The Fairly OddParents

***The Fairly OddParents*** was an animated television series created by Butch Hartman and was first aired in the United States on March 30, 2001, and ended on July 26, 2017. It is produced by Frederator Studios, whose show *Oh Yeah! Cartoons*, showed the pilot episodes alongside many other first-run and one-time cartoons. It is shown in the United States on The First Kids' Network, and is also shown internationally. The series is distributed outside the United States by the Canadian animation company, Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. and airs on the Disney Channel in certain countries for this reason.

*The Fairly OddParents* is set in the fictional town of Dimmsdale, California. The show follows the day-to-day life of 10-year-old Timmy Turner. An only child, Timmy was often preyed upon by such adversaries as his mean babysitter, Vicky, or his maniacal teacher, Mr. Crocker. Just as his situation was particularly grim, he was granted a pair of fairy godparents, named Cosmo and Wanda, who had the power to grant wishes and were charged with making Timmy happy. Unfortunately, Cosmo is a particularly dumb fairy, and Wanda must devote her time to ensuring both Timmy's and Cosmo's safety; as such, although well meaning, their wishes sometimes go wrong. These fairy godparents, mindful of their secretive existence, disguise themselves as various animals and objects in public, always with the same peculiar colors to identify the two: Cosmo is always a light green hair, and Wanda is always a light pink hair. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001. It was produced by Frederator Studios and Billionfold Inc. for the cable network Nickelodeon. The television series is distributed by MTV Networks. In 2009, *Time* magazine named the series one of the greatest television shows of all time. The sister shows to FOP are Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy and Bunsen Is a Beast.

Most episodes of the show consists of two segments that are each approximately 11 minutes long.

## History

### Oh Yeah! Cartoons (1998-2001)

*The Fairly OddParents* first aired as a short film on *Oh Yeah! Cartoons* in 1998, which aired some 10 episodes of the original show. *Oh Yeah! Cartoons* was canceled in 2001, but Nickelodeon offered to make its own show. This offer was accepted by creator Butch Hartman. The show began airing its own full-length episodes as its own series in the same year. Although the Fairly OddParents was not very popular in its first year, its popularity began to catch on later, attracting both a kid and adult fan base. *SpongeBob SquarePants* was the only show higher-rated than *The Fairly OddParents*. Another notable thing about the show was that attracted many adolescent and adult followers because of its more complicated, witty sense of humor. Sure enough, the ratings for this show skyrocketed.

### Peak Years (2002-06)

2002 was one of Fairly OddParents best years. Its ratings were extremely high, and it very briefly passed SpongeBob SquarePants. The show saw its very quick rise to the top and fall in summer of 2003 when the show's first TV movie, *Abra-Catastrophe!*, aired. It was a hit with record-breaking ratings and merchandise was made. However, that year, Butch Hartman left the show to work on a new cartoon called *Danny Phantom*, which premiered in 2004, there are also rumors that, because the show was very "edgy" during a period of the Hartman years, but this is not completely known. The show was then directed by Sarah Frost, Ken Bruce and Gary Conrad. However, when the show aired its new third season later that year, many viewers considered the episodes were not as funny, some being accused of being manically stupid. With new voices for principal characters such as Chester and A.J., the show also became less edgy with a new lack of subliminal sex jokes. This turned off a lot of older viewers, and slowly the show's ratings plummeted. *SpongeBob SquarePants* (which had been in a ratings slump previously), bounced back in as Nick's highest rated show.

### Hiatus (2007-08)

The Fairly OddParents was sent on hiatus for 15 months during Jimmy Neutron's cancellation, which its last episode aired on November 25, 2006. A primetime special aired on July 7, 2007 called "Lucky 7" includes Back-to-Back episodes of The Fairly OddParents and a never before seen episode which aired at 7:00pm. A theatrical movie was planned by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, but was canned due to management changes at Paramount.

