As Seen on TV

Characters

• Eugene H. Krabs
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)
• Dancers Template:Debut
• Showgirl fish Template:Debut
• Handyfish Template:Debut
• Fish in the tomato slice costume Template:Debut
• Squidward Tentacles
  • Jen
• Bandit fish Template:Debut
• Mr. Krabs' double Template:Debut
• Clown (As Seen on TV) Template:Debut
• Fish in the Krabby Patty costume Template:Debut
• Template:Data:Links
  • Fred
  • Incidental 2
  • Incidental 3
  • Steven
  • John
  • Incidental 6
  • Incidental 7
  • Incidental 9
  • Incidental 10
  • Incidental 15
  • Incidental 16
  • Incidental 17
  • Carol (Inc 22)
  • Charlie (Inc 23)
  • Incidental 25
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 30
  • Incidental 31
  • Harold (Inc 36)
  • Tuck Tucker (Inc 37A)
  • Lou
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 46
  • Incidental 47
  • Incidental 49
  • Incidental 64
  • Incidental 67
  • Mr. Doodles ^{(named originated)}
  • Harris
  • Old Man Walker
  • Incidental 103
  • Frank (Inc 105)
  • Stretch
  • Steve
  • Dale
  • Incidental 151
  • Incidental 152
  • Incidental 153
  • Incidental 200 Template:Debut
  • Incidental 201 Template:Debut
• French Narrator
• Template:Data:Links
• Gary the Snail
• Cowboys on horses
• Pearl Krabs
  • Amy
• Glandy McPinkfish ^(mentioned)
• Flounderman ^(mentioned)
• Vampire ^(mentioned)
• Nun ^(mentioned)
• Astronaut ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

Mr. Krabs walks to the Krusty Krab with his pet worm Mr. Doodles one morning to see the completion of the first ever Krusty Krab TV commercial, which is being directed by Squidward. However, upon seeing the expensive production values, he fires all of the cast and crew (except the clown) and decides to direct it himself, using himself, Squidward, Pearl, and SpongeBob as the cast. The clown was never seen.

File:As Seen on TV 048.png

The Krusty Krab commercial.

SpongeBob is extremely excited to see himself on TV and watches the commercial when it airs in the extremely cheap time slot of 3:28 AM. Despite the horrible production values and quality of the commercial, and SpongeBob's very brief background role in it, he proclaims it to be the best 60 seconds of his life.

The next morning, while SpongeBob is walking to work, Old Man Walker sees him and tells him that he saw him on TV the previous night, albeit not in the same commercial. SpongeBob does not know this, making him think that he is famous. At work, he treats people as if they were his fans and fails to perform his job properly.

File:As Seen on TV 152.png

"The Striped Sweater Song."

Eventually, he quits his job to become an entertainer (but he tells Mr. Krabs vaguely) and is confronted by the crowd of hungry customers, who he thinks want him to entertain them. He begins to juggle patties and accidentally slips on grease, sending the patties flying as the customers boo him. Just as he thinks that his "career" is over, the patties drop on the grill, which pleases the customers.

SpongeBob notices this and continues to make Krabby Patties like normal, still believing he is entertaining his customers and is very famous. Mr. Krabs gives SpongeBob his hat back, even though he still thinks he is a celebrity while the episode ends.

Production

This episode was in production on April 12, 2001.

Art

• File:SB172-SC.035.png
• File:SB172-SC.063-min.png
• File:CondimentIsland.jpeg
• File:Burger bg asot.jpeg
• File:Nametag bg asot.jpeg
• File:Napklin bg asot.jpeg
• File:Buns bg asotv.jpeg
• File:Eyes sb asot.png
• File:Song sb asot.png
• File:Dance sb asot.png
• File:Shout sb asot.png

Model sheet

• Showgirl's model sheet, which would later be used as a reference for the multiple of them appearing in the season 13 episode, "Abandon Twits."
  Showgirl's model sheet, which would later be used as a reference for the multiple of them appearing in the season 13 episode, "Abandon Twits."

Release

Distribution

• This episode is available on the Christmas, Complete 3rd Season, First 100 Episodes, Nick For the Holidays!, Holidays with SpongeBob 3-DVD Gift Set, Christmas DVD Double Pack, Collection Triple, The Best 300 Episodes Ever, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric (Russian only), SpongeBob vs. The Big One (Greek only), 2-Season TV Pack, Bob Esponja Cumple 10 Años, SpongeBob on DVD, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, From the Beginning, Part 1, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 4, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Turned Into Hero?!, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, The Third & Fourth Seasons, and Complete Third Season DVDs and on VideoNow.

