The FINANCIAL -- Ten years ago this Friday Nickelodeon aired the first episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants," which at the time just seemed an odd little show about a sponge and his undersea friends. Few would guess this program would turn into a worldwide phenomenon -- it's translated into 25 different languages and airs in 170 countries -- beloved by children and some adults, Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported.

Nickelodeon has a whole weekend celebration planned for SpongeBob's 10th birthday, but first sister-network VH1 goes behind-the-scenes with "Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants" (9 p.m. tomorrow), a one-hour documentary that includes interviews with TV historians, celebrities, and the show's cast and crew.

It's obviously self-congratulatory, but it's a mostly clear-headed look at how creator John Hillenburg's passion for marine science and his creation of a truly innocent, well-meaning character connected with viewers accustomed to more supposedly "real" and edgy TV kids, such as the characters on "South Park."

"The secret ingredient of 'SpongeBob' is the heart," notes ubiquitous TV historian Robert Thompson of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. "But it's the heart of a 4-year-old, and a heart doesn't get much purer than that."

The notion of an innocent character may seem obvious and simple, but it's largely gone missing from TV in recent decades. "SpongeBob's" success was probably helped by the fact it that the wholesome title character was packaged as an unconventional TV show concept.

"How do you know your audience is going to take to a sponge character?" notes animation historian Jerry Beck. "I mean, wow, that is quite a leap."

And what a leap "SpongeBob" made. Hillenburg, who's featured prominently in interviews throughout the documentary, said he first realized the worldwide impact of his cartoon creation while in Sumatra, where he saw a girl carrying a bootleg "SpongeBob" backpack.

"Square Roots" addresses Hillenburg's departure from the show after 2004's "SpongeBob" movie but never really explains why he (presumably) chose to leave. "Square Roots" also mentions the James Dobson assertion that "SpongeBob" was "an agent of the homosexual agenda," but it doesn't really delve into that in any significant way.

And that's the documentary's biggest drawback: It's made and aired by a corporation that has a vested financial interest in sustaining the "SpongeBob" property for another 10 years. As such, it's more of a promotional tool than a legitimate documentary, but if you don't think too hard (or care about objectivity), it's an entertaining look at all things SpongeBob -- including a fan who covered her body in 20 SpongeBob tattoos.

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