### Revival (2008-17)

After a one-year hiatus, Nickelodeon said on TV that they would begin the broadcast of a television movie called Fairly OddBaby on February 18, 2008 as the beginning of 20 episodes of Season 6, and to carry the show to at least the year 2009.[1] Also, four new episodes aired each day at 5:00pm EST beginning on Monday, March 10 after a rerun of the Fairly OddBaby special, and ending on Thursday (3–13) of that week. It was reported that 8.81 million people watched this movie when it originally aired. Another new episode week aired from May 12–16, 2006. "The Fairly Oddlympics" aired on August 1, 2008 to coincide with the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Another premiere week aired through August 11–15, 2008. The three-part saga "Wishology!" aired on May 1–3, 2009. Another special "Anti-Poof" aired on July 10, 2009.

The 10th anniversary special, a live-action/CGI film called *A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!* starring Drake Bell and Daniella Monet, aired July 9, 2011. This was followed up with *A Fairly Odd Christmas* on November 29, 2012, and the then *A Fairly Odd Summer*, premiered on August 2, 2014.

The series was burnt off from Nickelodeon on September 16, 2016 due to low ratings, thus leading to the removal of the entire series from the network's schedule. On January 18, 2017, the entire series moved to Nicktoons. The final episode of Season 10 was aired on the channel on July 26, 2017. On February 8, 2018, Butch announced his departure at Nickelodeon, making it official that the show, along with *Bunsen is a Beast!*, ended.

## Premise

Set in the fictional town of Dimmsdale, California, *The Fairly OddParents* tells the story of a 10-year-old boy named Timmy Turner who is neglected by his parents and tortured by his babysitter, Vicky. One day, he is granted two fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda, who grant his every wish to improve his miserable life. However, these wishes usually backfire or cause a series of problems that Timmy must fix. Earlier episodes of the series tend to revolve around Timmy trying to navigate his everyday life at home, at school or elsewhere in town with his best friends, Chester and A.J. or occasionally his parents, while also trying to fix a wish gone awry and ultimately, learning a lesson in the end. Later in the series, Timmy wishes that Cosmo and Wanda would have a baby, whom they named Poof. Much later in the series, Timmy gets a pet fairy dog named Sparky. Even later in the series, Timmy is informed that due to a shortage of available fairies, he must now share Cosmo and Wanda with his new neighbor, Chloe Carmichael, who is essentially his polar opposite. Chloe loves sharing, animals, and everything that is ecologically friendly.

At the beginning of the series, Vicky was the main antagonist, but as the series progressed, many more villains were introduced, including: The school bully, Francis; Remy Buxaplenty, a young billionaire child with a fairy godparent who is set on getting rid of Timmy's fairy godparents due to his immense jealousy towards him for having two fairy godparents compared to his one; Dark Laser, a parody of Darth Vader, who wants to destroy Timmy and the Earth; The Pixies, who are known to wield as much power as fairies, but they treat their magical powers like a business. The Pixie's primary goal is to take control of Fairy World and the Earth; The Anti-fairies, who are similar to the actual fairies, but with polar opposite personalities and character traits. Anti-fairies are also known for causing bad luck; Norm the Genie, who hatches plans to gain freedom from his lamp and get revenge on Timmy. And Timmy's teacher, Mr. Crocker, who is obsessed with proving the existence of fairies and capturing a fairy godparent to use for his own personal gains. Crocker is especially dangerous to Timmy because, according to *Da Rules*, a large rulebook that defines what children can and cannot wish for and how fairy godparents must behave, no one else can know about fairy godparents except for the children who have them and they will be taken away forever and the child's memory of them will be erased should anyone else find out about them.

