Fairly Odder is a Waste of Everyone's Time
Ahh, the Fairly OddParents, one of the most infamous examples of a show being so popular that it's needlessly milked to death. The difference between its and SpongeBob's is night and day. SpongeBob's popularity is justified because it's Nickelodeon's money maker. FOP's popularity just doesn't make any sense because it peaked all the way back in the 2000's when it actually surpassed the sponge for a brief time (that's because the show was in hiatus for the first movie). And when SpongeBob regained the crowd for #1 show on Nick, FOP was cancelled in 2006. But then it came back a year later, with Cosmo and Wanda having a baby. Some people were disappointed, while others were okay with its return. It was harmless in my opinion, despite the occasional bad episodes. Then it got cancelled again in 2011, its 10th anniversary, which also had a live action movie. To be fair, Meet the OddParents did had that series finale feel to it, so was it truly over? NO! A year later, a new season was announced and this time, they added a dog, who is hated by pretty much everyone who grew up on the show. The show is now in widescreen, and as a result, the colors look more vibrant. Sparky was far from the worst new character they added to the show, because oh boy, because we got one more character let to go. The final tenth season decided to scarfise the dog in favor of a girl who Timmy must share his fairies with. Chloe is a worse addition to the show than Poof and Sparky because she's a Mary Stu and was even more obnoxious. The season was so bad that they burned it off to Nicktoons (then again, it shouldn't had happen if it stayed dead). The show ended with a whimper. Well, at least Nickelodeon will finally leave this franchise alone forever, huh? Wrong! You'll about to find out the next paragraph on their latest scheme with the zombie of a franchise.
On February 2021 during the Paramount+ investigation day, it was announced that the Fairly OddParents would come back as a live-action sitcom. And yes, with the franchise back from the dead, that means they must drag Butch Hartman and Fred Seibert back to Nickelodeon to produce the show. As expected, the reaction was met with major scorn due to the fact that the original series suffered a major decline during its final years. And since Hartman’s reputation has been down the toilet for the past few years, bringing him back to Nick isn’t a good idea. Despite this, the showrunner and crew mostly consisted of the people who work on Danger Force. Several months later, the premise was revealed - the new FOP show will revolve on Timmy’s cousin Viv and her stepbrother Roy sharing Cosmo and Wanda once Timmy finally outgrew them. You know, if this was animated, it wouldn’t sound so bad, but nope, they just had to go the live-action route again. During the Paramount+ investigation day 2022, there were no words about this new FOP show. But a week later, a trailer was revealed and it turns out the subtitle is called Fairly Odder (very creative title there). In fact, the show was released on Paramount+ a day after its 21st anniversary. And all episodes of the first season were dumped on the same day, meaning that they probably don’t have faith in this trainwreck. A few weeks later, Nick decided to premiere Fairly Odder on cable April 21, 2022 after the big sitcom crossover event, When Worlds Collide. Doesn’t sounds too bad, right? Well, here’s a problem - some asshole in the scheduling department decided to preempt a new episode of Middlemost Post and replaced it with a rerun of Fairly Odder. And that’s where the MMP fandom’s bitterness towards the show comes from. I was upset at the decision, but nonetheless, I ended up sitting through the rerun and I regretted tuning in.
