Nickelodeon Honors Ernest Borgnine With SPONGEBOB Marathon Today

Nickelodeon honors the late Ernest Borgnine with a two-hour SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS marathon featuring the actor as Mermaid Man, from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. (ET/PT) today, Wednesday, July 11. Borgnine voiced the character alongside his former "McHale's Navy" co-star Tim Conway, who voiced Barnacle Boy. Nicktoons also will run the special line-up from 10:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, July 14.

The marathon kicks off with the first episode featuring Borgnine--"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy." While watching their favorite show, reruns of the TV duo superhero show Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, SpongeBob and Patrick hear that their beloved heroes are living in a nearby retirement home. The aging superheroes discover their toughest challenge yet will be SpongeBob and Patrick, who have decided the duo must come out of retirement.

The special programming block continues with "Mermaid Man II," "MermaidMan and Barnacle Boy III," "Superfriends," "Back to the Past," "The Bad Guy Club for Villains" and "Mermaidman Begins."

Since its launch in July 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has emerged as a pop culture phenomenon. The series has been the number-one animated program with kids 2-11 for more than 12 consecutive years on Nickelodeon; and over the past several years, it has averaged more than 100 million total viewers every quarter across all Nickelodeon networks.