"SpongeBob SquarePants" [Nickelodeon-Hillenburg, 1999] Season 2 [Oct. '00-Sep. '02] [TV-Y7]

Spongebob at its very Spongebobbiest (and good for it, too)-- a usually-marketed-to-kids-but-still-altogether-accessible-to-adults animated comedy about a sea sponge (the title character) (who looks like a kitchen one), his two neighbors, a squid named Squidward and a starfish named Patrick, and, of course, many other characters. It has no continual plot-- more than anything else it (brace yourself) is like a much-more-child-friendly (in fact, hawked to them in particular), slightly less funny version of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, one which concentrates on an overall atmosphere of ebullience, which camouflages the fact that it isn't quite as funny as one might be led to expect, where ATHF was almost unremittingly deadpan in its presentation of humor. Not, of course, to diminish the quality of the show, not at all. I only hope this grade is high enough. Grade: A MINUS