Development and Oh Yeah! Cartoons (1997–2001) '' Prior to the creation of
The Fairly OddParents,
Butch Hartman was working at
Cartoon Network on ''
Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo. In December 1997, Fred Seibert contacted Hartman to come over to his new company, Frederator Incorporated, to help pitch ideas as a part of their Oh Yeah! Cartoons series which the studio was developing for Nickelodeon. Hartman initially declined the offer. However, several months later, Johnny Bravo'' finished and Hartman decided to create his own series instead of going back to working for other studios. Hartman started developing his own series by drawing a picture of a little boy who would become Timmy Turner. Hartman was originally going to name him Mike, after his brother Mike Hartman, but they had a fight that day, so Hartman named him after his other brother Timmy Hartman instead. Hartman wanted Timmy to be able to go anywhere because he never wanted to be stuck for a story transition. Hartman was originally going to give Timmy science powers, but decided against it due to ''
Dexter's Laboratory'' having recently come out. Instead, he decided to give Timmy a magic friend. He drew Venus (later renamed Wanda) first and then decided that, because he had never heard of a fairy godfather before, to draw Cosmo. While in early development, the series was titled
The Fairy GodParents and then it was briefly changed to
Oh My GodParents. Unlike the later series, the animation in the original shorts is not as smooth and the designs are notably different (including Timmy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Turner, who are only seen from the neck down with their faces hidden in the
pilot episodes and appear to be more intelligent than they appeared to be in the proceeding series, yet still easily duped by Vicky's abhorrent actions). Other notable differences include Timmy Turner, who was voiced by
Mary Kay Bergman in the
Oh Yeah! shorts rather than Tara Strong in the series (Strong would dub over Bergman's dialogue in the
Oh Yeah! shorts to establish better continuity). Cosmo is significantly more intelligent than he appears to be in the proceeding series while Wanda is shown to be ditzy. Vicky is also much less evil than in the current series; she has a little brother in the pilot episode before it was changed to a little sister later on in the shorts, and she also calls Timmy by his name as opposed to the more often-used "twerp".
Original run (2001–2006) Upon its premiere,
The Fairly OddParents was immediately popular and quickly became the second-highest-rated children's program among kids ages 2–11 on both network and cable television, behind Nickelodeon's own
SpongeBob SquarePants.
The Fairly OddParents also attracted a wide audience, appealing to kids as well as to teenagers and adults, with 14.2 million kids 2–11 tuning in each week, 10.8 million adult viewers per week and was the number one series on television among tween audiences (9–14). On January 24, 2006, Hartman announced on his forum that Nickelodeon had ceased production of the show. The third
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius crossover, "
The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators!", is the fifth-season finale in production order and was intended to be the
series finale, airing on July 21, 2006. However, Nickelodeon broadcast the episode "Timmy the Barbarian!/No Substitute for Crazy!" after "The Jerkinators!" as the fifth-season finale in airing order, on November 25 of that year.
Revival (2007–2012) On February 2, 2007, Hartman announced on his forum that Nick granted
The Fairly OddParents twenty more episode slots, making sure the show resumed production. Later on July 7, 2007, a special titled
77 Secrets of the Fairly OddParents Revealed hinted that a new character would join the series. After a one-year hiatus,
Nickelodeon announced that they would begin the
sixth season, which would consist of twenty episodes alongside the broadcast of a one-hour
television film called
Fairly OddBaby, which introduced a new character, a baby fairy named Poof, to the main cast of characters. A huge hit,
Fairly OddBaby aired on February 18, 2008, and garnered 8.89 million viewers for its premiere; the rebroadcast of the film the following day garnered 4.82 million viewers, making it the number one and ninth most viewed cable broadcast respectively for the week of February 18–24, 2008. From May 1, 2009, to May 3, 2009, the three-part season 6 finale special
Wishology aired.
Live-action films and end of the series (2011–2017) To honor the tenth anniversary of
The Fairly OddParents, a live-action television film titled
A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! premiered on July 9, 2011. Written by Butch Hartman, the film is set 13 years after the animated series and stars
Drake Bell as a 23-year-old Timmy Turner, who is trying his hardest not to grow up in order to prevent losing his fairy godparents, and
Daniella Monet as Tootie, who has grown into a mature and beautiful activist with whom Timmy falls in love. The premiere of the movie attracted 5.8 million viewers and it was the top-rated television broadcast on cable networks for the week of July 10–16, 2011, and ranked as "2011's Top Original TV Movie on Basic Cable with Kids and Total Viewers". The success of
A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! spawned two sequels:
A Fairly Odd Christmas and
A Fairly Odd Summer, which premiered on November 29, 2012, and August 2, 2014 respectively. Drake Bell and Daniella Monet reprised their respective roles in both of the sequels. The
ninth season of
The Fairly OddParents began with a
television special titled "Fairly OddPet", which premiered on March 23, 2013, and attracted 3.8 million viewers. The ninth season's official run began on May 4, 2013. Season nine contained twenty-six episodes, making it the longest season in the series. It is also the first season to be formatted in both
high definition and
widescreen. The
tenth season of
The Fairly OddParents premiered on January 15, 2016 with the special "The Big Fairy Share Scare!". This episode introduced Chloe Carmichael, Timmy's new neighbor with whom he is forced to share Cosmo and Wanda due to a fairy shortage. The tenth season aired from January 15, 2016, to July 26, 2017, on both
Nickelodeon and
Nicktoons. The visuals and lyrics for the theme song were changed for season ten in order to include Chloe; however, it still contained the same rhythm and melody as the original theme song. ==Episodes==