Honoring Spongebob Squarepants

When the reporter for NPR’s Marketplace called me to do an interview about Spongebob Squarepants turning 10, I was both honored and actually a bit relieved. After ten years of having various women in my life give me that "I can’t believe you watch the Three Stooges" look each time they caught me watching the Spongebob Squarepants show, I was finally being affirmed by the broader culture. The message, at least to me, was "it’s cool to be an adult and watch silly cartoons. You are not alone."

After all, lots of adults like Spongebob; LeBron James likes him, David Bowie does too. In fact, President Obama is reputed to be a fan. And don’t think that people don’t take Spongebob seriously. Note these closing words from a critical review of the latest Spongebob Squarepants DVD posted on Toon Zone News (did you know there was a Toon Zone and  did you know it got 50 million hits a month and did you know that people actually did serious and somewhat dark reviews about cartoons?):

Whether or not you think SpongeBob has deteriorated from its incredibly high standards in the past few years, it still remains a cheerful and imaginative show. Those who are still fans of the show during its current run will have no reason to disdain this latest offering; those who nurse memories of what came before will still find much to entertain them.

So, I am indeed affirmed and would only wish that I could have been further affirmed by them getting my first name right. Instead of calling me Richard Gottlieb they called me Robert Gottlieb. As Bob is the nickname for Robert, perhaps they confused me with Spongebob Gottlieb. H-m-m-m, now where are my square pants.