Kenny the Shark
| Kenny the Shark |
| Genre |
Educational
Comedy |
| Format |
Animated children's television series |
| Created by |
Jack Huber
Jim Jinkins |
| Written by |
Jay Martel
Philip Morton
Don Wells
Tim Hill |
| Directed by |
George Engelbrecht |
| Starring |
Jim Conroy
Kelli Rabke
Karen Culp
Russell Horton
Nicolas King
Rob Bartlett |
| Opening theme |
Kenny the Shark |
| Ending theme |
The Shark |
| Country of origin |
United States |
| Language(s) |
English |
| No. of seasons |
2 |
| No. of episodes |
26 |
| Production |
| Executive producer(s) |
Bob Mittenthal
Winnie Chaffe
Peter Roos |
| Producer(s) |
Jack Huber
Jim Jinkins
Kaluska Poventud |
| Running time |
30 minutes (22 without commercials) |
| Production company(s) |
Phase 4 Television
Cartoon Pizza |
| Distributor |
Discovery Communications |
| Broadcast |
| Original channel |
NBC |
| Original run |
November 1, 2003 (2003-11-01) – February 18, 2006 (2006-02-18) |
Kenny the Shark is an animated television series produced by Discovery Kids. The show first aired on NBC's Discovery Kids on NBC from November 1, 2003 until February 18, 2006 with two seasons and 26 episodes having been shown. The series continued to run on Discovery Kids until the network changed into The Hub on October 10, 2010. Discovery Kids closed with a 4 hour marathon of Kenny the Shark episodes. Despite the closure, it still airs on The Hub.
It is about an anthropomorphic tiger shark named Kenny that decides to move out of the ocean. He was the protagonist and main character in the series.
This was not Kenny's first appearance, however. In the late-1990s, a series of shorts ran between regular programming. Kenny was not seen, as the camera was from his point of view. A contest was held to guess what kind of shark Kenny was with the result being a tiger shark.
Characters
- Kenny the Shark (voiced by Jim Conroy): The main character and protagonist. He is a tiger shark. Kenny is a comical character with a go-lucky attitude. Kenny was tired of life in the ocean and he went on the surface, where he is able to walk on his tailfins and breathe air like humans. He can't control himself when he hears or sees a seal. Kenny lives with an 11-year-old girl named Kat (who is the only human that can talk to Kenny) and her family (who can also talk to Kenny--rarely). Kenny lives in a house by himself. He loves eating chum, Eel pops, seals, and sushi. Like most anthropomorphic animals, Kenny is able to walk, but he uses his tail fins as feet. Age: Approximately 14 years, 15 in "He's Gotta Have It".
- Katarina "Kat" Cassidy (voiced by Elizabeth Bernabe): An elementary/middle school student who is the only one who can speak Kenny's language. She is Kenny's owner. Kat is optimistic and fun loving, but prone to trouble, and Kenny is her best friend. She possesses rather unrealistic characteristics. She usually wears sandals like her parents, but later in the series she wears tennis shoes. She is Asian but is mostly Caucasian. In the episode "I Love the Nightlife", it has been revealed that Kat's full name was Katarina. In the episode "The Check Up", it was revealed that Kat is afraid to go to the dentist. Age: 11 years
- Karl Cassidy (voiced by Karen Culp): Kat's little brother. He thinks that Kenny is a dog. He doesn't appear in most episodes. Age: 1½ years
- Grace Cassidy (voiced by Karen Culp): Kat and Karl's mother who dresses somewhat like a beatnik, and Peter's wife. Grace is a psychiatrist and runs her practice at her house. Grace is always kind and caring, and she loves Kat, Karl, Kenny, and her husband equally. Kenny sometimes accidentally scares off her patients. Age: approximately 40 years
- Peter Cassidy (voiced by Russell Horton): Kat and Karl's hippie father and Grace's husband. Peter is eco-sensitive and owns an organic grocery store. He gives Kat and Grace nicknames related to fruits and vegetables. Peter doesn't like Kenny because of his constant eating, shedding his teeth, and his tendency to break public property which costs Peter in fines. He doesn't care for Karl much either, and he once said, "One baby and one shark are enough" in the episode "Kenny the Dad." Age: approximately the same as his wife
- Oscar (voiced by Ben Bernabe): Kat's Mayan best human friend seen in Who Framed Kenny the Shark? He has a huge interest/obsession in the Mayans, from whom he descended. Age: 11 years
- The Phoebes: A group of three popular girls that share the same name. There is a blonde Caucasian (the leader), a Latina, and an African-American. The blonde and the Latina wear sandals like Kat. Kat tried to be friends with them, but soon realize they are not nice. They are now Kat's rivals and always call her "dork" because she loves sharks. They once "stole" the lead drummer (and the song) for Kat and Oscar's band, whom Kenny replaced. At first, they were afraid of Kenny, but they like him for his cuteness after seeing a movie called "Finding Nimoy" about a baby shark named Nimoy on a journey to return to his parents. The girls are a parody of the Heathers. The Phoebes do not hate Kat and Oscar; they just want them to be normal. Kat once said she would enjoy Kenny eating them if were it not illegal. One of the Phoebes alone appear in Who Framed Kenny the Shark? Ages: Approximately 12 years
