I hope you are doing well. I know I am and that's at least partly because of one certain TV show, the one show that will pick up my mood when I am down with its absurd humour and brilliant cast:

SpongeBob Squarepants first graced the Nickelodeon TV screen in 1999 and will during its current 8th season become the longest running show of all time for Nick. It has a simplistic, clear cut animation style, which is mixed up with real world footage, Monty Pythonesque cut-outs and high detail artworks, all of which gives it a very unique style that's easy on the eyes. A season usually runs for 20 to 23 episodes and all of them tend to be ready available to buy as well as a flurry of additional movies, special DVD compilations, games and masses of merchandise readily available.

So why is the show so popular?

The show is set at the bottom of the Bikini Atoll (which explains a lot..), in a small town called bikini bottom. SpongeBob lives with his pet snail Gary in a pineapple and works as a fry cook in a fast food restaurant. His best friend is Patrick Star (a pink, chubby sea star is a ditz but incredibly loyal). SpongeBobs boss, Mr Krabs is hilariously greedy and a cheapskate. His neighbour Squidward is grumpy, sarcastic and hates SpongeBob and Patrick, as they manage to torture him with their happy adventures, a fact to which they are totally oblivious. The only character I class as seriously weak is Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel living in a dome. She's texan. Sadly she feels like a token girl.. even though she likes karate and is strong, shes so very boring and I would not miss her.

For a childrens show, it is surprisingly intelligent. Even as an adult I never feel patronized. The scripts are also lovingly written, with a very fast set pace and almost every line containing a joke. SpongeBob is also so very endearing. He is optimistically almost to a fault, gets easily distracted and watching him reminds me on all the things that were good about being a child.

The Season 1 Boxset comes on three dvds, though sadly the pilot episode is missing. This has been rectified and its now available on the season 3 boxset, but it's still a shame. Even though episodes can be watched in any order, I recommend season 1 as it introduces all major characters.

With every episode just being 23 minutes (and containing two episodes!) I strong recommend to give it a try.