By Dean Robbins
‘SpongeBob SquarePants’
celebrates 10 surreal years
It’s official: Everybody loves “SpongeBob SquarePants.” You can tell by all the stars who line up for cameo appearances in the cartoon’s 10th anniversary special (Friday, 7 p.m., Nickelodeon), including Robin Williams, Pink, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Craig Ferguson, LeBron James and Rosario Dawson.
Ten years in, SpongeBob’s nerd act still appeals to kids with its silliness and to hipsters with its cynicism. It has just the right amount of grotesquerie to offset the Saturday-morning sweetness.
“SpongeBob SquarePants” pulls off a rare feat: It’s joyous while savagely satirizing joy. Here’s to the next 10 years.
‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’
Thursday, 9 p.m. (Bravo)
“The Real Housewives of Orange County” are associated with heedless self-indulgence. The not-so-young socialites busy themselves with conspicuous consumption and conspicuous cosmetics, using plastic surgery to suck in various body regions and puff out others. But the new season begins with a more somber tone.
Life is even more melancholy for bleached-blond gold-digger Gretchen, whose elderly sugar daddy has passed away. Gretchen pulled through the way most of us would: She hooked up with a young stud and posed for Internet porn pictures.
The other Housewives are shocked by the photos, but not because of their shamelessness. It’s because Gretchen is shown using last year’s sex toys. “Who has a vibrator with a cord?” gasps Tamra. CV
