SpongeBob Squarepants spinoff prequel series The Patrick Star Show is already a hit for Nickelodeon. New episodes premiere on Fridays at 7pm. Executive Producer Jennie Monica and Developer Claudia Spinelli (the SVP of animation development at Nick) discuss putting the spotlight on Mr. Star and giving him a TV show about a TV show!

Jackson Murphy: The series premiere was on July 9th. A huge splash of marketing and promotion from Nickelodeon and the premiere was a major success. Jennie, what do you like most about being on Friday nights at 7:00?

Jennie Monica: I think the audience. I think it’s always easier at the end of the week to watch a show that’s funny. And it’s a good [timeslot] to have for the kids… even the adults to enjoy as well.

JM: I think it is too. Claudia, when did you realize that after 20+ years of Patrick being part of the SpongeBob world that Patrick deserved his own spinoff series?

Claudia Spinelli: (laughs) It happened not too long after we started development of “Kamp Koral”, which would’ve been… the top of 2019. Around summer of 2019 was then when we were really shifting focus over to Patrick. What was really cool was seeing that after 20+ years, there had been so many stories that got to explore not only SpongeBob but so many of the other characters throughout Bikini Bottom. And you could see how each one of those main characters around him had the potential to drive story – had the potential to maintain your interest and love. And Patrick being, next to SpongeBob, the most beloved character in Bikini Bottom, it just felt like our first time out where we put the spotlight on someone else, it had to be Patrick.

JM: He’s so beloved and so funny. What’s so great about this show is that it’s about the world of television. A few classic episodes of “SpongeBob” celebrate that, with “As Seen on TV” and “Squid TV”. Jennie, what makes the concept of a TV variety show for Patrick so appealing as you’re making these episodes?

Je. Mo.: The options are unlimited. You can do anything within the commercials [segments that are part of the series]. You can do anything within Patrick’s imagination. You can go anywhere. It really opens up the episodes for the writers to kind of really do whatever they want. Very freeing. (laughs)

JM: Oh yeah. I can imagine. And Claudia, how important was it in this “Patrick Star Show” to include SpongeBob, Squidward, Plankton and the rest of the Bikini Bottom gang?

CS: Oh very much so. Even though the spotlight has shifted on Patrick, they are all still such an important part of that whole community. And you can’t tell a story about one without including those moments with the others. It just feels like it’s real life. They are all longtime citizens of Bikini Bottom. Their home addresses may have changed. SpongeBob may not have found that pineapple just yet, but it’s lovely to be able to pick back up on this idea that following their childhood and their summers they spent at Kamp Koral, they’re continuing their friendship. They’re continuing having fun. They’re continuing their lives. You wanna be able to have those moments where you can reconnect to those mainstays of that entire SpongeBob universe. It was absolutely vital that we make sure we can provide those little touchpoints with all of those familiar faces in Bikini Bottom.

JM: Definitely. It’s already a great companion to the core show. You both have mentioned “Kamp Koral”, the prequel series of when they’re very young that’s now on Paramount+. Jennie, what interested you – and still does – about wanting to explore this in-between period of time… their YA years, if you will?

Je. Mo.: Since we’re exploring the early years of Kamp Koral and then we have the later years, it seems kind of natural to figure out where SpongeBob and the other characters are in that in-between time and what got them to where they’re at. It was fun to explore that. We hadn’t really touched on that.

CS: I remember there were conversations we had with [fellow EPs] Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller around the ‘why’ at this particular moment in Patrick’s life. Along with wanting to make Patrick the star of his own show, there was also a great opportunity to go more into his personal life and include the rest of the Star family. But for Patrick to be home with the family, you wanted it to be really an appropriate situation. What the guys had identified was that if it was Bikini Bottom today, Patrick has mastered adulthood (or at least in his mind). He lives on his own under his own rock. Bubble Bass is the grown up that’s still relying on his mom and hanging out at home. And they’re like, “Let Bubble Bass own that space.” So for Patrick to be at home, he hasn’t yet reached adulthood. He’s still gonna be… in that really wonderful between state. He hasn’t stepped out of the nest just yet. He’s still got a little bit of that attachment to life as a kid – to being able to play and use his imagination. And live at home – rely on his parents – rely on his family. He has that permission. He’s not that worldly yet.

