Best Day Ever
"Best Day Ever" is the first segment of the 20th episode of the fourth season and the 80th overall episode of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The episode was written by Nate Cash, Tuck Tucker, and Steven Banks, and the animation was directed by Larry Leichliter. Cash and Tucker also functioned as storyboard directors. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 10, 2006.
The series follows the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. In the episode, SpongeBob is determined to have a perfect day. But much to his disappointment, however, the day refuses to go at all as he planned. Each of his friends has a different problem of his/her own, so he sets out to help them while spoiling his own agendas. As soon as SpongeBob realizes that he has forfeited his perfect day to help his friends, they rally around him with their thanks and congratulations. Eventually, SpongeBob realizes that he has had his best day ever after all.
The episode features a song titled "The Best Day Ever" written by Tom Kenny and Andy Paley. A soundtrack album called SpongeBob SquarePants: The Best Day Ever was released on September 12, 2006. "Best Day Ever" pulled an average of 6.7 million viewers upon release.
Plot summary
's "Best Day Ever" fails to turn out as he planned when he is forced to postpone his activities to help his friends with their problems. He wants to work at the Krusty Krab, but it is condemned because of a nematode infestation; he inadvertently lures the nematodes away using his nose as a flute. Then, he plans to practice some karate with Sandy, but she is unable to because there is a leak in her treedome. SpongeBob, believing it to be a trick, fixes it accidentally by stopping the leak with one of his adhesive karate gloves. Next, he wants to go jellyfishing with Patrick, but Patrick ends up breaking his net, so SpongeBob gives him his old net, which quickly breaks as well. SpongeBob ends up giving Patrick his new high tech net. SpongeBob waits impatiently to use the net, but decides to leave for his next planned activity.SpongeBob's final activity for the day is to go to Squidward's clarinet recital. However, once he meets up with Squidward, he says that he cannot play in the concert because the reed of his clarinet is shot. Determined not to miss out on this activity as he had done with the other ones, SpongeBob pulls out one of his teeth to replace the reed. SpongeBob attempts to enter the building, but the usher refuses to let him in unless he has a ticket. He tries various methods of sneaking in, but at last he is let in because he is on the VIP list. He gets in right as the concert ends.
SpongeBob gets upset that everything has gone entirely wrong and takes the stage to give an elaborate speech about how his "Best Day Ever" has been ruined. However, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, Sandy and Squidward tell him about how he helped them with their problems and that his "Best Day Ever" was actually about them. To make it up to him, they hold a production in which SpongeBob performs his song, "Best Day Ever," to complete his day with Patrick, Sandy, Squidward and Mr. Krabs co-starring along in it. A few hours later, SpongeBob is still singing, but his friends are tired and sleepy, and the audience has all disappeared. When Squidward asks Mr. Krabs how long they have to keep up the performance, Mr. Krabs replies, "Just 'til his little heart gives out, Squidward. Just 'til his little heart gives out."
Production
"Best Day Ever" was written by Nate Cash, Tuck Tucker and Steven Banks, with Larry Leichliter serving as animation director. Cash and Tucker also functioned as storyboard directors. The episode originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 10, 2006.The featured song "The Best Day Ever" was composed by Tom Kenny, SpongeBob's voice actor, and Andy Paley. The song was originally a part of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie soundtrack that was released on November 9, 2004. Originally, Kenny and Paley were writing the songs "The Best Day Ever" and "Under My Rock" on what would become The Best Day Ever album. However, at the same time, the team of the 2004 feature film needed two extra filler tracks for the film soundtrack. Eventually, Stephen Hillenburg, the series creator and director of the film, heard the songs and decided to put it on the film's soundtrack. Although not originally intended for the film, "The Best Day Ever" was played during the closing credits.
The episode was part of the 24-hour SpongeBob marathon called "The Best Day Ever Marathon". Starting at 8 pm EDT, the event counted down the best 100 episodes of the series as chosen by viewers on Nick.com and TurboNick. Tom Ascheim, the executive vice president and general manager for Nickelodeon Television, said "We've received a tremendous response from almost 4 million fans who have voted online for their favorite SpongeBob episodes and we'll reward them with our biggest SpongeBob event ever." The marathon led up to the premiere of this episode. The marketing method was primarily organised by Frank Tanki. Ascheim explained that Nickelodeon uses modern technology to generate interest in television shows. He believes that allowing viewers to choose the episodes shown contributes to the show's high ratings.
Best Buy stores across the United States introduced a "Best Day Ever"-themed Best Buy giftcard that doubles as a DVD-ROM packed with music videos, video game previews and more. In addition, "Best Day Ever"-themed activities were held at the Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotel by Holiday Inn including a themed party called the Bikini Bottom Bash. Throughout the month of November, the hotel released a "Best Day Ever" package to its guests starting at $369.
"Best Day Ever" was included in the SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 4, Vol. 2 DVD on January 9, 2007. The "Best Day Ever" shorts called "A Random Act of SpongeBob" were released as a bonus feature on the DVD. The shorts are "Crossing the Street", "Anything for Baby", "Flowers for Sandy", "Me Money", and "Pie". On September 22, 2009, "Best Day Ever" was released in the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five.
Ratings
On Friday, November 10, 2006, an average of 4.4 million viewers tuned in between 6:30 am and 10 pm EDT to watch "The Best Day Ever Marathon". The marathon earned the network its most-watched and highest-rated total programming day in its history, averaging 1.9/4.4 million total viewers. The premiere of the "Best Day Ever" special attracted 6.7 million total viewers, with an average of 12.0/4.0 million kids 2–11, 12.8/2.6 million kids 6–11, according to Neilsen data.The "SpongeBob Best Day Ever" online game, went live on November 9. It generated 1.3 million gameplay sessions and more than 867,000 unique visitors in three days. The full-length music video for "Best Day Ever" generated more than 1.4 million streams, with 471,000 unique visitors, making it the 2 video on TurboNick from November 6 to 12. During the same time period, "Best Day Ever"'s promotion video on TurboNick had 370,000 streams and was ranked within the top 10 videos of the broadband channel.