Nickelodeon cancels SpongeBob in 2003

[hedabla99]

In 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants first aired on Nickelodeon, and quickly became the highest-rated children's television series. Under the leadership of creator and showrunner Stephen Hillenburg, SpongeBob ran for three highly successful seasons and a hit movie. But because the show was Nickelodeon's biggest success ever up to that point, when Hillenburg stated that he wanted to end the show after the third season, the network refused to abide to his wishes and ordered more seasons, resulting in Hillenburg departing from the project. Despite this, ratings for the show remained high, though without Hillenburg's involvement, the quality of the show declined greatly as it ran for season after season, and its enormous success caused Nickelodeon to neglect other animated shows on its network, which became especially bad going into the 2010's, leaving an intensely negative impact on the television animation industry in the US. Not even Stephen Hillenburg's death convinced Nickelodeon to finally put down their cash cow franchise, and the show doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

But what if this did not happen? What if Nickelodeon actually decided to comply with Hillenburg's opinions, and ended the show? Suppose another Nickelodeon show, let's say Fairly OddParents, ends up surpassing SpongeBob in ratings and as a result SpongeBob is cancelled. How does this affect the future of Nickelodeon? How does this affect SpongeBob's legacy? Does Nickelodeon treat its other shows better as a result of SpongeBob's cancellation? Or does it just end up doing to another show such as FOP what it did to SpongeBob in OTL? How different would the state of television animation in the west be without SpongeBob's looming shadow?

 

[WB18]

I'd say Rugrats would be #1 again, since it was #1 before SpongeBob came along. Either that or Jimmy Neutron would be the top show on Nick without SpongeBob, maybe Rugrats: All Grown Up! would be number 1 since it premiered in 2003.

 

[Suzon]

I mean, the causation of the cancellation is much more important than the effects of it here. If the ratings dipped enough to consider cancellation - it has no strong legacy. It likely becomes a cult classic ala Invader Zim. If Fairly Oddparents has the crazy ratings Spongebob got, then Nickelodeons hold over childrens animation is still secured, allowing them to fund and produce the childrens scripted series they did mid-to-late decade that let them contend with Disney.

I guess in theory Nick is a bit weaker, since FOP in OTL persisted much stronger than TTL's Spongebob - and was Nick's second pillar for a while. If it's the first pillar here and Sponge is cancelled sooner, Nick will probably try and turn another show into a second pillar. There aren't many strong contenders at this point. All Grown Up will have a solid run but isn't strong enough to be that second hit. Jimmy Neutron is the best bet, since that was Nick's third pillar at the time. The problem is the mounting CG costs at this time make the show unfeasible in the long run. I guess they can try and bankroll a few more seasons with another Theatrical release.

So in this timeline, rather than fund a Spongebob movie, Viacom will look into a second Jimmy Neutron movie (not a bad idea, tbh). Fairly Oddparents will be the tentpole project, and Hartman might not have the time to do Danny Phantom.

 

[GJohn902]

I guess in theory Nick is a bit weaker, since FOP in OTL persisted much stronger than TTL's Spongebob - and was Nick's second pillar for a while. If it's the first pillar here and Sponge is cancelled sooner, Nick will probably try and turn another show into a second pillar. There aren't many strong contenders at this point. All Grown Up will have a solid run but isn't strong enough to be that second hit. Jimmy Neutron is the best bet, since that was Nick's third pillar at the time. The problem is the mounting CG costs at this time make the show unfeasible in the long run. I guess they can try and bankroll a few more seasons with another Theatrical release.

Maybe in their search for a solid #2 show, Nick greenlights Avatar: The Last Airbender a bit sooner than OTL.
ATLA is already widely hailed as one of the best animated shows of the 2000s IOTL, imagine if it had more network support ITTL . . .

 

[GrandMaster]

I would imagine Stephen Hillenburg would have moved on to another project after SpongeBob's cancellation.

 

[Nagisaki]

Maybe in their search for a solid #2 show, Nick greenlights Avatar: The Last Airbender a bit sooner than OTL.
ATLA is already widely hailed as one of the best animated shows of the 2000s IOTL, imagine if it had more network support ITTL . . .

Considering that even to this day Nickelodeon craps on ATLA, whether intentional or not, not sure that's possible.

 

[DUWANG]

Wait, if Spongebob was cancelled in 2003, then that means that it would be cancelled at least 6 episodes before the end of the season and the movie. Are you sure Hillenburg didn't wanted Spongebob to be cancelled after the movie.

Well we would be missing some memes (although the biggest parts of Spongebob memes are pre season 4), but at least the reputation of the series wouldn't be "destroyed" with the later seasons (before Hillenburg returned for a bit thus improving the series a bit).
So at least it wouldn't be the Simpsons of Nickelodeon.
Probably would also prevent Nick shitting on Hillenburg's legacy with that Kamp Koral crap...

