Nickelodeon's THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS pays homage to the AMERICAN IDOL craze with its very own Idol-like singing competition in FAIRY IDOL, a one-hour special premiering May 19, 2006, at 8:00 pm. The special stars former AMERICAN IDOL contestant Diana DeGarmo, as the singing voice of her biggest fan, Cosmo. The older-skewing special repeats on Nickelodeon May 20 at 7:00 pm and May 21 at 5:00 pm.
"Butch Hartman is always looking for creative new ways to incorporate pop culture into his series, so when he proposed an AMERICAN IDOL type of contest for this episode we knew it would be great fun," said Marjorie Cohn, evp, development and original programming, Nickelodeon. "And, having Diana DeGarmo be a part of it, makes it that much more special."
"I think the reality TV phenomenon has taken on a life of its own and I wanted to do a special episode that would have fun with the genre," said Butch Hartman, creator/exec producer of THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS and DANNY PHANTOM. "AMERICAN IDOL is a reality show that my kids relate to and is popular with kids everywhere."
In FAIRY IDOL, Norm the Genie decides hes sick of all the annoying masters he's had to serve throughout the centuries so he formulates an evil plan to swap his genie life for the more desirable job of fairy godparent. Learning that any magical wish-granting creature in the universe may apply for a vacant fairy godparent job, he tries to trick Cosmo and Wanda into quitting their jobs as Timmy's godparents. Norm creates a clone of Timmy to treat Cosmo and Wanda badly while the real Timmy is off having the time of his life. Cosmo and Wanda are fed up the imposter Timmy and they quit their jobs as his fairy godparents. Norm heads off to Fairy World to enter a talent competition where every wish-granting creature in the universe has the chance to audition for the role of the next fairy godparent.
The contestants sing their favorite musical numbers and the finalists, including Norm, Cosmo and Wanda (who are convinced by the real Timmy to give him another chance) are chosen. They are exposed to an abundance of obligatory fairy drama behind the scenes, including all of the backbiting and backstabbing that goes along with such a heated competition. The competition also includes stellar number performed by Cosmo (singing voice by DeGarmo) and Wanda.
In conjunction with this TV special, Nick.com introduced a "New Game of the Week" entitled FAIRY IDOL! on May 4. In the game, Wanda's wand is missing, as she is about to go onstage for the Fairy Idol talent competition. Playing as Timmy, gamesters will have to search the entire Fairy Idol studio for the missing wand, avoiding security guards, Jorgen Von Strangle and Cosmo- who has a knack for getting in the way. In addition, kids vote/take a poll on Nick.com on who they think will "win" the Fairy Idol competition. A sneak peek of FAIRY IDOL has been streaming on TurboNick.
Debuting on Nickelodeon in March 2001, THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS is the number two ranked kids' program on broadcast and cable television, second only to SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. The series is a solid hit among teens and adults, who make up 59% of its 54.7 million viewers each week.
Nickelodeon (www.nick.com), in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 89 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more than 10 consecutive years
