Attention, parents.
Are you looking for a kiddie show you can watch with your young’uns without running screaming from the room? Search no more.
Nickelodeon will premiere its ninth season of the Emmy-winning animated series The Fairly OddParents at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The series has stood the test of time, having been on the air for 12 years. (Nine seasons, but 12 years? Before it was a series, FOP ran as cartoon segments on Oh Yeah! Cartoons.)
Are you up that early on a Saturday? Of course - the kids are up and so are you.
The Fairly OddParents follows the magical adventures of 10-year-old Timmy Turner and his fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda Cosma, who grant him wishes. That’s what fairies do.
Once at the mercy of every adult in his life, Timmy figures he finally has the upper hand when Cosmo and Wanda appear unexpectedly on the scene.
Fairy godparents help kids in need, and these two see Timmy as fitting the criteria. They constantly practice their fairy craft on him and delight in playfully punishing his baby-sitting nemesis, 16-yearold Vicky, who turns Eddie Haskel-mean the moment Timmy’s parents leave.
Naturally, Cosmo and Wanda always succeed in messing things up.
Life lessons? They’re fairly subtle in this series. While exploring the big issues of being a kid - growing up, gaining independence, fitting in, being respected and finding the courage to do what’s right - Timmy also learns to be careful for what you wish because getting what you want won’t necessarily solve all your problems.
In the season premiere, “Turner & Pooch,” Timmy’s fairy obsessed teacher, Mr. Crocker, realizes that Timmy’s dog, Sparky, has magical powers. Eager to use Sparky’s powers for himself, Mr. Crocker hypnotizes the dog in an attempt to turn him against Timmy.
Does it work? I won’t spoil the surprise for you.
Quack, quack. I must confess that I don’t see the attraction in this heavily scripted unscripted series, but there it is: The Season 3 finale of A& E’s Duck Dynasty was seen by almost 9.6 million viewers.
I’ll let that sink in.
The April 24 episode, in which the bearded Robertson boys and their fashionista wives headed to Hawaii for a family vacation, set a record for A&E and notched some notable ratings numbers at Nielsen along the way.
For example, the most watched episode of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (the Halloween special) netted only 3.1 million viewers. The Season 3 finale of Downton Abbey averaged 8.2 million, and HBO’s critically adored, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Girls found its second season-ender luring only 632,000 viewers.
Keeping it real: Almost 42 million watched the last hour (7-8 p.m.) of the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect April 19. That’s double a typical Friday night tally.
With all this attention, the Robertsons are (naturally) demanding a hefty pay raise to show up for Season 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The new season will premiere later this year. You can bet your duck call that A&E and the Robertsons will work it out.
Barnes is back. Veteran Arkansas newsman Steve Barnes is set for a new five-part series of AETN’s Barnes and … A Conversation With.
Starting today at 6:30 p.m., the half-hour episodes will air on Thursdays through the end of the month. Each episode will repeat the following Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
“Once again our conversations span the spectrum of the physical and social sciences,” Barnes said in an AETN news release. “There’s some Arkansas political history, some physics, some discussion of color, even an eerie bit of espionage.” The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail: mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend, Pages 30 on 05/02/2013