The eighth season of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, created by former marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg, originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States from March 26, 2011, to November 23, 2012, and contained 26 half-hour episodes, with a miniseries titled SpongeBob's Runaway Roadtrip.

The series chronicles the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom.

The season was executive produced by series creator Hillenburg and writer Paul Tibbitt, who also acted as the showrunner.

As a result, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced not to renew their existing deal with Viacom, owner of the SpongeBob trademark.

[4] Brown Johnson, president of animation for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids & Family Group, announced the renewal of the series.

Audiences of all ages have fallen in love with this show and we're delighted to be serving up additional original episodes to our viewers for many years.

"A Friendly Game" was written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas and Steven Banks, with Tom Yasumi serving as animation director.

[9] "Oral Report" was written by Alexander, Cervas and Dani Michaeli, and the animation was directed by Alan Smart.

[16] Animation directors credited with episodes in the eighth season included Caballero, Andrew Overtoom, Alan Smart, Walsh, and Tom Yasumi.

Episodes were written by a team of writers, which consisted of Alexander, Banks, Luke Brookshier, Nate Cash, Marc Ceccarelli, Cervas, Sean Charmatz, Andrew Goodman, Derek Iversen, Mr. Lawrence, Michaeli, Richard Pursel, Aaron Springer, Paul Tibbitt, and Vincent Waller.

The eighth season featured Tom Kenny as the voice of the title character SpongeBob SquarePants and his pet snail Gary.

Puff, SpongeBob's boating school teacher;[23] and Lori Alan as Pearl, a teenage whale who is Mr. Krabs' daughter.

[24][25] In addition to the regular cast members, episodes feature guest voices from many ranges of professions, including actors, musicians, and artists.

[28] In "Pet Sitter Pat", Marion Ross voiced her recurring role as Grandma SquarePants, SpongeBob's grandmother.

[29] The episode "Pet Sitter Pat" was Marion Ross' last voice-over work for the series as she had officially retired from acting in 2018.

[38][39] The average number of viewers aged 2 to 11 watching SpongeBob at any given time dropped 29% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Nielsen.

[41] Philippe Dauman, the president and CEO of Viacom, contradicted the notion saying he did not think "the limited amount of Nick library content on Netflix [...] has had a significant impact".

[42][43] A Nickelodeon spokesman says SpongeBob is performing consistently well and remains as the number one rated animated series in all of children's television.

[45] Since then, Viacom's deal with Netflix expired, and shows such as SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer are not available to stream in the United States.

[46] On June 4, 2013, Viacom announced a multi-year licensing agreement which would move its programs, such as SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer, to Amazon.com, Netflix's top competitor.

[49][50] At the 39th Annie Awards, Dani Michaeli, Sean Charmatz, Nate Cash, Luke Brookshier and Paul Tibbitt were nominated for Best Writing in an Animated Television Production for the episode "Patrick's Staycation".

[51] Moreover, directors Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh also received a nomination at the 40th Annie Awards for Directing in an Animated Television or other Broadcast Venue Production for the episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!".

[74] Russo praised the episode that "topped the shortlist", "Plankton's Good Eye", writing "the micro-antagonist clones one of SpongeBob's eyeballs for himself, and suddenly develops a more bubbly worldview.

"[74] Author Richard Reitsma cited a scene in "Squidward's School for Grown-Ups", in which SpongeBob tries to win back Patrick's friendship by dressing as the operatic Brünnhilde (just as Bugs Bunny did in the classic 1957 cartoon What's Opera, Doc?

"Accidents Will Happen": When Squidward twists his ankle on the job, he threatens to take legal action unless his employer, Mr. Krabs, agrees to cater to him to his every need.

Patrick's beard is revealed to be a sea urchin, and he becomes friends with SpongeBob again, much to the disgust of Squidward, who tries to protest but is booed and attacked by the audiences.

Mr. Krabs asks SpongeBob to help his daughter remove the blemish to save money, instead of taking Pearl to expensive treatment.

"The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom": While looking for spare change, Mr. Krabs notices an oversized soybean at Sandy's treedome.

SpongeBob eventually traps Squidward in a box and takes him to the Krusty Krab, where he has prepared him a party with paiper-mache effigies of himself.

The DVD release features bonus materials, including the animated short "Sandy's Vacation in Ruins.