Fairly Odder started off with a recap of Timmy Turner’s life from the original animated series. So far, it’s not a bad start, other than the fact that Timmy’s buck tooth was literally missing in the first frame. Then, we see Timmy (this time portrayed by Caleb Pierce, he was played Drake Bell on the live action trilogy) announcing that he’s getting ready for college and he tells Cosmo and Wanda about his cousin Viv. I’ll be honest with you, when I first saw this character, her actress, Audrey Grace Marshall, looked older because of how she wore for first half of the episode. But she’s actually the same age as her character. Then again, girls tend to look older than boys during their preteen years due to hitting puberty first. Anyways, her dad moved in to Dimsdale to marry his high school girlfriend. Viv has a stepbrother named Roy, and I’m not fond of this character. Every kid sitcom is going to have a character who is just there to be a brat and Roy is no different from Piper Hart (Schneider seasons of Henry Danger, to be specific). Based from what I heard, his catchphrase is “LET’S GO!” (and "OH YEAH!"). Well, the Republicans already ruined a phrase as of last year and it used to be known as one of Super Mario’s catchphrases. Anyways, back to describing the plot - as Timmy prepares to say goodbye to Cosmo and Wanda, Viv and Roy decided to waste their first wish on wishing the three amigos would stop crying. For the next few minutes, it’s basically a whole wishing montage such as wishing to have a fancy room, grow taller (with poor special effects), etc. The title for this episode pretty much sums up what they wished for, though it’s also a play on the theme song. Then, the rest of the episode is about a house dance party, in which Viv and Roy’s parents seem to be having a little too much fun. However, Roy injured his legs at the party, so in order to feel better for a basketball game, Viv wished for her new stepbrother to go back to normal. Thanks to the power of magic, Roy ended up doing better than he expected at basketball, and the episode just ends there. So, now that I recapped the episode, what are my thoughts? Well, when I watched the rerun, I pretty much had a bored and annoyed expression on my face throughout. When the show isn’t full of cringeworthy jokes, it’s boring. However, when the show is full of them, then I pretty much just rolled my eyes. Have I forgot to mention that this show actually uses a laugh track - the same sounds that you hear in the kidcoms? Since it’s a live action animation hybrid, it just comes off as distracting, even in fully animated sequences, which gives you Hanna Barbera flashbacks. Oh, did I also forget to bring up how awful the animation quality is as well? Cosmo and Wanda look okay, but other characters like Jorgon and Crocker look really cheap (especially with the latter always having a front facing angle). I really do not want to say the Flash episodes of season 10 looked better than this because it’s like saying something remotely good to a bully. Let’s just say they both equally suck. Another reason why this show won’t be looked back fondly is that they make pop culture references. People will look back at it and say the show has aged poorly. One of the episodes involved making a viral video for a crappy TikTok parody (good thing I’m only watching the first episode, cause I do not want to lose my sanity). But let’s talk about the biggest flaw I have with Fairly Odder. If you take away the Fairly OddParents name, you won’t even know it’s a based off the original series. Other than the fairies, Vicky, Crocker, and Jorgen, and Timmy, no other characters from the animated shows appeared in this. Even worse, Cosmo and Wanda feel like side characters. They’re just used for plot devices while the spotlight goes mostly to Viv and Roy. They were always on Timmy’s side in the original, but here, their appearances are underutilized due to the limited usage of animation. Like many people say, it just feels like a generic Nick sitcom. Say what you want about their modern sitcoms, but other than Young Dylan, they at least have some entertainment and redeeming qualities to them. Fairly Odder has none of that other than the rare moments that were actually bearable to watch. In conclusion, this live-action reboot of an animated show is a big insult to the original animated series and shouldn’t have been made. Unfortunately, as much as we want to get rid of shows like this, with people having access to streaming services, they’ll find themselves hate watching stuff just to see how bad it is and this show is no difference. So don’t be surprised if a second season were to be announced because the first season ended with a two parter and it looks like the writers just want to make this show deep. Sorry, but it’s not gonna work this time for me - it worked with Henry Danger because Schneider was actually holding it back and therefore when it started having lore, I started enjoying it a little more. But this show, right here, doesn’t need it because I can’t take it seriously. My advice for anyone who come across this show, once you hit play, you’ll regret your decision. Stick to the original cartoon instead, and don’t forget to tell your young ones to give new Nicktoons from fresher and younger artists a chance. Fairly OddParents is a show whose legacy will forever be tarnished for the wrong reasons. It’s not often you see it happen with the creator still being in charge and it’s such a sad sight. With that said, I hope I don’t have to do any more reviews for a little longer…
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