The Fairly OddParents (seasons 1-8)

The Fairly OddParents is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. Set in the fictional town of Dimmsdale, California, the series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year old boy who is neglected by his parents and abused by his teenage babysitter named Vicky. He is granted two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda, who grant his every wish to make his miserable life less trashy. However, these wishes usually backfire and cause a series of problems that Timmy must fix.

It was produced by Frederator Studios (2001–2017), Nickelodeon Animation Studio, and Billionfold Inc. (2008–2017). The series originated from ten shorts on Nick's animation showcase, ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons'', that aired from 1998 to 2001. They were later collectively greenlighted as a full series that began on March 30, 2001 and ended on November 25, 2006, totaling five seasons. The series was revived on February 18, 2008 and concluded once again on July 26, 2017. Butch Hartman left Nickelodeon roughly seven months after the series ended. A live-action series, The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, was later announced on February 24, 2021 to be in development for Paramount+ and premiered on March 31, 2022.

Plot
Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy, has had it with his babysitter! He summons his fairy godparents who have the power to grant him wishes. Some of the wishes are really helpful, others don't work out so well. Timmy's godparents Cosmo and Wanda have ideas of their own and always lead Timmy on interesting adventures.

Why These Seasons Are Magic

 * 1) The visuals of the art style and character designs are visually appealing on the eyes, possibly inspired from those of Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo, given that series creator Butch Hartman used to work on the latter two series before deciding to create this show (albeit, first starting out as a series of shorts on Oh Yeah! Cartoons). Hartman would later go on to use the same visuals of the art style and character designs for his later works, those being Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy.
 * 2) Great soundtrack, which is composed by Guy Moon, who also composed soundtracks for the other Butch Hartman shows. The theme song is also very catchy and jazzy to listen to.
 * 3) Many memorable characters and villains such as:
 * 4) * Timmy Turner, the average kid who no one understands.
 * 5) * Cosmo and Wanda ( green / pink ), the former being a simple-minded, yet charming and self-aware comic relief and the latter being a responsible, yet intelligent voice-of-reason.
 * 6) * Poof ( purple ), Cosmo and Wanda's son and Timmy's fairy godbrother.
 * 7) * Mr. and Mrs. Turner, Timmy's oblivious, yet overworked parents.
 * 8) * Vicky, Timmy's menacing teenage babysitter.
 * 9) * Tootie, Vicky's little sister who has an amusing crush on Timmy.
 * 10) * Denzel Crocker, Timmy's crazed teacher who wishes to prove to the world that fairies exist.
 * 11) * Jorgen Von Strangle, the strict and intimating authority figure of all the fairies in the universe.
 * 12) * Chester and A.J., Timmy's best friends.
 * 13) * Trixie Tang, the typical yet charming popular girl who Timmy has an amusing crush on.
 * 14) * Veronica, Brad, and Chad, Trixie's best friends, and the other popular kids.
 * 15) * Francis, the typical, yet entertaining unpopular school bully.
 * 16) * Mark Chang, the prince of Yugopotamia who has an amusing crush on Vicky.
 * 17) * Remy Buxaplenty, the envious billionaire child with only one fairy godparent named Juandissimo Magnifico.
 * 18) * Crimson Chin and Crash Nebula, who are some of Timmy's favorite superheroes, and many of their respective enemies.
 * 19) * Catman, the superhero alter-ego of the late, great real-life Adam West.
 * 20) * Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, and Anti-Poof (actually Foop), the evil fairy counterparts of Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof.
 * 21) * Head Pixie (or H.P. for short), the leader of the Pixies, and his assistant, Sanderson.
 * 22) * Chip Skylark, a well-known singing sensation of Dimmsdale.
 * 23) * Doug Dimmadome, the major business owner in Dimmsdale.
 * 24) * Chet Ubetcha, the local news reporter.
 * 25) * Dinkleburg, the next-door neighbor of Timmy and his parents who Mr. Turner has hatred of.
 * 26) Even though Poof was born in Season 6, the show was still good until Season 9.
 * 27) Memorable specials and/or direct-to-TV films, such as:
 * 28) * "Christmas Everyday!" (the first Christmas special)
 * 29) * "Information Stupor Highway"
 * 30) * "Scary Godparents" (Halloween special)
 * 31) * "Abra-Catastrophe!"
 * 32) * "The Origins of Denzel Crocker"
 * 33) * "Shelf Life"
 * 34) * "The Big Superhero Wish!"
 * 35) * "Channel Chasers"
 * 36) * "School's Out!: The Musical"
 * 37) * "Fairy Idol"
 * 38) * "Fairly Odd Baby"
 * 39) * "The Fairly Oddlympics"
 * 40) * "Merry Wishmas" (the second Christmas special)
 * 41) * "Wishology!"
 * 42) * "Anti-Poof"
 * 43) * "When L.O.S.E.R.S. Attack"
 * 44) It even had a trio of crossover specials with fellow Nicktoon series, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.
 * 45) Memorable songs such as, "My Shiny Teeth and Me" from "Shiny Teeth", "Icky Vicky" from "Boys in the Band", "Kids Just Being Kids" & "Adults Ruin Everything from "School's Out: The Musical!", "Gimme The Wand" from "Fairy Idol" and many others.
 * 46) Very talented voice actors, even from the most well-known actors such as Tara Strong, Daran Norris, Susanne Blakeslee, Grey DeLisle, Carlos Alazraqui, etc.
 * 47) Great one-liners, fourth wall breaks, and catchphrases, especially from Cosmo, Mr. Turner, Mr. Crocker, and Jorgen.
 * 48) * Mr. Turner, in particular, has spawned numerous memes such as "DINKLEBURG!" and "If I had one!" from "Father Time".
 * 49) It manages to teach valuable lessons every time Timmy wishes for something that eventually backfires.
 * 50) Well established structure, Da Rules, that ties the show together. It also gives the show a limited structure with magic to allow actual conflicts to occur in the plots in question.
 * 51) Despite all the backfiring Timmy gets in some episodes whenever something he wishes backfires, he does get some pretty good endings no matter what.
 * 52) "Meet the OddParents", the final episode of Season 8, was decent and could have been a perfect way to wrap up the series if it had not continued past that.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Upon being revived in 2008, the show jumped the shark in its sixth season with the introduction of Poof. However, the show truly started to decline in quality with its seventh season before it hit new levels of low in its ninth and tenth seasons, which lead Nickelodeon into cancelling the series.
