Nickelodeon's hit animated franchise "SpongeBob SquarePants" is not surprisingly returning for an 11th season, with the network ordering 26 new episodes. When those are produced, the show will have
banked 178 episodes. Nick said a "SpongeBob" special drew 7.7 million viewers Nov. 6. The series is seen in 171 markets in 26 languages.
--David Goetzl