## Setting

*The Fairly OddParents* is set in the fictional city of Dimmsdale, California. Dimmsdale has a sign on some mountains near the city that is a parody of the Hollywood Sign. In the episode, "Vicky Loses Her Icky", the Mayor of Dimmsdale unveils the "Welcome to Dimmsdale - Nicest Town on Earth!" sign. However, at the end of the episode, the President of the United States changes the word “Nicest” to “Meanest”. Dimmsdale appears to be average-sized, with a downtown containing large buildings, skyscrapers and a city hall, but also containing uptown areas with suburban residences (including the neighborhood where Timmy, his parents and his friends live) and businesses, such as Timmy's school; a hospital; a jail; a sports complex called, “The Dimmadome”, which is named after its founder and owner; a local TV channel and various restaurants and stores, as well as a park in the center of the city. Dimmsdale also appears to have rural farmland located outside of the city. The adults who live in Dimmsdale are notably moronic and often settle situations with things like angry mobs, but they do still manage to form a working and functioning society. In the episode, "Which Witch is Which?", it was revealed that Dimmsdale was founded in the 1630s and named after a man called Dale Dimm.

When the show needs to, it switches its location to Fairy World, the home of the fairies, which is a floating world located on top of some clouds and colored with an abundance of pink and purple. Fairy World is depicted as a large metropolis with houses, streets, different kinds of buildings and skyscrapers. Most buildings in Fairy World have crowns or stars above their roofs. The fairies have a civilization like that of humans, but with their primary source of power being magic, which also keeps their world afloat. A large rainbow acts as the bridge between Fairy World and the Earth, although the bridge seems to exist only for decoration since fairies teleport via magic to and from Earth. Fairy World is not actually a part of Earth but is depicted as a separate world in outer space located near Earth's orbit that can only be accessed by magic. Among the most notable landmarks in Fairy World is the glowing entrance sign on the other side of the rainbow bridge and the giant wand located in the center of Fairy World that powers the fairies' magic. Jorgen Von Strangle, who acts as the leader of the fairies and Fairy World is an enormous and tough fairy with an Austrian accent, similar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jorgen personally dislikes Timmy at the beginning of the series but warms up to him over time.

Another location seen in the show is the city of Chincinatti, the home town of Timmy's favorite comic book superhero, the Crimson Chin. Other locations include the dark and twisted Anti-Fairy World, the dark counterpart of Fairy World where the Anti-fairies reside; the dull and gray metropolis of Pixies Inc., home of the Pixies; and Yugopotamia, another planet where Timmy's alien friend, Mark Chang, lived until the episode “New Squid in Town!” when Timmy invites Mark to live in the Dimmsdale junkyard in order to escape his evil fiancée, Princess Mandie.

## Voice cast

* Tara Strong as Timmy Turner, Poof, Tad, Blonda, Princess Mandie, Vicky's Mom and Britney Britney
* Daran Norris as Cosmo, Mr. Turner, Jorgen Von Strangle, Anti-Cosmo, The April Fool, George Washington and Pappy
* Susanne Blakeslee as Wanda, Mrs. Turner, Anti-Wanda, Mrs. Dinkleberg, and Ms. Doombringer
* Carlos Alazraqui as Denzel Crocker, Juandissimo, Mayor, Chompy the Goat, Sheldon Dinkleberg and Hank the Rhino
* Dee Bradley Baker as Elmer, Binky, Sanjay, Remy Buxaplenty, The Bronze Kneecap, The Darkness, Young Mr. Turner, Polar Bear Guardian, Janitor, The Leprechaun, Sanjay's Stepdad, Shallowgrave, and Dr. Snipowitz
* Grey DeLisle as Vicky the Babysitter, Tootie, Veronica, Chad, Principal Waxelplax, Tooth Fairy, and Happy Peppy Betty.
* Kari Wahlgren as Chloe Carmichael
* Maddie Taylor as Sparky

### Guest Stars

Throughout the course of the show, many famous actors have guest starred on *The Fairly OddParents!*. Some of the most notable are recurring characters Adam West (Catman) and Jay Leno (Crimson Chin). Some other famous stars were Norm Macdonald (Norm the Genie), Alec Baldwin (older Timmy), Ben Stein (the Pixies), Gilbert Gottfried (Dr. Bender and Wendell), and Tom Arnold (Santa).

