Darn right you're "Sorry".

The writers of "The Fairly Oddparents" are working on an hour-long special to kick off the new season. Astonishing. All this time to learn from their mistakes and, already, they've stepped in it.

The problem with the hour-long specials (and, now that I think of it, the half-hour specials) is that they so clearly and so often strain for story. Given the 11 minute, gags-first, everything-else-second nature of the show, this is inevitable, but it it still an irritation. Even clearer than the reaching for story is the fact that the makers seem to know they have problems with the story, but just don't care. Think I'm just pulling this nonsense out of nowhere? Two words, kids: "Fairy Idol". (In the interest of fairness, I won't even get into the "Jimmy/Timmy Power Hours". Their non-existent storylines and ghastly revisions of the characters perfectly emphasize the slapped together feel of them.)

None of this is helped by the insistence on big, splashy and completely boring musical numbers in every one of these episodes. The staging is lax, the lyrics are uninspired and the performances rely too often on sprech-stimming rather than actual singing. (Which wouldn't be so bad if the music didn't call for a few belters in the cast.) And as much as I love Tara Strong, her singing voice as Timmy is painful to listen to. Singing and maintaining a character isn't easy, I'm sure, but the 'mute' button could not seem a worthier innovation when the songs start up.

Also, the announcement came from one Kevin Sullivan. His credits include the later works "Oh, Brother" (the enjoyment of which came more from Jason Bateman's voice work than anything else) and "No Substitute for Crazy" (which replaced the now-tiresome Mr. Crocker with a hot but boring proxy).

Compare these not-so-specials with...hell, any episode of "Class of 3000". The Cartoon Network series has a stronger musical pedigree (Andre 3000...enough said!) and funnier jokes.

I fear that it's too late for the makers to learn their lesson from these episodes ("Stop making them!" seems pretty apt), but the failure of such will amuse us.