The Fairly Odd Parents

This is a cartoon about a boy named Timmy, and how he was lucky enough to obtain a pair of fairy god parents who grant him wishes. Timmy lives the unfortunate life of a 10- year old boy. His parents don't pay him much attention, his babysitter is the spawn of Satan who's only pleasure in life comes from making people's life miserable and making a buck, both of which she achieves when she babysits Timmy. He also receives the hateful attention of his teacher at school who seems to take great pleasure in giving F's, and who is obsessed with the idea that Timmy has fairy god parents that he must discover. Because of how unpleasant his life is, Timmy was granted fairy god parents to make his life better by granting him almost any wish he makes. The only catch is that if anyone discovers his fairy god parents, Timmy will lose them forever.

This is a really fun, imaginative show. The fairies, Cosmo and Wanda, are funny and the scrapes Timmy gets him into are engaging. Timmy makes a lot of small wishes, but the big wishes he makes either changes the life he's living in some way, or the entire world he's living in. Time and time again, Timmy is initially happy with the wish he made, but eventually comes to regret messing with reality, and tries to make everything the way it was before the wish. Teaching that no matter how bad your situation seems, it could always be much worse, and also that you should be careful of what you wish for because you just might get it... and it may not be what you expected.

The show incorporates several side stories into the plot, such as the fairy obsessed teacher trying to out his secret, Vicky and her evilness, an alien from another planet that he interacts with, comic book heroes, etc. and the cool thing they did with this show is to make these side stories recurring. Ordinarily, we may meet a side character just for one or two episodes, and then never hear of them again, but this show keeps all of the smaller story lines continuously running, making the entire show more intricate than it seems on the surface. They have a lot of room to play with (to stop the storyline from stagnating or repeating) and they make good use of it. Also, as a fan of the original Batman tv show, I appreciated the character of Catman, voiced by Adam West.

It's really a fun show to watch. Mostly for children, but an older audience can also find something to enjoy. It makes fun of itself, it's funny, sarcastic, romantic, dramatic, suspenseful, and more. But still for kids. Good show.