Kenny the Shark

***Kenny the Shark*** is an American animated television series produced by Phase 4 Films and Hong Ying Animation for Discovery Kids. It premiered on Discovery Kids on NBC on November 1, 2003 and ended on February 19, 2005 with two seasons and a total of 26 episodes overall.

The show was actually not Kenny's first appearance; Kenny himself originally appeared in the 1990s in a series of shorts that ran between regular programming. These shorts were shot from Kenny's perspective, as he is never seen onscreen.

## Premise

The series is about Kenny, an anthropomorphic tiger shark who was tired of living as a predator and moved onto land, where he lives with a suburban family.

The show is set in the real-life town of Tiburon, California. This is a much different take than most other animated shows, which take place in more fictional towns and places.

## Characters

* **Kenny** (voiced by Jim Conroy), a tiger shark with a sarcastic but also happy-go lucky attitude and very comical behavior. Kenny originally lived in the ocean, but eventually became tired of living life as a predator and moved onto the surface, where he is able to breathe air and uses his tailfins as legs to help him walk. He lives with Kat, who can talk to him, and her family. He has an extreme weakness for seals, and has trouble controlling himself whenever he hears or sees one. He likes to eat sushi, fish, seals, and seal pops.
* **Katarina "Kat" Cassidy** (voiced by Kelli Rabke), a young, optimistic and fun-loving 10-year-old (later 11) school student who is obsessed with sharks. She is Kenny's best friend and owner, and the only one who understand his language. She displays rather unrealistic characteristics. She usually wears sandals like her parents, but later in the series begins to wear tennis shoes. She is biracial (half Asian, half white).
* **Karl Cassidy** (voiced by Karen Gulp), Kat's baby brother who thinks that Kenny is a dog. He is 1 ½ years old and usually doesn't appear in most episodes.
* **Grace Cassidy** (voiced by Karen Gulp), Kat and Karl's mother who is Asian, who is a psychiatrist and runs her practice at home. She is always kind and caring and loves her whole family, including Kenny, equally. However, Kenny tends to scare away her patients.
* **Peter Cassidy** (voiced by Russell Horton), Kat and Karl's Caucasian father and an eco-sensitive hippie who owns an organic grocery store. He gives Grace and Kat nicknames related to fruits and vegetables. He strongly dislikes Kenny because of his constant eating, shedding teeth, and tendency to cause damage that cost Peter thousands of dollars in fines. Peter's hair is blonde in the first season, but by the second season is brown.
* **Oscar** (voiced by Nicolas King), Kat's best human friend who is obsessed with the Mayans, from whom he is descended.
* **The Phoebes**: A trio of popular girls that share the same name and a parody of the Heathers. They are mean, rude and sarcastic, and tend to bully Kat for her love of ocean life.
* **Burton Plushtoy III** (voiced by Oliver Wyman), an obnoxious rich child with a British accent and one of Kat's rivals. He wants to add Kenny to his private collection of exotic pets, but all of his attempts have been thwarted by Kat.
* **Merkins the Butler**, Plushtoy's butler and henchman when trying to kidnap Kenny. Like Plushtoy, he has a British accent.
* **Marty** (voiced by Rob Bartlett), a dachshund and Kenny's other best friend who occasionally gives Kenny advice. Kat seems to understand Marty as much as she understands Kenny.
* **Elly** (voiced by Amy Love), a bull shark from the aquarium and Kenny's crush.
* **Capt. Ahearn**, the local, somewhat crazy sailor captain who initially thinks all sharks are dangerous and tried to catch and kill Kenny thinking he was trying to protect Kat. He becomes friends with Kenny after being saved from guard dogs, and regularly helps them in some situations.