It's A Wishful Life

**It's A Wishful Life** is a HYPER-infamous episode of The Fairly OddParents. It's a parody and has a similar plot to the 1946 American Christmas movie *It's a Wonderful Life* (hence the title).

## Plot

Timmy Turner tries to do many good deeds for people, but nobody appreciates his work. Angry, Timmy wishes that he had never been born and therefore becomes nonexistent. Jorgen Von Strangle shows up and shows Timmy how much better everyone's lives would be without him. Jorgen tells Timmy that, unless he finds somebody whose life is worse without him, he'll be sent to a place where godchildren go when they wish that they were never born, so Timmy tries to find somebody whose life is worse without him.

## Why We Wish That This Episode Never Exists

1. This episode is infamous for being very mean-spirited towards Timmy Turner, as he learns that everyone would be better off without him.
2. At the beginning when Timmy tries to do good deeds for his friends and family, they criticize him for stupid reasons, causing him to wish that he was never born.
3. Everyone (except for Timmy) is super unlikable, as it's revealed that they'd all be better off if Timmy had never been born.
4. The episode tries to make Timmy look selfish by wanting to do good deeds for appreciation (which isn't even THAT selfish in the first place) and Jorgen tells Timmy that they should only be done because they're the right thing to do, but this does not work when everyone acted ungrateful towards Timmy's good deeds.
5. It's obviously a parody of *It's a Wonderful Life*, but this episode instead teaches the opposite of the movie's message.
6. The message this episode says is that if you are feeling unappreciated, then it means that your life has no meaning and everybody's lives would be better off without you, which is extremely nihilistic and a ***very*** dangerous message to teach unappreciated and badly treated kids in real life.
7. The writers made the dimension of kids who improved the world by wishing they were never born literally look like hell.
	* Speaking of which, why does such a place exist?
8. Apparently, Timmy's existence is the reason AJ is bald, Vicky is torturing kids, Francis is a bully, his parents are poor and live in a suburban house, Chester lives in a run-down trailer, Elmer has a boil, and the Chicago Cubs haven't won the World Series since 1908 (they eventually did in 2016, but still). How does his existence affect someone's lack of hair, make someone an abusive person, let someone bully others, cause someone to live in either a suburban house or a trailer, having a boil, or even affect a baseball team's perpetually poor performance? Not to mention, Timmy was born years after 1908, so that one is the most confusing. He may have cost them a recent World Series, though, like the one in 2003.
9. Puzzlingly, none of Timmy's love interests, like Trixie Tang, Veronica or Tootie and even his alien friend Mark Chang (the latter two of whom are characters who would've been miserable if it wasn't for Timmy), make an appearance.
10. Jorgen is extremely unlikeable here, as he encourages Timmy to literally **kill himself,** which is extremely out of character for Jorgen to do.

## Redeeming Qualities

1. In the end, Timmy learns that good deeds aren't done for appreciation; they are done because they're the right thing to do, which is a positive message, despite the poor execution.
2. The scene where Cosmo mistook Jorgen Von Strangle for a cactus was pretty hilarious.
3. Some allege that due to some inconsistencies, the episode's events don't really represent how life would be if Timmy had never been born, but it serves more as a method to teach a lesson to Timmy and not to be taken seriously.
4. Timmy is the only likable character in this episode.

## Reception

The episode was heavily panned from many *Fairly OddParents* fans and critics alike and is considered to be the worst episode of the classic era as well as one of (if not) the worst episode of the show. It received a 5.2 on IMDb.

## How To Make This Episode Learn Good Deeds

1. Have Tootie feature in this episode and explain what her life would be without Timmy: Tootie is now the one who gets F's all the time, and is made fun of by many students, has no friends, neglected parents, etc.
2. At least, change the ending to something happy: Timmy suddenly has a change of heart, now that he saw someone's life being worse without him, and passes the test. Jorgen decides to change his life & for everyone to be like if Timmy wasn't born, but still exists amongst other people: now Timmy is born alongside Sophia as her twin, his parents are insanely rich, and Tootie no longer has a terrible life, since she now has someone to relate to, with Timmy starting a new life with his godparents.
3. Have the ones that got angry at Timmy for doing good deeds, tell him to make sure it won't happen again in a much nicer way.