

It was hard to me to decide but I actually want SpongeBob vs. the Big One to premiere on Columbus Day as opposed to the season 5 episode Whatever Happened to SpongeBob? The entire 2 hour marathon premiere on Black Friday will be kept intact except that Choir Boys actually aired and the Penguins of Madagascar preview gets move back to a day later.

The second half gets a tad tricky, because some of it will be overlapped with the big SpongeBob 10th anniversary event:

#114-#117: Winter 2009

#118-#120: Spring 2009

The rest of the season will premiere on the SpongeBash event, but there’s a catch. There would be two or three new episodes per day at 7pm (Friday - #121 and #122, Saturday #125, #127 and Sunday #128 and Truth or Square) Clash of Triton would get saved for Truth or Square’s original premiere date, which means there will be a slight season overlap when I get to the next season.

Season 7

While a couple episodes aired during SpongeBash, I want the season to official begin on the same week Nickelodeon got their new logo. Someone’s in the Kitchen with Sandy is not a good way to do so, but I digress. The show continue to new episode for the next couple months, albeit at a slow pace. Believe it or not, I wanted the infamous #131 pairing to be the last episodes to premiered in the entire 2000s decade and have #132 be the first ones instead (even though they didn’t aired until September 2010). #133 would be reserved for October obviously due to their horror themes.

By 2010, things will have to be aired out of order for the sakes of big events.

#134 keeps its original air date due to its Earth Day theme

#135 also keeps its original air date

For the first time ever, I have to separate segments from their sister episodes for the sake of a holiday or event.

So the February 6, 2010 premiere will be kept as it is, even if Rodeo Dazed isn’t Valentines themed.

To make up for this, One Coarse Meal and The Play’s Thing will premiere together sometimes during the spring. 

#136 pairing will premiere on KCA Day, albeit during morning hours rather being served as a lead-in (due to ICarly marathon leading up to the ceremony which premiered a new show afterwards).

Several episodes get premieres during the summer and fall, usually during Saturday mornings. (#138-#139, #144-#148)

By the end of 2010, I have saved the rest of the year for two important events.

The Great Patty Caper moves down to Columbus Day instead of Veterans Day and Legends of Bikini Bottom would actually be used as a daily premieres during Thanksgiving week from Monday-Wednesday. (For whatever stupid reason, Trenchbillies and Curse of the Hex didn’t aired on January 28, 2011 with the other episodes.)

By then, every episode up to Whelk Attack has aired. The remaints of season 7 during 2011:

Tunnel of Glove and Love That Squid keep their original air date. You Don’t Know Sponge and New Fish in Town premiere on Perfect Chemistry’s date. #150 airs on January 15, 2011 while the final season 7 pairing premiere on March.

Season 8

Season 8 is one of the only few seasons with a good schedule. It may overlap slightly in the end, but it didn’t took too long to prolong it any further. Regardless, #153 (which didn’t air until the summer) will first air on April 2, 2011 before the KCAs as Sentimental Sponge just doesn’t fit. #154, #155, #157, #158

To conclude summer break, Nick plans to do an event where all episodes were vacation themed. A SquarePants Family Vacation moves down from Veterans Day to Labors Day.

All episodes up until #167 aired as intended by the end of 2011. However, Frozen Face-Off, a winter themed episode that premiered in the middle of summer, gets pushed back to January 2012. 

From there on, everything is almost in order with two exceptions, all spread out.

#169 keeps its original premiere date, except that it will air before the KCA ceremony instead of the morning.

While it was cool to have two weeks of premieres to make up for the rather winter long highs, #168, #170-#173 would all get moved to May during Memorial Day week.

#174, #176, #177 get their first showing during the summer, while Hello Bikini Bottom is saved for Labor’s Day and the Christmas stop motion special obviously gets saved for December (original Nick airdate).

Season 9

SpongeBob finally goes widescreen after 13 years of 4:3. It came out sooner than you expected, so I moved its official premiere date from July 2012 to October 2012. However, as I noticed, this is when the season gets as messy as season 4 towards the end of its first half. So without any further ado I give my own version. (Sadly, some countries would still get their hands on the show, but there has to be at least one new episode in 2014)

#179 October 8, 2012

#180 October 13, 2012

#181 October 20, 2012

#182 October 27, 2012

#183 January 19, 2013

#184 March 9, 2013

#185 September 2, 2013

#186 May 25, 2013

#187 October 2013 (but on a Saturday)

#188 March 29, 2014 (back to back)

#189 February 17, 2014

The show entered on yet another hiatus thanks to the crew member working on Sponge Out of Water. As a result, the show will had a rather lengthy hiatus and it will be the longest it ever been for the show, lasting even longer than the actual longest hiatus which was exactly 365 days between #188’s segments. Season 9B aired at rather a decent pace at first, but eventually started overlapping with season 10 by the end of its run. Plus one episode premiered in 2017, so there will be some slight changes.

#190 original date

#191 original date

#192 September 18, 2015

#193 October 2, 2015

#194 October 16, 2015

#195 original date

#196 November 13, 2015

#197 original date

#198 May 6, 2016

#199 May 13, 2016

#200 November 11, 2016

#201 July 15, 2016

#202  July 22, 2016

#203 October 22, 2016

#204 October 29, 2016

Season 10

Ah, season 10, the shortest season ever. So short that its premiering schedule wasn’t that bad. I won’t make a list to improve it because I liked what I saw. However, I would premiere the season officially on MLK Day. #206 would air earlier than usual. And The Incredible Shrinking Sponge gets to premiere the same day as Sportz? (Despite being sports themed) rather than getting delayed just so it can premiered on the same day as a Christmas TV movie.

Season 11

Another season that somehow ended its season in its less than 2 years. Eerily it ended a day before Hillenburg’s death, but with the power of fantasy schedule, I will try to make things different. I’m going to divide it by four:

#216-#219: Summer 2017

#220: original date

#221-#224: Fall 2017

#225-#228: Winter 2018

#229-#232: Spring 2017

#233-#236: Summer 2018

#237: Thanksgiving week 2018

#238-#241: Fall 2018

Season 12

We’re approaching another movie season and you know what that’s means - erratic scheduling from the scattered-brain people of Nick US. There are two episodes that involves sickness, which are indefinitely delayed until further notice (which won’t happen as long as this pandemic is still around).As usual, not everything will be aired in production, due to specials. 

#242-#245: Winter 2019

#246-#249: Spring 2019

#250-#253: Summer 2019

#254/#255: original date

#256-#259: Fall 2019

#260-#263: Winter / Spring 2020

#264-#267: Summer / Fall 2020

Season 13

The season is currently in progress, and it haven’t aired much due to the crew working on the spin-offs.