Top 5 Favorite Fairly Odd Parents Episodes

I don't like Fairly Odd Parents flat out, but they do have a fair share of episodes I like, which is the most I could say about many shows I hate. Funny thing is, there are more episodes I like than hate, to the point that for once I had to narrow it down to five.

As an aside, I was going to include the specials and movies on this list, but I haven't seen them all, and it may be better as a standalone list. Speaking of:

5. A tie between A Wish Too Far and The Big Scoop

Yeah, I'm putting the two together, they're both essentially the same episode, but at the same time different enough to be, well, different.

The first season was more moral driven then later seasons, and even the second and third had more of an emphasis on comedy for the sake of comedy. As a consequence, I'd consider the first season to be my least favorite season, hell, I didn't even like the first two segments. While we're at it, the pilot shorts left an equally rotten taste in my mouth, beyond the Superhero segment, and maybe the one centering on Tootie's birthday party (only for the fact that Vicky came out on top to break the level of predictability on part with any episode of Ed, Edd n' Eddy involving the Kankers in a major role.)

Anyway, A Wish Too Far. Speaking as someone who often roots for the popular students (and rare occasions the bullies as long as they don't have too cliched of a backstory), this wasn't too bad of an episode. For once, we have an episode that doesn't outright demonize the popular archetype. Okay, it's insulting to think a lot of you don't know who Trixie Tang is, but just to get you up to speed, she, for the most part, challenged the stereotype associated with popular student archetypes. She's also not as obnoxious as other characters in the fold. This episode is set back a bit as Timmy's personality hadn't been truly realized at this point, so we have to rely on the story and what little jokes there are. I'd go back to this before others though, that's the most I could say about this.

The Big Scoop. I was brought in by the novelty of it being a near remake of A Wish Too Far. It's rare to see older episodes revisited beyond a pilot remake. Basically, it's a stretch of A Wish Too Far, going by a full length B-plot centered on Chester and A.J., who seek an exciting story for the school newspaper, and wind up going after Timmy over his sudden spike in popularity. Some setbacks, the b-plot's existence wasn't apparent in the original episode and as a result it seems like a desperate attempt to pad out the run time, also, for most jokes that're redone from the original episode, they don't translate to the show's more refined style from this season on. On the upside, the jokes stick better and the plot's more interesting, plus the fact that we get to focus on someone other than Timmy.

Obviously, The Big Scoop is my favorite of the two from a humor standpoint.

4. Apartnership

What's this? Another season one episode? I hate where it started, but I don't consider it a bad season as a whole, the rest of the episodes are just meh to me. To me, this episode challenges the stereotype that only one (usually the man) can cause couple-hood to sour and it also practically mocks the stereotype associated with over-protective parents.

The episode centers on Wanda supposedly forgetting her and Cosmo's anniversary (already a relief since it's usually the man who forgets their anniversary.) so he decides to return to Fairy World to live with his mother. Oh wait, apparently there's a debate on what kind of anniversary it was, but what saves this from playing it safe is that both are portrayed as wrong, we root for a make up, not for one to bite the big one.

By and large, it's a cute episode and there's little forced conflict to keep the plot going. Why is this ahead of the previous one if I have so little to say about it? Because. Just, because.

3. Action Packed

This made the list mostly due to the novelty behind it. From an outsider's perspective you'd think it'd just be a collection of neutered action scenes and cliches, and you'd be half right. The genesis behind Timmy's wish for a more action-packed life was born through a generic action film, so you can go in with low expectations.

But the ironic thing is, it's actually fairly dark, at least by the standards set in the show overall. Cosmo and Wanda actually die in this (at least that's how we see it, they turn into dust and remain that way until the resolve.) Quite ballsy if I do say so myself. Another interesting aspect is the villain choice, rather than go with the usual suspects, we get Jorgen Von Strangle, and he's hardly out of character here. He's always been going on about his body and we get this here.

Not to mention, it's the best episode on a visual basis, this is one of the few episodes of the show to incorporate CGI, and it holds up as well as Terminator 2 (as in quite well.)

2. The Grass is Greener

Before the more infamous seasons surfaced, Timmy's parents were easy to define. They were comically neglectful, but still gave a damn about their son. The Grass is Greener proved this, and proved it hard. It has a simple premise, Timmy overhears his parents claiming that they can afford better things had they not had Timmy, hence wasting their extra cash on him, but even before the conflict began, they made it clear that their desires hold no ground. Cosmo and Wanda send Timmy to a carnival to fulfill his desire to run away and it seems like it's done to encourage him to go back home, but instead, he decides to become a carny in order to make it without his folks.

An admirable thing about this is how the episode doesn't portray Timmy as selfish, he did want to check in on his folks to see if they missed him at one point. The fairies leave Timmy, though thankfully not out of nowhere as he had become well adjusted to his new line of work, but fell into the bad graces of the carnies in doing so. But going by the colorful means of escape during the obligatory chase sequence, along with some odd moments of the carnies not taking full advantage of getting Timmy, we learn this was just a way to get him to go back home, where we see his parents do in fact miss him.

On the surface, it seems blatantly obvious Cosmo and Wanda wouldn't leave Timmy high and dry, but if you pay attention enough, you'd figure it out, so I can't be too angry about that. I'm aware that other episodes show his parents care about him, but I prefer the simplicity of this episode.

1. Chin Up (and many Crimson Chin episodes)

For every Crimson Chin episode I've seen, I wouldn't consider any of them to be bad. I owe this to Jay Leno's portrayal of the protruding jawed hero. Hartman didn't have much skill directing many FOP episodes, but he clearly had comic work cut out for him. They nail the style to a "T" and somehow the humor's sharper, with meta jokes that don't grow old (I mean, come on, letters to the editor, showing the writer.) I couldn't decide what Crimson Chin episode I wanted to put here, and that fact alone is why this is number one.

So, out of random, I picked the first one. Starting with the first season and ending with the first season. I love it for how ridiculous it was (Chin's origin story as well as his confrontation with the reality that he's just a book character.) along with its dialogue.

Yeah, once more this is number one because the Chin carried many of these episodes and propelled it higher than others for me.

So, yeah, that's it, list over... drive safe.