The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour

I must point out that unlike most viewers of the Fairly Odd Parents, I am an adult and am not ashamed to admit I like the show. Thanks to clever writing and unusually good stories with likable characters, this is one kids' show that parents can not just tolerate but enjoy. Heck, I think I know more about this show than most of my students I teach--it's just a neat show that doesn't insult the audience's intelligence.

There is an expression many of you have probably heard about TV shows. It's called "jumping the shark". That's when you have a show that has been successful and executives at the network make an insane decision to seriously alter the show's chemistry because they fear that ratings will fall. In other words, it's an insane decision to mess with a great formula in the hopes that it will keep the show popular. In most every case, it only makes the downward spiral worse!! The phrase refers to the episode on "Happy Days" when Fonzie uncharacteristically jumped over a shark tank on his motorcycle--and it spelled the end of the series. On "The Brady Bunch" it was the introduction of 'Cousin Oliver' and on "The Partridge Family" it was in introduction of a supposedly cute little neighbor kid (who was even more nauseating than Cousin Oliver).

In the case of "The Fairly Odd Parents", the show has actually "jumped the shark" on repeated occasions--a real rarity for a TV show. The JIMMY TIMMY POWER HOUR was the first time, though repeated Jimmy Neutron/Timmy Turner crossovers have since occurred AND they also made a musical (SCHOOL'S OUT) AND have introduced a Fairly Odd baby--which leads you to wonder how many times the big-wigs at Nickelodeon can mess with this series until there are no fans left or the show is so different from what fans love that there is no longer interest!! As for the JIMMY TIMMY POWER HOUR, it's initially a clever idea but that's all. The original formula is naturally destroyed and the show is painful and unfunny--a show parents would be loathe to watch again! I know I sure was.