11 Longest-Running Nickelodeon Shows: ‘SpongeBob,’ ‘Rugrats’ & More (VIDEO)
A decade ago, on April 11, 2012, SpongeBob SquarePants aired its 173rd episode and thus surpassed Rugrats as Nickelodeon’s longest-running animated series. Since then, of course, shows like The Loud House and Dora the Explorer have sent Rugrats farther down on the ranking.
But if you add in live-action Nickelodeon shows, the list gets even more crowded — so crowded, in fact, that our efforts to round up a top 10 were stymied by two episode-count ties. So below, behold in ascending order what we’ve determined to be the top 11 Nickelodeon shows from the cable channel’s history.
Rugrats (172 episodes)
Rugrats, the Daytime Emmy-winning animated series about talking toddlers, makes the pantheon even without the new CGI-animated reboot of the same name, which Paramount+ recently gave a second-season order.
The Fairly OddParents (172 episodes)
This animated series, about a boy whose fairy godparents grant him life-upending wishes, spawned the new live-action Paramount+ series The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder.
Dora the Explorer (178 episodes)
Since making her first explorations on Nickelodeon in 2000, the titular seven-year-old and her monkey friend, Boots, have inspired video games, books, toys, stage shows, and adaptations around the world.
Nick News (178 episodes and counting)
NBC News alum Linda Ellerbee hosted this kid-centered news magazine for its two-decade-plus original run. And for the revival, which has been airing since 2020, CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas took over as host.
House of Anubis (191 episodes)
Nickelodeon’s first series filmed outside the United States told the story of a group of English boarding school students investigating the disappearance of one of their own.
All That (206 episodes)
Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, Gabriel Iglesias, and Jamie Lynn Spears all starred in this long-running sketch-comedy series, which returned for a revival on Nickelodeon in 2019, nearly 15 years after leaving the airwaves.
The Loud House (207 episodes and counting)
Another Daytime Emmy winner, The Loud House focuses on protagonist Lincoln Loud, a middle child with 10 siblings. (By comparison, creator Chris Savino only had nine siblings.) Now in its sixth season, the show has also inspired a live-action spinoff, which Nickelodeon announced last month.
Figure It Out (233 episodes)
Originally hosted by Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders, this game show featured Nickelodeon celebrities trying to guess the secret talent of each episode’s young guest… while trying to avoid the “Secret Slime Action” that would get them drenched with the sticky green stuff.
Pinwheel (260 episodes)
This preschooler-friendly series — about the motley residents of a pinwheel-powered Victorian house — debuted in 1977, back when Nickelodeon was still a channel called C-3, viewable only by subscribers the QUBE cable system of Columbus, Ohio.
SpongeBob SquarePants (272 episodes and counting)
Lasting far longer than your typical kitchen sponge, SpongeBob has been delighting Nickelodeon audiences since 1999. And he and his fellow Bikini Bottom residents are also movie stars: The three SpongeBob theatrical releases have sopped up more than $470 million at the global box office.
Double Dare (341 episodes)
Perhaps the messiest game show in television history, Double Dare had contestants braving physical challenges and obstacle courses that involved sliding into an ice cream sundae, wading through oversized bowls of spaghetti, picking a giant nose, and — of course — getting doused in gallons of slime. The episode count is a hard to pin down because of the syndicated and Fox versions of the show, but one super-fan reports Nickelodeon aired 341 episodes.
Rugrats (1991) where to stream
