Good news (I hope). You no longer need to register to comment on The Fairly Odd-blog.

A few people have been sniping at me at the change in our comments system a few months ago. We added Disqus (pronounced ‘discuss’) after checking it out at the suggestion of our Tumblr friends, and realized it was a powerful way of not only for commenters to start a conversation directly with each other, but an easy way for them to discover other people in a wider community of blogs they might want to start reading.

That said, I probably made it a little harder to use than necessary by insisting that everyone register at Disqus before they could post. Aside from the folks that got confused, the extra step discouraged at lot of people from participating at all. That’s why the change.

Hope this makes it easier, and fun-ner, to be a part of our blog community. Please [Read more…]]]>

Good news (I hope). You no longer need to register to comment on The Fairly Odd-blog.

A few people have been sniping at me at the change in our comments system a few months ago. We added Disqus (pronounced ‘discuss’) after checking it out at the suggestion of our Tumblr friends, and realized it was a powerful way of not only for commenters to start a conversation directly with each other, but an easy way for them to discover other people in a wider community of blogs they might want to start reading.

That said, I probably made it a little harder to use than necessary by insisting that everyone register at Disqus before they could post. Aside from the folks that got confused, the extra step discouraged at lot of people from participating at all. That’s why the change.

Hope this makes it easier, and fun-ner, to be a part of our blog community. Please let me know.

–Fred

After spending a few years and 26 half-hours in Miracle City, Dave Thomas has returned to The Fairly OddParents fold as the show’s Storyboard Director. He’s a big part of the show’s history, too – way back in 2003, Dave won an Annie Award for his boarding of the episode, “Pipe Down”. Yesterday, to kick off yet another production season of FOP, he presented the show’s first-ever digital pitch.*

It’s great to have you back, Dave.

– Eric

*In the old days, an old-fashioned paper storyboard would be pinned up and presented to the crew and the network. Now, even though the paper board still gets pinned up, every panel is scanned in and projected on the big screen, just short of an animatic.

Tonight, don’t forget to watch the premiere of the brand new, one-hour Fairly OddParents special, “The Fairly Oddlympics”. The episode, featuring guest star Scott Hamilton, starts at 8:00 p.m.

[Read more…]]]>

Tonight, don’t forget to watch the premiere of the brand new, one-hour Fairly OddParents special, “The Fairly Oddlympics”. The episode, featuring guest star Scott Hamilton, starts at 8:00 p.m.

Speaking of the Olympics and FOP, my mind goes back through the mists of time to 1996 when I was working in Hanna-Barbera’s animation art department. We were getting ready to head to Hotlanta for the 1996 Olympics, where the department would set up some retail space in the CNN Center, selling all sorts of priceless collectibles to discriminating tourists. At that time, Fred, then president at H-B, was really pushing us to promote new talent at the studio by asking them to contribute to the animation art program. This didn’t pan out, as the studio was sold by the end of the year. However, we were lucky enough to get two pieces from Butch Hartman (there almost was a Quick Draw Limited Edition Cel from Pat Ventura). Butch created the first-ever Hong Kong Phooey cel, as well as the sports-themed sericel above. He actually designed it much more specific to the Olympics for our selling in Georgia, but, at the very last minute, he had to go back and change it to keep the I.O.C.’s lawyers off our back (besides not being able to include the five copyrighted rings, we were barred from using the word ‘Olympics’ and even from showing a torch - ha!). Of course, now this sericel is worth millions, what with Butch’s 2004 crime spree and all.

– Eric

Premieres today at 5:00 p.m. on Nick.

– Eric

So Nick aired “Cheese & Crockers” - not “Land Before Timmy” -  this afternoon. Let’s guess that “Land” will be shown tomorrow. Sorry for the switch. Clearly the work of anti-fairies.

– Eric

New episode today at 5:00 p.m. on Nick.

– Eric

– Eric

Brand new Fairly OddParents episode, today at 5:00 p.m. on Nick.

– Eric

Nick will air five brand new Fairly OddParents episodes this week. Beginning Monday, you’ll need to tune in at 5:00 p.m. every afternoon to watch. I’ll post the new title cards throughout the week, but, for now, enjoy this oldie but goodie from “Hail to the Chief”.

– Eric

Congratulations to Butch Hartman and his crew. Nickelodeon officially announced today that it’s ordering 26 more half-hours of the Fairly OddParents. This means we’ll be seeing new episodes at least through 2010. For those of you keeping track, this takes the series up to 120 half-hours – five straight days of nothing but FOP.

– Eric