Though not featured as guests on the show, references have been made to other public figures, including Bill Gates (shown as a child with Cosmo and Wanda as fairy godparents in the episode "*Father Time*"), Tina Turner (also one of their godkids), Britney Spears (parodied as "Britney Britney"), Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone (parodied as "Arnold Schwarzengerman and Sylvester Calzone), and George W. Bush (a U.S. president was depicted in the episode "That old Black Magic", and he bore resemblance to then-president Bush).

## Trivia

* The Fairly OddParents! is seen in 113 countries and territories in 27 languages around the world.
* In Latin America, Greece and Brazil, the first episode to be broadcasted by Nickelodeon was "Mooooving Day". All previous episodes, except for the "Jimmy Timmy Power Hour" trilogy, were broadcasted by "Jetix", a network owned by Disney (formerly owned by Fox Broadcasting Company and was under the name of "Fox Kids"), that later in 2009 became Disney XD. Until today, in these territories, Disney owns all episodes from "The Big Problem!" to "Crash Nebula," and are still broadcasted by Disney Channel and Disney XD.
	+ In Japan, the show airs on Disney Channel, as Nickelodeon became defunct in Japan in 2010 (although Animax has a segment called "Nick Time" that airs old Nickelodeon shows).
* Recurring voice guest-stars include Jay Leno (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno) as the Crimson Chin, Adam West (Batman) as Catman and Norm McDonald (Saturday Night Live, The Norm Show) as Norm the Genie. Other celebrity guest voice stars have included Alec Baldwin, Frankie Muniz, Ben Stein, Gilbert Gottfried, Dana Carvey, Brendan Fraser, Tom Arnold, Jackie Mason, Julie Chen, Scott Hamilton, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
* To date, Nickelodeon has ordered 152 *The Fairly OddParent*s episodes, which include 12 TV specials and nine TV movies, two of them being in live-action.
* In Japan, the show is called *Oops! Fairy Parents* (*Oops!フェアリーペアレンツ*).
* In Season 9, the opening was redone to feature Poof.
* The credits sequence has changed several times throughout the show. The first was in Fairly Odd Baby, where the Billion Fold Inc, logo was added to the sequence, the Nelvana logo was removed and the Nickelodeon logo was changed from the old splatter logo (1999-2007) to the new 2008 logo (the orange lightbulb logo). Also, a part of the theme song was cut off during the showing of the Frederator Studios and Billion Fold Inc. logo. The second time was in 2010, where the 2008 Nick logo is changed to the 2010 logo, where a remixed version of the company jingle is heard while the new letters of the logo appear, one by one, from left to right. This time, all the ending of the theme song is cut off when the three logos are shown. The third was in Fairly OddPet, where new wallpapers from the cartoon were added to the credits sequence. The old ones are (in order):

1. A.J. saying something to Timmy while raising his shoulders.
2. Cosmo and Wanda with Timmy jumping out of a wind-up toy box and scaring Vicky.
3. Vicky rubbing her hand against Timmy's head like older brothers do with younger brothers.
4. A Timmy standing on one leg (left side) and a jumping Timmy (right side).
5. Vicky and Timmy staring into each other with anger.
6. Cosmo and Wanda laughing at something that is offscreen.
7. A crying Timmy with his hands on his knees (on the left), a Timmy with a evil smile pointing his finger to something that is offscreen (center above) and a Timmy doing a "I told you!" face with his hands behind his back.
8. Timmy standing and smiling to the viewer.
9. Cosmo with tiny hearts around him, saying something to Wanda, who is cold-shouldering him, but still looking at him, with a romantic face and tiny hearts around her too.
10. Mr. Turner and Mrs. Turner running together.
11. A thinking Wanda taking her finger to her mouth (left) and a happy Wanda raising up her wand (right).
12. Cosmo with a fishing rod catching a tiny Timmy and Wanda with a fishing net.
13. Cosmo, Wanda and Timmy looking at the viewer (resembling the old poster for Oh Yeah! Cartoons).
14. Cosmo looking at the viewer while raising his wand.
15. Mr. Turner dancing with Mrs. Turner.
16. An angry Wanda dragging out an annoyed/bored Cosmo by the wing.