Television's favorite animated sponge is 10 years old, and Nickelodeon celebrates this weekend with a blowout bash. Eleven new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants and countdowns of fan favorites will air. A documentary on the series debuts Tuesday on sister station VH1.

SpongeBob has been TV's most popular animated show for children ages 2 to 11 for seven years, and a not-so-secret factor to its appeal is that many parents -- and even people without kids -- love it, too. It's a cash cow that has generated $8 billion in merchandising revenue.

The show is seen in 25 languages and counts two world leaders, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who say they watch with their children.

''I never really imagined a show about a sponge going past our first season,'' said creator Stephen Hillenburg. ``I thought maybe we'd have a cult following, and we'd be gone after one season. I'm in disbelief that we're here talking.''

-- DAVID BAUDER

HAVE ISSUES'

Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter are the Michaels of Michael & Michael Have Issues, a new situation-sketch-metacomedy on Comedy Central (10:30 p.m. Wednesdays). The series features the stars as ''themselves'': They are seen living their lives, making their TV show and performing in it. But it is all made up: Only the names haven't been changed.

Black, whose credits include Comedy Central's Viva Variety! and recurring roles on Ed and Reaper, is the more familiar of the pair. He and Showalter worked together in the comedy group Stella (Comedy Central series, 2005).

The show's mix of sketch and story lets them not invest too heavily in either, and Michael & Michael is pretty consistently amusing in a low-boil way while rarely breaking into brilliance. And given the insistent childishness of the leads, it remains somehow genial even at its nastiest.

-- ROBERT LLOYD

Los Angeles Times

The question: MacGruber, the Saturday Night Live parody of the 1980s television series MacGyver, is reportedly being made into a movie. Is this a good thing?

Pros: Will Forte, who plays MacGruber, is a talented comedian.

Cons: Even Forte will have to work overtime to find 90 minutes of comedy in a one-joke premise.

Pros: Some SNL characters have made a graceful transition to the screen in films like The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World.

Cons: Most SNL characters have made an awkward transition to the screen in films like Coneheads and A Night at the Roxbury.

Pros: The MacGruber theme song is groovy.

Cons: The film could bring back mullet haircuts, plaid shirts and utility vests as fashion trends.

The consensus: They'll need more than a paper clip, some chewing gum and a bottle cap to stop this from being a disaster.

-- JULIE HINDS

Detroit Free Press

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