Studios and networks are very careful when it comes to choosing a release or premiere date for movies and television shows. Obviously, there are some no-brainers: when Marvel comes rushing to market mega-hits like "Avengers: Endgame," you know it's aimed at the start of the summer movie season. But when it comes to efforts with fewer stars, such as Captain America: Brave New World, it can be locked into a less spectacular time frame like February or March, where there won't be as much competition. . for screens. Meanwhile, with television in the age of miniseries and short-season orders, networks and streamers can now use the entire calendar year instead of going into a busy fall.

It's all a matter of timing. And sometimes all the strategies in the world can be irrelevant when an unpredictable global event throws the world off its axis. When the 9/11 attacks brought terror to the United States, there was an initial wave of panic where people questioned the purpose of entertainment. Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter stupidly stated that we witnessed the end of the age of irony. Studios combed their release schedules and slated films with potentially disturbing themes (such as The Sum of All Fears, Collateral Damage and Big Trouble) in 2002.

More recently, Hollywood has been forced to face the terrifying unknown of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were major logistical issues with releasing big-budget movies at a time when most unvaccinated moviegoers made sure to stay home and burn through their streaming queues. Unlike 9/11, where the world's appetite for disposable death-filled action movies was briefly called into question, there weren't many movies about the spread of an incurable disease. In fact, the most cautionary display of a pandemic, Steven Soderbergh's Contagion proved incredibly popular with locked-in viewers. But it was a movie for adults. What about the children's party? Could they handle a movie or television show about this incredibly scary moment in their lives? When it comes to SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon said absolutely no.

When "SpongeBob" (who turned 25 last year) In its 12th season on November 11, 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic was still two years away, so no one had reason to worry about the episode titled "Quarantine Cancer." The episode focuses on the Krusty Krab being forced to close due to an outbreak of clam flu, which leads to SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Pearl, and Mrs. Puff being quarantined in the facility. When Mr. Krabs announces that anyone known to be carrying the flu should be locked in the restaurant's freezer, you know it's only a matter of time before SpongeBob and Patrick end up there.

In classic SpongeBob SquarePants fashion, the episode, which was written before the outbreak of COVID-19, is too silly and obviously divorced from reality to elicit anything other than belly laughs. But risk-averse Nickelodeon didn't have to wait around to find out if parents freaked out over the Quarantined Krab. It pulled the episode from streaming on Amazon and Paramount+ and kept it out of circulation until April 29, 2022. Some fan displeasure was expressed on Reddit when the episode was initially removed, but the outcry never reached the level of a full-blown controversy.

Interestingly, this wasn't the first time an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants was pulled from streaming. In 2018, Nickelodeon boosted the Season 3 episode "Mid-Life Crabs" in a plot that finds the exciting trio of Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob, and Patrick breaking into a woman's house to steal her underwear. "SpongeBob" definitely conveys humor for adults that often flies over the heads of children, but these "Animal House" style hijinks. feel... reckless for a children's cartoon. I don't believe the episode should be permanently unavailable, but I do think it should perhaps be moved to a properly rated Blu-ray release.