I interrupt this blog – wait a minute, doesn’t there have to be actual blog activity to incur an interruption? – with an official announcement for all potential readers: the funniest series currently found anywhere on television is a show called Phineas and Ferb. Yes, it airs on Disney Channel, however, he who scoffs because of this deprives himself of copious laughter.
Over time, this animated series very slowly infected me by way of me catching snippets of it passing through the living room as my young daughter enjoyed the televised zaniness. Finally, several months ago, the wittiness and hilarity I was merely whiffing, led me to catch a full episode and I was hooked. This is saying something because this is coming from a person who has never even watched a full episode of The Simpsons since animated comedy has never appealed to me. Thinking it was a run-of-the-mill kiddie cartoon, I initially ignored Phineas and Ferb and missed out on untold quantities of hearty laughter.
The title characters are half-brothers – one American, one British (who rarely speaks) – trying to get the most out of each day of their summer vacation. They also happen to be pretty brilliant, so every day they create something elaborate, often in their back yard, like the world’s funnest roller coaster, or giant tree-house robots. The guys are great, as is their big sister Candace who’s always trying to bust them, and as are many other funny supporting characters, but my favorite thing about the show is evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. He is the world’s most brilliantly dumb evil mastermind, whose ridiculous schemes for world domination are perpetually foiled by Perry the Platypus (who happens to be Phineas and Ferb’s pet, though they don’t know he’s a secret-agent superhero). Doofenshmirtz is absolutely hilarious with his angst and never-ending quest for hostile takeover of the “entire Tri-State area”. Trust me, give Doofenshmirtz one minute of your time and you’ll be hooked.
Phineas and Ferb features insanely jam-packed plots that always intertwine in random, funny, Seinfeld-ian ways. They even manage to work an original song into every episode. If laughter is indeed the best medicine, Phineas and Ferb is a miracle drug. Here’s a taste:
http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/screenplay/vi1353843481/
