The animated show, The Fairly OddParents may, ironically, be a victim of it's own success with the recent trilogy. One of the strongest points of the film was the genre savvy characterization of Timmy Turner and the character development of FOP's main and secondary characters. The return to the status quo seems really jarring in light of this recent special. Specifically, the mistreatment of Timmy by his parents is not going to fly with me, or with many other FOP fans now. It matters little that the laser guided amnesia is behind this. Mr. and Mrs. Turner's negligence of their own child leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. Timmy made a heroic sacrifice that saved parents AND his fairy godparents (the ones that should have been protecting him)as well as a number of his enemies. By returning to this status quo of abusive parents, it seems especially cruel to Timmy. An example would be the recent FOP episode, Formula for Disaster. In this episode, Crocker decides to have Timmy attend his "military school" to improve his grades (which of course is really another attempt by Crocker to capture Cosmo and Wanda). Upon hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Turner actually celebrate THEIR OWN SON'S departure by stating that now they have a "spare room" to "rent out". This, of course, ignores the fact that Timmy's parents nearly DID have a spare room because of far more tragic circumstances. Yes, it's "just a cartoon" and played for laughs, but this is probably a grand example of a so called unfunny aneurysm moment. As a result of this, now any ill treatement of Timmy Turner by his Mom and Dad seems harsh and unnecessariy cruel. Hopefully, this will be addressed in a later episode.

When this show debuted in 2001, I was instantly drawn to it. The very concept was enough to get me to watch, and the humor kept me there. The adventures of Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda were some of my favorites for a long time.

While simple, the characters were developed in the earlier seasons. Cosmo and Wanda ran away from home to get married, giving their relationship some serious "awww" factor, while Timmy was a boy smarter than many around him. I was especially pleased with "The Boy Who Would Be Queen", because it looked like they were actually going to make an interesting version of The Libby. Indeed, there were hints of Hidden Depths for her throughout the first three seasons.

The villains were entertaining as well. Crocker was both funny while being a threat to Timmy, and Mark made for an entertaining character. All in all, it was a great (and hilarious) series.

Then season four came along, and with it, Seasonal Rot. Nearly every character was either Flanderized or had Character Exaggeration. Timmy and Cosmo became Jerkass characters who latched onto the Idiot Ball, both of Timmy's love interests (Trixie and Tootie) became unlikeable, and some of the worst episodes in the series run were released ("Just the Two of Us," "Timmy's 2D House of Horror," (these two for making above love intrests unlikeable) "It's a Wishful Life" (for its Wall Banger of a Broken Aesop)). Plus two episodes ("Shelf Life" and "Channel Chasers") pretty much use the same basic plot with different motifs and levels of seriousness. But still, some gems were still in there, like Mark's Heel Face Turn, the Musical Episode, and Norm's introduction.

When season six started, it was Growing The Beard for me. Poof was born, much of the Flanderization was reversed, and, on the whole, the series got good again. The "Wishology" special (which, if you watch it again, the sixth season had episodes specifically setting things up for it) gets special mention, it would have been a great Grand Finale if not for another season.

All in all, it's a great series, if you avoid most of seasons four and five.