 * 2) * Season 6 is considered to be a major turning point for the show due to Poof's debut, as many people feel that the show relied too much on "wacky baby shenanigans" since then, given that Poof is just a baby, yet most of the episodes didn't even revolve around Poof to the point of spotlight stealing nor did the overall lore of the show (most notably the dynamic between Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda) changed that much, and some people considered this season to be the best of the post-classic era seasons, with its quality on the same levels as the classic era. Even so, Season 6 also had a few bad episodes, with the Vicky-focused episodes being the worst offenders.
 * 3) * Seasons 7 and 8, while not terrible, are arguably considered to be the weakest of all the good seasons and seen as the beginning of the show's decline, as the episodes here are more of a mixed bag and have problems that would become the norm in Seasons 9 and 10. As an example, almost all of the original writing team have moved on, while Ray DeLaurentis came aboard as producer, story editor, and writer. However, DeLaurentis worked on projects that were not well received to begin with, prior to working on this show starting in Season 7 onward. As a result, most of the secondary characters (yes, even Vicky) gradually became sidelined because the writers, including the show's creator Butch Hartman himself, became more interested in writing episodes focusing on Timmy's Dad, Mr. Crocker, and occasionally Foop instead. Additionally, several continuity errors and inconsistences, mostly regarding Da Rules, started popping up more around this time.
 * 4) ** Even in the classic era and Season 6, continuity can be inconsistent at times. One particularly baffling example comes from "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary" (Remy Buxaplenty's debut episode). In the episode, Remy showed concern that Timmy could wish to be richer than him, but the sister episode "Nectar of the Odds" (along with Season 7's "Crocker of Gold") establishes that poofing up money is counterfeiting.
 * 5) * To a minor extent, Season 5 is considered by some people to be the weakest season in the classic era, mostly because of the most infamous episode in the series, "It's a Wishful Life". Additionally, some, if not, all of the characters got flanderized, though Season 6 outdid most of the flanderization from Season 5.
 * 6) * The third and final Jimmy Timmy Power Hour crossover, "The Jerkinators", despite being the original end of the show after Season 5, is arguably considered the weakest of the three crossovers, as it did little to wrap up loose ends, had a very generic plot, and some of the characters (mainly Jimmy and Timmy themselves) were out of character. However, it isn't terrible in the slightest and is rather decent. It's just the weakest.
 * 7) The good seasons even had their fair share of bad and/or mediocre episodes, such as:
 * 8) * "Twistory"
 * 9) * "Love Struck!" (Valentine's Day special)
 * 10) * "Just the Two of Us!" (depending on your view)
 * 11) * "Timmy's 2-D House of Horror"
 * 12) * "It's a Wishful Life" (the most infamous episode)
 * 13) * "Teeth for Two" (depending on your view)
 * 14) * "Open Wide and Say Aaagh!"
 * 15) * "Sooper Poof"
 * 16) * "Vicky Gets Fired"
 * 17) * "Temporary Fairy"
 * 18) * "Stupid Cupid"
 * 19) * "Crocker Shocker"
 * 20) * "Frenemy Mine"
 * 21) * "Manic Mom-Day"
 * 22) * "Take and Fake"
 * 23) * "Cosmo Rules"
 * 24) * "Lights Out"
 * 25) * "Farm Pit"
 * 26) * "Timmy's Secret Wish!" (10th anniversary special)
 * 27) Some characterizations are flawed even before Season 9:
 * 28) * Cosmo and Mr. Turner, while they have great and funny one-liners here and there, can be flawed at times due to how dumb they can be.
 * 29) * Timmy's parents started out as busy and clueless, but later became very neglectful to the point where they act like they see him as a burden, though Mrs. Turner at some points is more tolerable than her husband.
 * 30) * Vicky, starting in Season 6, was flanderized from a sadistic bully who enjoyed messing with Timmy while keeping him safe and only saw her babysitting job as a means of making money despite her occasional psychotic qualities, into an outright Satan-like psychopath who tries to "destroy" Timmy. Additionally, despite still appearing in the show's intro and outro sequences, her screen time was significantly reduced, to the point that starting in Season 7, her role as the main antagonist of the series was passed onto Mr. Crocker.
 * 31) * Tootie in Seasons 6 and 7 was flanderized from a nerdy, yet goodhearted girl who had an amusing crush on Timmy and occasionally helped him despite her occasional stalking qualities, into an outright obsessive, lovesick creep who constantly stalks and harasses Timmy. Additionally, after Season 7 ended, she stopped making appearances in the show with the exception of her appearances in the live-action films as well as a few cameos.
 * 32) ** Vicky and Tootie are also never shown interacting with each other at all whatsoever since Season 6 onward despite the fact that they are sisters.
 * 33) * Veronica, the best friend of Trixie Tang, is badly underutilized since she could have served as a potential third love interest for Timmy as an in-between of Trixie and Tootie (lacking the former's narcissism and the latter's obsessiveness) instead of later characters like Missy and Chloe Carmichael, but Hartman and/or the writers seemed to have ignored her as the series went on.
 * 34) Even though the show has good morals, they are often not well carried out because they'd just rather tell the morals instead of showing them. Likewise, it has had some pretty bad and misleading morals:
 * 35) * The moral of the infamous "It's a Wishful Life" states that you shouldn't do things for people to be appreciated, but because it's the right thing to do. This is incredibly wrong because being appreciated means people are graceful for the goods that you do, being appreciated makes you know that you did something good and you should feel proud of yourself for doing something good, and how can you tell if you did something right or good if you aren't appreciated for it?
 * 36) * The moral in "Vicky Gets Fired" is an incredibly dangerous and misleading moral that states that if you are being bullied and tortured up to the point of attempted murder, you should keep quiet and not tell anyone, especially authority figures.
 * 37) It gets pretty mean-spirited, annoying, dumb, cliché, and juvenile at times.
 * 38) * The humor, in particular, is predictable and repetitive in practically every episode despite having some great one-liners and fourth wall breaks. It also can sometimes be offensively stereotypical, as it tends to make stereotypical jokes at British people (the antagonist character, Anti-Cosmo, being one example since he speaks in an English accent and wears a monocle) and portrays smart people as insufferable and insensitive.

