On Monday January 3, 2011, Nickelodeon ordered 26 episodes for a ninth season, which was confirmed to begin airing in 2012. This season consists of episodes 179-204, and marks the 200-episode milestone. The season premiered with the episodes "Extreme Spots" and "Squirrel Record" on July 21, 2012, and ended on February 20, 2017 with the episode "Goodbye, Krabby Patty?", making it the longest-running season of SpongeBob SquarePants to date; between the episodes "SpongeBob You're Fired" and "Lost in Bikini Bottom", production of this season went on hiatus to finish production of "". Starting from this season, episodes are now in HD widescreen. The DVD for this season was released on October 10, 2017 in region one.