JM: Claudia, you mentioned Patrick’s family. We’ve got his parents, grandfather and sister Squidina. How challenging was it to make sure… in coming-up with the looks of their characters and their backstories… that they are perfect additions to this Patrick Star world.

CS: VERY much so. Jennie, you and I were talking with the guys a lot about this and the concern that in that Star family we didn’t want to create a dynamic where you had a bunch of… “normal” people. Where you feel like you’re repeating this recurring joke of, “Patrick comes from a “normal” family and he’s the oddball.” Instead it was: let’s use this opportunity to reinvent that family and show how you get a kid like Patrick. He comes from a family of other totally wackadoo eccentrics, with the exception of Grandpa. Grandpa is the one that you could say is the most normal of everyone and that’s where you can then get… Instead of having it be a repeat and tired joke, you now just get terrific chemistry. There’s a dynamic there. There’s that conflict with the one outlier in the family that’s looking at everyone else knowing that they are completely bonkers. And he’s the sane one.

JM: The first episode “Late for Breakfast” is very funny, and I read ALL of the credits that come-up in that one moment in the episode. Jennie, how long did it take to come-up with all those clever names and titles in those credits?

Je. Mo.: (laughs) Actually I would have to ask the writers specifically but surprisingly not very long. It was kind of in the final script when we were doing the designs and they started on it. They’re quick. It doesn’t take them very long. I don’t know… maybe a week. (laughs)

JM: That’s amazing. Claudia, how was it coming up with the giant television set that is attached to Patrick’s parents’ house… that also sort of doubles as a performance stage? It’s a very clever way to give us the show within the show.

CS: Isn’t it? Yeah, I love it. When we saw the design that they did, it was a beautiful, rough, pen and ink drawing. It was brilliant. And it’s something that feels familiar. Many of us have grown up in homes or knew people where you have your house and then there are the additions – the additional room that’s attached to the side. And it’s fitting in the theme of Bikini Bottom – the visual scene of Bikini Bottom – that everything you see, for the most part, that makes it what it is, it’s all found objects. Things that have drifted down from our world down to the ocean floor. To now take this found object of a television and have it be the add-on of a house… you now also have the perfect stage where Patrick can do his show. I love how he goes back and forth between facing his pet sea urchin in the audience in his room and… the neighborhood shows up. They’re sitting in their lawn chairs or some poor guy is walking by and totally freaking out seeing Patrick spread-out in a seastar pose with his tush up against the glass. And you get a great reaction from it. So yeah, it’s great for so many reasons, but thematically it’s spot on and beautiful.

JM: Yeah. “SpongeBob” premiered in 1999 and Jennie, you’ve been deep in this saga from the start. What do you think, overall, has amazed you about this franchise, these characters and the impact they’ve had on millions around the globe?

Je. Mo.: Of course the longevity amazes me. When we first started, Steve [Hillenburg] thought we’d have three seasons. (laughs) And then when they wanted a movie, it was like, “Oh wow, a movie!” And then after the first movie it was, “Okay, let’s go back to the series.” The way that it appeals to all ages is also amazing. My nieces grew up with it. My kids now watch it. My nieces are now in college and they still watch it. The age range that it touches is kind of amazing.

JM: Yeah. So Steve said that the original thought was just for three seasons and now here we are [more than] 20 years later. That is crazy. Wow.

Je. Mo.: He said he’d be happy if he got three seasons. And now here we are with Season 13.

JM: Unbelievable. And the quality is still so impressive. I think he’s looking down on everybody going, “Wow.” The third movie Sponge On The Run was great and a big hit for Paramount+ earlier this year. I was talking with [director] Tim Hill [in February] about how the third act of that film has that “It’s a Wonderful Life” feel, and my gosh, it got me. Claudia, Johnny Carson had many famous guest hosts over the years, including Joan Rivers and Garry Shandling. Am I possibly in the running to guest host on Patrick Star’s show?

CS: Oh my goodness gracious Jackson! I don’t know. What’s the saying? We’ll have your people call our people, which would really be Squidina Star, Patrick’s little sister. She’s the one we’d have to get in touch with. (laughs)

JM: Yes! I’ll call Squidina and we’ll try to get this going! It would be such an honor.