Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/990677
SPRING/SUMMER 2018 37 Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present) Emmys Cred: 9 Primetime nominations since 2002; 6 Daytime nominations and 4 wins (the latest in 2018) Paula Spence's first job in animation was as a background artist during the first three seasons of Spongebob Squarepants, the wacky, long-running kids show about a sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea. She and her colleagues worked on the first episodes in a bubble, and were worried that by scheduling the show against the biggest animated series at the time— Pokémon—the network was signaling that it didn't have faith in the series. In fact, it was the opposite—and nearly 20 years later, Spongebob has spawned multiple movies and even a Broadway musical. "He's so quirky and fun and he's everybody's friend," Spence says of the character's appeal. "The kids just think he's silly and love his antics and parents can sit back and enjoy just how crazy he is." Again, the sophistication level and the appeal for parents as well as kids is what pop culture expert Thompson credits for the series' longevity. "This was designed for little children," he says. "At the same time, any parent who happened to be in the room when they sat their kid in front of Spongebob Squarepants realized that there was so much more going on than just something for the 5-year-old." Take an episode called "The Paper," about Spongebob turning a gum wrapper discarded by another character into something beautiful. "Spongebob, who's got a pure spirit, and a great imagination, and a critical mind, is able to turn this piece of garbage into the most delightful thing in the world. Whereas Squidward doesn't have that ability," Thompson says. "I think it's one of the greatest episodes of television of all time—animation or otherwise. And it went less than 15 minutes." Bob's Burgers (2011-present) Emmys Cred: 4 nominations and 2 wins for Outstanding Animated Program; an additional 2 nominations There's a reason so many TV series —animated or live-action—focus on families: because people can see themselves in the characters. But unlike other animated series, Bob's Burgers, about the Belcher family and their seaside burger joint, eschews crude humor for puns and sweet, genuine emotion about a happy family with two parents who love their three, very strange, wildly different children and don't want to change a thing about them. And in a television landscape increasingly filled with antiheroes and heavy dramas, that's a rarity. "Unlike other primetime animated shows it's not for adults only. It's pretty family-friendly," says director Chris Song. In fact, his own kids love the show —and it's one series he's worked on that his kids have been able to watch. Says Thompson, "If the outrageousness of Family Guy was married to the innocence of Spongebob, Bob's Burgers is something of the offspring."