Reception
The Fairly OddParents was well received during its original run in 2001 through 2006 for its characters, art style, writing, and music, with the TV movie "Channel Chasers" being singled out as the best to ever exist in the show's history. It was Nickelodeon's second highest rated show for the most part, behind SpongeBob SquarePants. It even briefly took the number one spotlight from SpongeBob in mid-2003.

Reception for The Fairly OddParents started to decline as soon as Poof was brought into the show upon its revival in 2008 and many fans felt many episodes relied too much on "whacky baby shenanigans" to the point that it changed the lore and humor of the show for the worse. However, most episodes since his introduction contradict this feeling so it can be seen as nothing more than simply just plain blind hate and some fans consider Season 6 to be the best season in the post-classic era with its quality on the same levels as the original first five seasons. The 3-part TV Movie, "Wishology!", despite its mixed reception, is nevertheless considered to be one of the best in the show's history.

The show would gather an even more mixed reception upon its seventh and eighth seasons, which are seen as the show's start of declining. Many episodes at this time had new writers and they even revolved more on Timmy's Dad, Mr. Crocker, and occasionally Foop than any other secondary character including Vicky despite her still appearing in the intro and outro. Additionally, continuity issues and character flanderization became more consistent, as episodes like "Lights Out" and "Timmy's Secret Wish!" received major backlash, with the former for its overly mean-spirited nature (even worse than that of the already infamous Season 5 episode, "I's a Wishful Life") and the latter for being another example of ignoring/abandoning continuity despite being made as a special to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary. Regardless, Seasons 7 and 8 are still considered decent and "Meet the OddParents" was considered the last good episode as well as another example of how the show could have ended off with besides "Channel Chasers" or "Wishology!", until Seasons 9 and 10 ruined the show's reputation with all the problems from Seasons 7 and 8 presented on the norm.

Trivia

 * It has the most seasons and episodes out of all the Butch Hartman shows.
 * Having ran for 16 years and nearly four months, it is currently the second longest running show on Nickelodeon, behind SpongeBob SquarePants and before Rugrats.
 * This show is popular in Latin America, United Kingdom and Germany.
 * Seasons 9 and 10 were not released on physical DVDs as they were released digitally.
 * It is one of Nickelodeon's long running cartoons to have no theatrical movie.
 * This show had a few hiatuses between 2007 and 2012.