Whatcha Doin'?

Jeremy is probably a bit bland. Candace is slightly better. But Doofenshmirtz? Now, that's a name! It'll twist your tongue silly, but it's still a hit. Then there are Phineas and Ferb.

There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it ...

Did you just read the words above, or sing them?

I don't really get Cartoon Network. Not all of them anyway. I can probably understand why Ben 10 or The Powerpuff Girls are favourites of my kids. Cow and Chicken? Courage the Cowardly Dog? The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy? I fail to see the cuteness in them. Hardly adorable.

I find Nickelodeon slightly better. But my kids don't watch them that much.

On Disney Channel though, my kids can watch the same episode of Phineas and Ferb for the fifth or sixth or the thirteenth time and still get glued to the tv. Even though they can already blurt out lines of the characters, they would still laugh at the same scene. So would I.

I can't always remember the exact words the characters said, but I still get a good laugh and enjoy the show the fifth or sixth or the thirteenth time. There are plenty of adult humours and pop-cultural references in the show. I can't remember Scooby Doo, or Popeye the Sailor Man having those back in my childhood days. Perhaps unlike the old days, parents nowadays spend more times with the kids in front of the tv, and the networks are trying to cater for that. Whatever the reason, as long as I don't have to elaborate too painstakingly to my kids why I'm laughing and they're not, and I reckon I need to join them in one of their favourite pastimes, I'm not complaining one bit.

Apart from the fun and humours, what I admire most about the show is its creativity.

The plot of the show is simple - a sister who is obsessed with busting her younger brothers' outrageous and fun inventions to her mom; a secret agent who doubles as a pet platypus to the kids' family trying to foil the evil plots of an evil, but lovable scientist; and the eventual coming together of these two story arcs which leaves both the sister and the evil scientist in frustration over their endeavours.

The show repeats the same plot every episode with different way of carrying out the plot. Throw in some well-timed amusing catchphrases like, "I know what we're going to do today", "Whatcha doin'?", "Hey, aren't you a little young ...", "Yes. Yes I am", etc and catchy songs, and some hilarious reactions to the ending - my favourite is Candace, in all helplessness, going, "b-b-b-b-but, b-b-b-b-but ...." - and it's a very enjoyable fifteen minutes.

When I can put anything I fancy in this blog of mine and yet fail to make regular posting like even once a week, it's really a joy to watch the show and admire its creative creativity (see what I lack?).

Hey, where's Perry?

Phineas and Ferb - are they even real names?

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