- Burton Plushtoy III (voiced by Oliver Wyman): An obnoxious rich kid and Kat's other rival who wants Kenny to be in his own private collection of exotic pets. He has been foiled by Kat twice. Plushtoy is a spoiled brat and a stuck up snob. He is the only true villain in the series. Age: 11 years
- Marty (voiced by Rob Bartlett): A Dachshund and Kenny's other best friend who gives him occasional advice, which usually doesn't help. Kat seems to understand Marty as much as she understands Kenny. His owner looks like him (or is it the other way around?). Age: approximately 7 human years
- Elly (voiced by Amy Love): A Bull shark from the aquarium, on whom Kenny has a crush. She appreciates Kenny being himself, and doesn't like him when he's not. After Marty helps save her from becoming sushi, she is shown batting her eyes at him when Kenny was going to bring her flowers. He throws them in the trash and leaves the aquarium. She is not seen or spoken of outside these two episodes. Age: slightly older or younger than Kenny
- Capt. Ahearn: The local, somewhat crazy sailor captain who thinks all sharks are dangerous and tried to catch Kenny and kill him thinking that he is trying to protect Kat. After Kenny saved him from guard dogs, only because Kat commanded him to (which presents a real problem in ethics, considering Kenny wasn't even the one who put Capt. Ahearn's life in danger, so they still wouldn't be even even if Capt. Ahearn died), they all become friends. He helps Kat and Kenny sometimes, and they helped him with a sleepwalking problem once in "Over the Ocean." Age: about 60 years
- Brock: A local muscular former paperboy who appears to be a few years older than Kat. Like Kat, Brock also plays soccer. She used to crush on him, making her lose attention to Kenny. Jealous, Kenny scares Brock away twice, entirely on Marty's recommendation. He quits his job, thinking that he is under pressure. When the new paperboy, Larry, informs Kat about this, she spirals into depression, and Kenny tells her what he did. He insists to make it up to Kat, who says "I doubt it [that Kenny can make it up to her]," even though she deserves to make it up to him, for ignoring him. When she learns that Brock already has a girlfriend, she impulsively lies to him about being in a relationship with Larry (in whom she clearly has no interest). She apologises to Kenny, and a teenage boy comes to fix the pool. Kat falls in love with him (even though he's probably married at his age), and Marty says, "I've seen this before." Age: 14 years
- Grandma Pat: Kat's grandmother. She loves Kenny. In the episode, "All You Can Eat", Kenny takes advantage of her for feeding him.
- Lola: Marty's girlfriend as seen in Kenny in love.
- Dr. Flossmore: The neighborhood dentist as seen in The CheckUp. His last name is a parody on how he wants kids to "floss more". He had a bad eyeglasses prescription, causing him to mistake Kenny for Kat, Kat for Karl (who doesn't appear in this episode; or most episodes), and a water fountain for Grace. Age: 47 years
- Ms. Hattie An ill-tempered elder seen in Naughty Naughty Kenny who seems nice at first, but then becomes "bad to the bone". Age: Approximentally 77 years.
- Gezabelle Ms. Hattie's pet cat seen in Naughty Naughty Kenny.
Episodes
Season 1
1. Simply Irresistible / Special Delivery
2. Kid's Menu / Will Work for Chum
3. I Love the Night Life / Dolphin for a Day
4. Two Days of the Parrot / My Old School
5. Bill Me Later / Catscratch Fever
6. Kenny the Veggie / Watching Karl
7. The CheckUp / Naughty Naughty Kenny
8. Pet Tricks / Who Framed Kenny the Shark?
9 Three to Tango / Ball of Contention
10. He's Gotta Have It / Kat and the Sax
11. Trash Talking / Kenny in Love
12. Fish Tale / Father's Day
13. Family Vacation / Gentle Ken
Season 2
14. Kenny the Hero / Whaling on Kenny
15. His Fate is Sealed / Surf's Up
16. Regime Change / Boy Trouble
17. Kennynapped / Kenny the Dad
18. Kenny the Movie / Goodbye Ol' Chum
19. Shark Shrunk / Kenny the Star
20. Ocean's 3 / Antiques Roadshark
21. Mr. Popularity / How to Succeed in Business
22. Over the Ocean / A Dog's Life
23. Nobody Move / Seasick
24. Kenny the Rockstar / Scaredy-Shark
25. Revenge of the Shark Nerd / Bed and Breakfast
26. Lawn Shark / All You Can Eat
DVD releases
The Show was released on DVD in the US by Genius Products and Discovery Home Entertainment with 2 volumes in 2007, and a third volume in 2008.
The first two seasons (52 episodes in 26 shows) were released on DVD in Australia in 2005 as three volumes from Magna Pacific entitled "First Bite", "Second Bite" and "Third Bite". These were deleted from the Magna Pacific catalogue in 2006.
The first 10 episodes are available for purchase in the United States via the iTunes Store. But, to concuide with the opening of The Hub, they were deleted, as The Hub launched on iTunes.
External links