25 years in, SpongeBob SquarePants is succeeding where The Simpsons has failed

polygon.com:

In the premiere of SpongeBob SquarePants season 13, which wrapped last November, Mr. Krabs faces a familiar dilemma. The Krusty Krab is inundated with people bringing their pets to dine with them, which is a major health code violation. Does he kick these customers out and lose their money? Or does he… make the Krusty Krab the premier restaurant for pets-only, forcing other aquatic creatures to dress up like snails and worms in order to eat Krabby Patties? You can probably guess which one the money-hungry crustacean goes with.

To a millennial SpongeBob fan who grew up with the show in its early years, most notably its first heyday from its July 1999 premiere through the release of the first movie in 2004, this premise may seem par for the course. But the rest of the episode is anything but. SpongeBob, Squidward, and Plankton inevitably join Mr. Krabs in his latest money grab — but so do the following bit players, whom many fans may remember from their appearances in either the background of episodes or a single episode altogether: Bubble Bass, the pickle-loving bully who squared off with SpongeBob in season 1; the Alaskan Bull Worm that briefly terrorized Bikini Bottom; the “My leg!” guy in a full-fledged speaking role; Mystery the Seahorse, SpongeBob’s one-time pet; Nosferatu, who was the iconically random punchline of a season 2 episode; and the health inspector whom SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs once thought they had murdered, and then tried to bury alive.

It’s an absurd list of characters, ranging from cameos to full-fledged roles — a common tactic for a long-running show, and one that often inspires eye-rolls from fans. Here, though, it’s actually a nice surprise. Bikini Bottom was always bigger than SpongeBob and his closest crew, jam-packed with idiosyncratic characters who, for the most part, still make you smile if you see them. It’s only now, as the show celebrates its 25th anniversary, that the city has turned into something more like Springfield.

The Simpsons