SpongeBob Hurts Kids' Brains

Which is bad news for Nickelodeon, Viacom

(NEWSER) - SpongeBob Squarepants is 13 years old—and it may finally have dried out. The show's ratings plummeted 29% in the first quarter among kids ages 2 to 11, compared to the year before. That's bad news for Nickelodeon as a whole: The show made up 31% of Nick's schedule last year, reaching 40% late in the year, reports the Wall Street Journal . That, in turn, is a serious issue for parent Viacom: Nickelodeon accounts for 15% of its operating profit, and the network's overall ratings dropped 25% during the quarter. More»

(NEWSER) - SpongeBob SquarePants is 10 years old, and the “happy nonsense” of the show is “as popular as ever,” Alessandra Stanley writes in the New York Times. What’s more, the wacky, uncynical cartoon has managed to do it “without having disclosed any higher meaning to Bikini Bottom.” Sure, “adults have been trying to detect some sort of subtext”—most famously a homosexual agenda—but no dice. “The mystery lives on.” More»

Ads aimed at winning support in Time Warner feud feature a sobbing Spongebob

(NEWSER) - Viacom is enlisting some of its best-known kid cartoon characters in a contract renewal battle with Time Warner, the Wall Street Journal reports. Viacom wants higher fees from the cable carrier for its channels, which could disappear from Time Warner's service at midnight tonight if no new deal is reached. A wave of ads debuts today featuring a sobbing SpongeBob SquarePants and a distraught Dora the Explorer, and urging viewers to contact Time Warner to demand the return of Nickelodeon and its siblings. More»

He's a great, lovable role model: Mary Elizabeth Wiliams

(NEWSER) - A new study suggests SpongeBob is a menace to kids' attention spans, but he won't be disappearing anytime soon from the TV screens in Mary Elizabeth Williams' house. "The study—and the response to it—say much about adult expectations of children," she writes in Salon . Kids who can stay quiet and still are praised as angels. "But most 4-year-olds, mercifully, are a lot more like SpongeBob," she writes. They like to have a little fun. "That's part of why SpongeBob is such a delight—he's eminently relatable." More»

24-year-old tweets big news

(NEWSER) - Onetime child star Amanda Bynes, who gained fame on Nickelodeon, has retired from acting. "I don't love acting anymore so I've stopped doing it," the 24-year-old announced at 3am yesterday—on Twitter, of course. "If I don't love something anymore I stop doing it." If she's burned out, it's no surprise, notes E! : Bynes starred in two TV shows, All That and What I Like About You, while still in her teens. More»