The creator of Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg, left the show after the completion of the first Spongebob movie. Usually, television networks need an average of 60 episodes per show.At first, he wanted to focus on making the Spongebob film for he wanted to give a good quality movie to his fans. When he thought Nickelodeon will end the show, they requested to continue in creating more episodes.
He felt he had given all he had to offer and thought the show needed some new ideas. He then appointed Paul Tidbitt to produce the newer episodes. Hillenburg returned to Spongebob and continue working and producing new episodes with Tidbitt and the team.