An interesting point was brought up in another forum. Why aren't the newer Spongebob episodes as good as the older ones. It may be because a lot of the older ones had adult lessons. Think about it. Discrimination in Squirrel Jokes and Texas, Pride in Employee of the Month, Greed in Arrgh! Parenthood in Rock-a-Bye Bivalve, Swearing in Sailor Mouth. The list goes on and on. But toward the middle of Season 4, it seemed like they were starting to make episodes just to make them. There wasn't any importance to them. Your thoughts?

Totally. I mean, episodes like Waiting and Rise Fungus Among Us (to name a few) teach nothing.

Every good episode has to follow a clear theme. Now it seems that they're just making episodes for the sake of making kids laugh. Also, a lot of people here at TV.com and criticizing The Mighty B!, but I've noticed that the quality of their episodes are very similar to a lot of the newer SB episodes.

I agree with The_Cartoon and SpongeSebastian. I think the writers are just trying too hard to make SpongeBob all about comedy and neglecting other important aspects of the show. I don't watch SpongeBob for the lessons it used to teach, but I believe that the older episodes had more heart to them and were focused on other elements besides being humorous...and that's what made them appealing in the first place (at least, that's how I got hooked.) But lately, it seems like most cartoons...not just SpongeBob....are trying to make their shows all about trying to make their audiences laugh...and they're not succeeding.

Innuendo's, clever references, and other things are great, but I think there is one distinct difference that separates the old episodes from the current ones. It's the characters. And I'm not simply referring to the fact that they are different now. I'm referring to the fact that the old episodes were truly character driven. While exaggerated, they DID have emotions that the viewer could relate to, and this led them into sticky situations. And results of that were seasons 1, 2, and 3.

Let's take a few examples. The episode "Hooky" starts off with a few hooks here and there. They are totally harmless. SpongeBob and Patrick, however, due to their curiosity, just HAD to check out the hooks, see what they are like. And what-do-ya-know, SpongeBob gets himself into a pool of embarrassment. I know that all of you are guilty of doing something that, in essence, is the EXACT same as what SpongeBob into here.

Or how about "Band Geeks"? What is it that brought Squidward into this situation that, had it failed, could have caused him to jump off a bridge? The answer is: pride. He had to test his old nemesis, had to PROVE himself.

But then, this all changed.

Currently, the show is about the plots, not the characters. Rather than allowing the characters to create a problem, the stories now start with a problem, and then the characters react to that. And this is exactly why the characters are totally different now. It is the reason they have become stereotypes of their former selves.

So you see, the key for quality episodes of the series is to allow the character's emotions to lead into situation. It's not about bad situations that only allow characters to react to with their cliches. But the producers decided to do the show like this. And this, it lost it's quality.

When I say quality, remember that I don't hate the show at all. However I do feel that it lost it's spirit. I rank the old episodes a 9, and the current ones in the 5 to 6 range.