The Fairly OddParents is one of the longest and most beloved series that Nickelodeon has ever created. The show, which followed the adventures of Timmy Turner and his fairy godparents as each of his wishes causes something to go wrong. It had outstanding humor, memorable characters, and creative storytelling. It’s not much of a surprise that it lasted a whopping 10 seasons over the course of 16 years. That being said, though, it may have lasted a bit too long. It probably would have been better if it had ended with the movie titled The Fairly OddParents: Channel Chasers. 

Channel Chasers is the second animated Fairly OddParents movie, which has Timmy wish for a magical TV remote that grants the ability to enter any television world. The remote falls into Vicky’s hands, which spells doom for everyone when she enters a documentary on dictators. The straight-to-TV movie was absolutely epic, action-packed, emotional, and it overall felt final. 

During the adventure, multiple futures for Timmy are shown. One is himself in a darker future thanks to Vicky ruling the world. This adult Timmy from the darker future is one that Timmy gets to team up with and interact with. Timmy spends much of the movie with the adult version of himself, giving him the chance to see what life could look like once he grew up. The other adult Timmy that is shown reveals Timmy’s happy ending. He’s married to Tootie, and they have two kids who Cosmo and Wanda have been passed down to. We truly see the ultimate happy ending for the show. We see how Timmy’s time with Cosmo and Wanda would come to an end, but they still get to be a part of his life in some way. Timmy also comes to terms with growing up and realizes that he needs to take the time to enjoy his childhood while it lasts. It was every bit heartfelt and satisfying as any fan of the cartoon would have wanted it to be. However, the show kept going long after that.

Not only did it feel forced to keep the series going, but it continually got worse and worse over time. The series proceeded to jump the shark a handful of times. The first was with Poof. In the show’s sixth season, Cosmo and Wanda had a magical baby named Poof. There’s nothing really wrong with Poof as a character. In fact, he’s actually quite cute. However, the stories of each episode became heavily about him rather than Timmy and his wishes. Dark Laser or the Anti-Fairies trying to capture Poof to use his magic for their own gain is entertaining, but it became overused rather quickly and distracted from the original premise of the series. 

The ninth season introduced audiences to another addition to the magical family with Sparky, Timmy’s pet fairy dog. This is where the series became a bit difficult to watch, even for fans of the first eight seasons. There’s a lot wrong with Sparky. For one, he’s meant to be a dimwitted comic-relief character, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if there wasn’t already Cosmo and Timmy’s Dad. Timmy already has fairy godparents and a fairy godbrother, so adding a dog made things feel too crowded. His existence breaks continuity since fairy animals weren’t really a thing in the first eight seasons. It’s also worth noting that he was extremely annoying. If the intent on bringing this character to the show was to give headaches to viewers, then they succeeded.

Sparky’s not the most loathsome character to be forced into the series, though. The tenth season introduced the world to Chloe Carmichael, Timmy’s neighbor who he had to share his fairy godparents with. Not only does that whole concept further take away from the show’s original premise of Timmy’s wishes accidentally causing trouble, but it feels even more forced than anything that came before it. Plus, just about everything about her is obnoxious. The voice actress shouts just about all of her lines. She needed fairies because she supposedly didn’t have friends, but we later see that she absolutely does. She also ticks off the protagonist who we’ve followed for nine previous seasons, making it difficult for viewers to like or care about her. 

Adding these annoying characters to the show and forcing them down the audiences’ throats was all in an attempt to retain viewers and continue the series past its organic lifespan. These issues wouldn’t have occurred if Nickelodeon had just let the story end when it felt natural. If they truly wanted to milk the series a bit more, the animated movie trilogy The Fairly OddParents: Wishology would have at least been a solid runner-up for a good finale. A three-movie finale is surely an epic way to end a long-running series. Unfortunately, Nickelodeon still continued it after that too.

The Fairly OddParents instead never had a true finale. It just sort of stopped after the creator, Butch Hartman, parted ways with Nickelodeon. It’s now continued on with a mess of a live action series on the Paramount+ streaming service. It’s quite sad that such a fantastic series went down the drain just because it was forced to last far too long. One could always stop at Channel Chasers or Wishology in future binge watches, though.