EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Exactly, those sorts of episodes where another character (or group of characters) take the spotlight are interesting to watch because SpongeBob doesn't take centre stage.While the show is called "SpongeBob SquarePants", I think that there are times that a no-SpongeBob episode can work. You could cut SpongeBob out of Mall Girl Pearl and it wouldn't change, and even if it did, it wouldn't by a whole lot. And heck, you can cut out some of SpongeBob's bits in New Leaf and it would'nt really change that much. It can be just as funny and just as consistent.
Personally, I think it has something to do with Nickelodeon and how they treat the character. They feel as though if a 6 year old is watching his first SpongeBob episode and it just so happens to be one of the few episodes where SpongeBob doesn't appear at all, that boy would be confused and very disappointed, which is why they make sure SpongeBob appears in every episode in some capacity. I don't mind this, but I just wish there was a more optimistic way of explaining it. After all, this is Nickelodeon, perhaps the company which has made the least-optimistic decisions and practises in the history of TV.