Just as his situation was particularly grim, he was granted a pair of fairy godparents, named Cosmo and Wanda, who had the power to grant his wishes and were charged with making Timmy happy. Unfortunately, Cosmo is somewhat slow and
dumb, and the two often come up with strange dangerous ideas; although well meaning, their wishes often go awry. Wanda, Cosmo's
more sensible (and somewhat sarcastic) wife, must devote her time to ensuring both Timmy's and Cosmo's safety. These Fairly
OddParents (a pun on "fairy godparents"), mindful of their secretive existence, disguise themselves as various animals and objects in public, always with the same
peculiar colors to identify the two: Cosmo is always a light green, and Wanda is always a light pink.
Most episodes end with a deus ex machina, because Timmy has fairy godparents that grant wishes for him. Many episode plots are resolved by Timmy yelling, "I wish
everything was back to normal!" or something very similar.
Each episode of the show consists of two cartoons (each approximately 11 minutes long), with an exception of the last three
episodes of the first season, which had three Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts in each episode.
History
The Fairly OddParents first aired as a short film on Oh Yeah! Cartoons in 1998, which aired some ten episodes of the original show. Oh Yeah! Cartoons was cancelled in 2001, but Nickelodeon offered to pick up the franchise. This offer was accepted by creator Butch Hartman. The show began airing its own full-length episodes as its own series in 2001, alongside the now-cancelled cult favorite
"Invader Zim".
Although the Fairly OddParents was not very popular in its first year, it began to catch on later, attracting both a child
and adult fan base. SpongeBob SquarePants was the only thing keeping The Fairly OddParents from becoming Nickelodeon's most highly rated show at this point.
Early 2003 was the peak of popularity for Fairly OddParents. Its ratings were extremely high, and it very briefly passed SpongeBob
SquarePants. The show saw its very quick rise to the top and fall in summer of 2003 when the show's first TV movie, Abra-Catastrophe! was aired. The film was a success and many products were merchandised.
After Abra-Catastrophe, original creator Butch Hartman became less active on Fairly OddParents in order to pursue a new project, Danny Phantom. Hartman still works on the show but no longer produces it or has a major role. His job was taken over by Sarah Frost.
However, when the show aired its new third season later that year, it was met with a wave of criticism. With new voices
for principal characters such as Chester and A.J., many felt that the show had been dumbed-down from its original double entendre style of comedy. Jokes became more "over the top" and repetitive, as well as featuring much more potty humor (which the show previously used on minimum levels). Many older viewers tuned out, and slowly the show's ratings plummeted.
Then SpongeBob SquarePants bounced back in as Nick's highest rated show, although it is assumed that it has been in a ratings slump during the past
few years.
In 2005, The Fairly OddParents remained at its seemingly permanent position as Nickelodeon's second most highly
rated show, despite a slight decline in popularity. However, despite falling popularity, The Fairly OddParents did
create new episodes that will be aired this year.
A second Fairly OddParents TV movie was made, titled Channel Chasers. Since then, there has been other specials, like The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, Crash Nebula, and School's Out: The Musical.
The universe of The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents live in Timmy's fishbowl inside a small castle, they are his pet fish when his parents or friends
are around. In one episode, Timmy goes inside their fishbowl castle and finds out that they live in a huge, mansion-like castle.
Cosmo and Wanda are actually from Fairy World. Fairy World is very different from the real world. In the episode where
Cosmo and Wanda go to their high school reunion, Timmy tries to enter the door, but since he discovers that the faries poof
to their rooms, there is no door. Fairy World seems the same as the real world, but different (as in simpler), and there are
not as many problems that they have to worry about, compared to Timmy's problems.
