Timmy Turner is a 10-year-old boy who lives in the town of Dimmsdale with his dim-witted parents. His life is constantly miserable, due to the fact that his parents are rarely home and he is babysat by Vicky, a 16 year old torturous babysitter. But everything changes when he receives two fairy godparents: Cosmo and his wife, Wanda, and later their son Poof. Timmy learns that his fairy godparents are capable of granting him any wish he wants within certain limits. However, Timmy's immature nature causes him to sometimes ask for wishes that unintentionally result in disaster, and he and his fairy godparents (and fairy godbrother) must find a way to "unwish" the wish.

Over the course of the series, Timmy also makes many enemies. At the beginning, Vicky was a main, and apparently only, antagonist, as the series progressed, however, more villains were added. For example, his teacher, Mr. Crocker, firmly believes in fairy godparents and has been searching for them for a very long time, suspecting that Timmy has fairy godparents. He is dangerous to Timmy because according to "Da Rules", a large rulebook that defines what children can and cannot wish for and how fairy godparents must behave, if the child reveals that he has fairies, or if someone discovers their fairies, he will lose his fairies forever. At his school, he is often bullied by Francis, a miserable kid who claims to be the toughest kid in school. Jorgen Von Strangle, an enormous and tough fairy with a German accent, often described like Arnold Schwarzenegger, personally dislikes Timmy and his fairies. Although, in "Teeth for Two" he states Cosmo and Wanda are his closest friends, claiming he punches many others.

Contradictions in the series occurs in several instances such as in the film Channel Chasers; Timmy lost his fairies when he became an adult and forgot them, like ALL the kids with fairies. However, in the season 2 episode Birhday Bashed, Timmy and all the kids started losing their fairies around their teenage life, but apparently didn't forget about them. In one episode, Mr. Crocker had Cosmo and Wanda as fairies when he was a child, but accidentally revealed them in front of the town and therefore Cosmo and Wanda had to go away forever and Crocker forgot that he ever had fairies. Before he forgot, however, Crocker wrote on the back of Timmy's fairy tracker (because he went back in time) that "fairies were real". From then on, he tried to find and reveal fairies to the world, and this became a reason for why he is so miserable. However, in the episode Birthday Bashed, Mr. Crocker had other unknown fairies and lost them because of his adolescent age, and didn't forget them.

Throughout the course of the show, many celebrities have guest starred on The Fairly OddParents. Some of the most notable are recurring characters Adam West (Catman) and Jay Leno (The Crimson Chin and a parody of himself in one episode). Some other famous stars were Norm Macdonald (Norm the Genie), Chris Kirkpatrick (Chip Skylark), Alec Baldwin (older Timmy), Ben Stein (the Pixies), Gilbert Gottfried (Dr. Bender and Wendell), Brendan Fraser (Turbo Thunder), Patrick Warburton (M.E.R.F. agents), Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley (themselves), Steve Irwin (the Bad Parent Hunter), and Tom Arnold (Santa).[citation needed]

Though not featured as guests on the show, references have been made to other public figures, including Bill Gates (shown as a child with Cosmo and Wanda as fairy godparents), Tina Turner (also one of their godkids), and Sylvester Stallone (parodied as Sylvester Calzone), Billy Crystal (parodied as Billy Crystalball), and President George W. Bush (a U.S. president was depicted in one episode, and he bore resemblance to then-president Bush). There is also References to "Jorgen Von Strangle" Appearing to be a parodied Arnold Schwartzenegger due to his large physique and thick accent, However Arnold was also parodied in the Fairly Odd Parents where he was labelled "Arnold Schwartzen-German". He also Quoted "To be, or not to be, Annihilated!" Which is a Spoof from the movie "Last Action Hero".[citation needed]

Producer Butch Hartman originally created The Fairly OddParents as a seven minute short film entitled "Fairy Godparents,"[dead link] one of 39 short cartoons in the first season of Fred Seibert's Oh Yeah! Cartoons.[citation needed] Butch Hartman made six more short films for the show in Season 3. Nickelodeon agreed to a six episode order (consisting of two 11-minute stories) of "The Fairly Oddparents", which began airing on March 30, 2001, in the half hour after Invader Zim. On April 11, 2006, Nickelodeon UK aired nine Oh Yeah! Cartoons shorts in three episodes.[citation needed] These stories include "Where's the Wand", in which Vicky uses Wanda's wand, and "Too Many Timmys", in which Timmy makes copies of himself. Each episode lasts for about 7 minutes.[citation needed] Unlike the half-hour series, the animation in the shorts is not as smooth, and the designs are notably different (including Timmy's parents Mr. and Mrs. Turner, who are only seen from the neck down with their faces hidden in the pilot episodes). Other notable differences include voices like Timmy Turner, who was voiced by another actress (Mary Kay Bergman), instead of Tara Strong.

The Fairly OddParents was immediately popular around its first year, greatly increasing its lead-in rating from Invader Zim. In fact, no matter what time slot Nickelodeon placed the show in, Nick's ratings soared. The series attracted a wider than anticipated audience, appealing to all ages, a feat only matched by Spongebob Squarepants.[citation needed] Other than SpongeBob, it was later Nickelodeon's highest rated show. Early 2002 and 2003 was the first peak of popularity for The Fairly OddParents. Ratings sky-rocketed, and it briefly passed SpongeBob SquarePants.[citation needed] The show saw its quick rise to the top in Australia and United States in summer of 2002 and 2003 when the show's first TV special, Abra-Catastrophe!, was aired. The film was a success and many products were merchandised.[citation needed]

After Abra-Catastrophe!, creator Butch Hartman created a new project for Nickelodeon called Danny Phantom. A second Fairly OddParents TV special was made, titled Channel Chasers. Since then, there have been other specials, like The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker, Crash Nebula, School's Out! The Musical, Fairy Idol, the "Jimmy-Timmy" crossovers, Fairly OddBaby, Wishology, and recently Anti-Poof.[citation needed]

Nickelodeon ceased the production of the show late in 2005, with The Jerkinators (The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3) as the actual season finale of the sixth season, though in the U.S the episode "Timmy the Barbarian!/No Substitute for Crazy!" was shown after The Jerkinators as the 5th season finale. Butch Hartman made the official announcement on his forum on January 24, 2006. However, Butch announced on February 2, 2007 on his forum that Nick has granted Fairly OddParents twenty more episode slots and that the show had resumed production.

A theatrical movie was planned for release by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, but was eventually dropped due to a regime change by Paramount, though the script was written. Hartman stated on his website that he would like to release the movie to DVD one day, but did not have any definitive plans to do so. This movie possibly became Wishology.[citation needed] The Fairly OddParents have appeared in a $50 Best Western travel card over the 2006 summer period and again over the 2007 summer period.[citation needed]