SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff series The Patrick Star Show draws inspiration from variety shows from the '60s and '70s. SpongeBob SquarePants is the longest-running Nickelodeon cartoon to date. The series follows SpongeBob SquarePants, an overly optimistic and enthusiastic sponge who famously lives in a pineapple under the sea. He works at the Krusty Krab alongside grumpy cashier Squidward and his money-hungry boss Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob's closest friends are the dim-witted Patrick and ferocious Texan squirrel, Sandy.
SpongeBob has recently branched out into numerous spinoff series and movies. Kamp Koral, a prequel about SpongeBob's camp days, premiered earlier this year. A movie starring Sandy Cheeks is also potentially in the works. Now, Patrick has gotten his own spinoff series titled The Patrick Star Show. Viewers will get to see SpongeBob's lovable bestie in the days before he lived along under a rock. Patrick's family will be introduced, and once viewers meet them, they'll understand how Patrick ended up the way he is. In addition to Patrick's family, SpongeBob fans will get to meet some of Squidward's family.
Emmanuel Gonzalez of LRM Online spoke with Cree Summer, Tom Wilson, and Dana Snyder, who play Patrick Star's mom, dad and grandpa, respectively. When asked to explain what viewers can expect from this extended view of Patrick's life, Summer hinted that viewers are in for a wild ride. Not only will viewers get to see Patrick as a teenager, but will see him running his own variety show. For Patrick's variety show, the creative team drew inspiration from variety shows at their peak in the '60s and '70s. Summer claimed Patrick's variety shows, like those from the past, will be "far out" in the sense that they'll stretch the boundaries of reality with the help of Patrick's zany family.
“The show tracks and follows all of Patrick’s wildest dreams and imagination, heavily influenced by variety shows and sitcoms from the ‘60s and ‘70s. And [it's] really far out because…it’s not your traditional narrative. With a kind of fractured foundation, we can go anywhere. We could be in space. We can travel to different points of history.”
Opposed to sketches from present-day SNL that are more grounded in reality, The Patrick Star Show will embrace the over-the-top antics of past variety shows like The Carol Burnett Show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The Captain and Tenille and many more. The Patrick Star Show itself has a similar concept to The Brady Bunch Hour in the sense that the characters from a pre-existing TV show get their own variety show. Viewers have already seen some of these wacky moments play out in the Patrick Star Show trailer. In one particular instance, the show seemingly takes inspiration from Monty Python in one snippet where Patrick is dressed in Viking garb and another as Patrick is shot into space.
The premise of Patrick hosting a variety show allows the creative team to take a more linear approach than with the SpongeBob SquarePants. While it may not specialize in the same sense of humor as the original series, The Patrick Star Show needed to heighten itself in order to stand out. The series seemingly builds off the original characters and takes it to a new level of zaniness. For viewers who want to catch the hilarity, The Patrick Star Show just premiered on July 9 and will continue to air weekly on Fridays.
Source: LRM Online / YouTube