Reception

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Trivia

General

• This is the first episode for a few things:
  • With the production code of 5572-172, this was the first season 3 episode to be conceived, albeit, it began production between various season 2 segments.
  • The first episode in which Pearl calls Mr. Krabs by "Mr. Krabs," rather than calling him "dad" or "daddy."
  • The first episode in which the Krusty Krab does advertising.

File:Pearl-Mr-Krabs-Squidward-adventure-card.jpg

The trading card of the Krusty Krab commercial.

• This is the C.H. Greenblatt's last episode as a storyboard artist.
  • This is also the last episode in the series where a storyboard artist is also a writer.
• In 2004, Upper Deck released a trading card based on the Krusty Krab commercial from this episode. The card featured "Amy" and "Jen," and the back of the card mentions SpongeBob's cameo.
• This is the only time in an episode where there are two Krusty Krabs next to each other. However, the second Krusty Krab did not have the number 2 on it unlike the one in the first movie.
• Incidental 41 is shown twice in the crowd of crew members as they leave.
• The title card background is relatively similar to those of "Naughty Nautical Neighbors," "Karate Choppers," "Squidville," "Gary Takes a Bath," and "Jellyfish Hunter."
• This is the second episode for two things:
  • The second appearance of Mr. Krabs' pet worm, Mr. Doodles. The first was "Sandy's Rocket."
    • His name is revealed in this episode.
  • The second episode in which SpongeBob is mistaken for a cereal box. The first was "Prehibernation Week."
• This is the third episode in which Squidward eats a Krabby Patty. The first was "Your Shoe's Untied," and the second was "Just One Bite."
• The picture seen in the background in the scene where Old Man Walker is watching the commercial is the same one seen in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" where Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy play checkers.
• SpongeBob's song "Striped Sweater" has become popular on the internet.
• Although Mr. Krabs tells the clown to stay for the commercial, he does not appear afterwards and does not appear in the commercial.
• In this episode, SpongeBob is able make Krabby Patties for the customers as they cheer him on, but in "ChefBob," SpongeBob says he has stage fright and is afraid to cook for crowds.

Cultural references

• The Bran Flakes cereal seen in this episode is a real cereal by Kellogg's.
• The lighting company that was going to supply the lighting of the Krusty Krab commercial is Lamp Ray Lighting. This is a reference to the fish lamprey.
• The Leg Lamp from the 1983 Christmas movie, A Christmas Story appears as one of the props from the set.
• When SpongeBob is pretending to limbo with his mop, he vocalizes the 1958 song "Limbo Rock," originally performed by The Champs and famously covered by Chubby Checker.
• One of the fish mentions "Flounderman," a parody of talk show host David Letterman.

Errors

• The crowd, in unison, asks for onions and cheese, but no cheese is shown being placed on the patties.

File:Error in As Seen on TV.png

Cut off arm.

• The number of patties on the grill near the end of the episode changes between shots.
• When the next shot cuts to Incidental 41 after SpongeBob says "Why sir, I'm flattered," his arm is cut off for some frames.

File:As Seen on TV 157.png

SpongeBob shirt collar error.

• When SpongeBob lifts his shirt collar, the back of the collar is not drawn.
• When the crowd says "We want patties!," Incidental 46's waist is purple.
• The second Krusty Krab is only shown when Mr. Krabs mentions it; in any other shot, it is not there.
• In the French dub the writers are credited as "Paul Tibbitt, Kent Osborne and Merriwether Williams."

Videos

File:SpongeBob SquarePants - The Striped Sweater Song - Nickelodeon UK

File:45 MINUTES of SpongeBob Songs 🎶 - @SpongeBobOfficial

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Finnish	Tuttu TV:stä/TV:stä tuttu	Familiar from TV
French	Vu à la télé	As Seen on TV
German	Der Fernsehstar	The TV Star
Hungarian	Mint a TV-ben	As Seen on TV
Italian	Visto in tv	Seen on TV
Japanese	ボクは有名人 Boku wa yūmeijin	I'm a Celebrity
Russian	Как по телеку Kak po teleku	Just Like on TV
Spanish (American)	Como lo vio en televisión	As Seen on TV
Spanish (European)	Como en la tele	Just Like on TV