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

It's a good thing that this is a recent timeline, because I have a few ideas as to what might occur if Nickelodeon were to cancel Spongebob in 2003...

1: Just because it was cancelled in 2003, doesn't mean that the movie won't be released. So, I'd wager that we'd still see it, as well as any new episodes that aired that year, get made. And yes, for you memelords out there, we wouldn't be deprived of such iconic memes as "Caveman Spongebob", "Campfire Song Song", and especially "Surprised Patrick".
2: I do have to agree that FOP would become more successful as a result of Spongebob's cancellation. However, I do feel that it would hit seasonal rot much quicker.
3: Whether Nick would be able to buy TMNT and/or Garfield is a good question to ask.
4: Perhaps a greater emphasis on sitcoms and game shows, like how they functioned before getting the broadcast rights to Danger Mouse back in 1984?
5: The Nicktoons Unite games would replace Spongebob with Jenny Wakeman if they were to continue past the first game. Okay, this might not actually happen, but a guy can dream, can't I?
6: Spongebob would be treated more like Woody Woodpecker or Betty Boop: More of a marketing mascot than an actual character.
7: It would possibly take longer for the Nicktoons to enter the mainstream audiences like Spongebob did. I mean, aside from him, what other Nicktoon characters have accomplished such a task? Tommy Pickles? Timmy Turner? Maybe Arnold Shortman? The point is that no Nicktoon was able to grasp the public's attention like he could.
8: Nicktoons Network would have to rely more on acquired shows without Spongebob's brand recognition backing them up.
9: Nick Jr. would eat up more time on the main channel, almost like Jetix during Toon Disney's latter years.
10: Shows like Camp Lazlo and Wander Over Yonder would be picked up by Nickelodeon in an attempt to scratch that popularity itch. Maybe we'd even get that third season WOY deserved all this time!

These suggestions were typed right off the top of my head, so if anything doesn't add up about this, feel free to reply.

 

[hedabla99]

It's a good thing that this is a recent timeline, because I have a few ideas as to what might occur if Nickelodeon were to cancel Spongebob in 2003...

1: Just because it was cancelled in 2003, doesn't mean that the movie won't be released. So, I'd wager that we'd still see it, as well as any new episodes that aired that year, get made. And yes, for you memelords out there, we wouldn't be deprived of such iconic memes as "Caveman Spongebob", "Campfire Song Song", and especially "Surprised Patrick".
2: I do have to agree that FOP would become more successful as a result of Spongebob's cancellation. However, I do feel that it would hit seasonal rot much quicker.
3: Whether Nick would be able to buy TMNT and/or Garfield is a good question to ask.
4: Perhaps a greater emphasis on sitcoms and game shows, like how they functioned before getting the broadcast rights to Danger Mouse back in 1984?
5: The Nicktoons Unite games would replace Spongebob with Jenny Wakeman if they were to continue past the first game. Okay, this might not actually happen, but a guy can dream, can't I?
6: Spongebob would be treated more like Woody Woodpecker or Betty Boop: More of a marketing mascot than an actual character.
7: It would possibly take longer for the Nicktoons to enter the mainstream audiences like Spongebob did. I mean, aside from him, what other Nicktoon characters have accomplished such a task? Tommy Pickles? Timmy Turner? Maybe Arnold Shortman? The point is that no Nicktoon was able to grasp the public's attention like he could.
8: Nicktoons Network would have to rely more on acquired shows without Spongebob's brand recognition backing them up.
9: Nick Jr. would eat up more time on the main channel, almost like Jetix during Toon Disney's latter years.
10: Shows like Camp Lazlo and Wander Over Yonder would be picked up by Nickelodeon in an attempt to scratch that popularity itch. Maybe we'd even get that third season WOY deserved all this time!

These suggestions were typed right off the top of my head, so if anything doesn't add up about this, feel free to reply.

I don't think SpongeBob would have become a "marketing mascot" like Woody Woodpecker or Betty Boop, since those two have been around for decades whereas SpongeBob lasts for barely even five years in this scenario

But that scenario with Nickelodeon picking up shows they rejected in OTL seems interesting. Adventure Time was actually pitched to Nickelodeon first, and the pilot even aired there, but ultimately Nickelodeon never picked it up, possibly because it was an entirely alien concept to Nickelodeon that wasn't anything like SpongeBob. Maybe in this timeline without a SpongeBob to compare it to, Nick does end up picking up Adventure Time, which could lead to shows like Steven Universe airing on Nick as well. This means that Cartoon Network would be drastically different as well, considering Adventure Time is probably what CN is best known for nowadays.