The eighth season of "SpongeBob SquarePants" was announced in December 2009. The season premiered on March 26, 2011 with the airings of "Oral Report" and "A Friendly Game", and ended on December 6, 2012 with the Nickelodeon airing of "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!". Season 8 consist of episodes 153-178. With the airing of "Squiditis", on April 12, 2012, it passed "Rugrats", which had 172 episodes, and became Nickelodeon's longest running cartoon. The DVD for this season was released in region one on March 12, 2013, in region two on October 28, 2013, and region four on October 30, 2013.