Graveyard Shift (SpongeBob SquarePants)

"Graveyard Shift"
SpongeBob SquarePants episode
Title card
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 16a
Directed by	Stephen Hillenburg Derek Drymon[1] Storyboard directors: Jay Lender Dan Povenmire
Written by	Mr. Lawrence Jay Lender Dan Povenmire
Production code	5571-176[2]
Original air date	September 6, 2002 (2002-09-06)
Episode chronology
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SpongeBob SquarePants (season 2)
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"Graveyard Shift" is the first part of the 16th episode of the second season, and the 36th episode overall, of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The episode was written by Mr. Lawrence, Jay Lender and Dan Povenmire, and the animation was directed by Sean Dempsey. Lender and Povenmire also served as storyboard directors. The episode was copyrighted in 2001 and aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September 6, 2002.

In the episode, Squidward and SpongeBob are forced to work 24 hours a day by their boss Mr. Krabs. Squidward soon becomes bored, and tells SpongeBob a ghost story to scare him off the night shift. When SpongeBob begins to panic, Squidward tells him that the story is fictional. However, later that night, the events of the story begin to occur.

The episode featured stock footage of Max Schreck as Count Orlok from the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. Episode writer Lender proposed the idea as a gag at the end of the episode, which series creator Stephen Hillenburg accepted. Before the idea of Count Orlok, Lender thought of "Floorboard Harry", an idea that was deleted. The episode received critical acclaim upon release.