I know Scooby-Doo, Spongebob Squarepants and Ben 10 are some of the cartoons that have been milked to death. Which means when a cartoon that has last longer and when some company sees them as a cash cow, they will sponge it all until they can sponge it no more. But, the one other cartoon that is milked that I will talk about is Fairly Oddparents.
Created by Butch Hartman, who also created Danny Phantom and then later T.U.F.F. Puppy, Fairly Oddparents is from a long line of NickToons. Created as a line of shorts in a cartoon show called Oh Yeah! Cartoons, Fairly Oddparents tells the story of Timmy Turner, a 10 year old boy, with buck-teeth and a silly pink hat, whose life was miserable because of not only his parents always go out, but Timmy has to put up the nastiness of the mean babysitter, Vicky. But, Timmy's life went a complete 180 when he meets his fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda and they have wonderful adventures (or misadventures, depending on their own point of view). That is the premise of Fairly Oddparents.
In the beginning, the show was ok. For instance, Cosmo's voice was less annoying in the beginning, the slapstick was funny and the stories were completely original. However, around the year 2005, everything changed, including Cosmo's voice, which became more annoying in every episode. And then, came the milking to death. The creative team are running out of ideas. And we all thought movies like Wishology and that god-awful live action movie ended the series completely. But after those movies were released, they make more episodes. Question, what has turned Fairly Oddparents from a decent NickToon, to one of the most milked franchises in cartoon history. Here's the lowdown of what I know.
Some people think that the creation of Poof has cause this show's downfall. True in most cases, but Poof is cute, look at him, how can you not like a little baby fairy and...and...
*stops for a moment to think*
Ok, Poof bites, no offense.
Some other people think that Tara Strong, the voice of Timmy and Grey Delisle, the voice of Vicky, have overstayed their welcome and they should go. Well, Tara have been voicing Timmy since the original voice, Mary Kay Bergman, has died by commiting suicide and Grey has been voicing Vicky since the very beginning. Both Tara and Grey are decent voice actors. And if they are doing a terrible job on the voice work on Fairly Oddparents in the later episodes, it is not their fault, I blame the voice direction, which I will get to in a moment.
But to me, the one thing that killed this series and this is my take on it, is Cosmo's voice. In the beginning, Cosmo sounds like Phil Hartman. And when the shorts became a series, his voice became a younger version of Timmy's Dad but a bit tolerable. And as the years go by, around 2001 to 2004, Cosmo's voice was a little high-pitched but tolerable. But by 2005 and beyond, it has become more annoying in nature. So annoying, I chose not to watch new episodes of Fairly Oddparents. So, if anything made me not want to watch new episodes of FOP, it is not Poof, or Tara Strong or Grey Delisle, it is Cosmo's annoying voice. It is so annoying that I either want to punch him right in the nose, or do what I always do when Cosmo's voice annoys me, when it doubt, say Super Toilet. Look, all kidding aside, I know it is Daran Norris who voices Cosmo, but it is not his fault. The finger of blame is to the voice directors. It's like one day they though, "Gee, Cosmo's voice is too dull, let's make it annoying!" They have no respect for voice acting in general. For the love of Mike, why couldn't they say NO!
*facepalm*
Poor Butch Hartman, he let one of his proud creations get ruined because the people who made the show wanted more money. I'm glad he left the show to focus on his other works.
Now you know why Nickelodeon and especially NickToons has become a shell of its former self. They don't care about the viewers, they are in it for the money and milking shows like Spongebob Squarepants and especially Fairly Oddparents are no exception. If I had fairy godparents, I'd wish I could run all of Viacom and fix the mistakes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse a.k.a. Sumner Redstone, Judy McGrath, Phillpe Dauman and Cyma Zarghami has created. Until that day comes, let's keep hoping.
Until then, Stay Gold, Godspeed and remember, when it doubt, say Super Toilet.
*Instant Transmission*
*Fade Out*
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