Phineas and Ferb

(The Greatest Television Show Ever)
by Matthew Luecke

I think the subtitle says it all. Though technically a kids’ show on Disney Channel and Disney XD, what a wonderful, funny, good show for adults as well. If you haven’t watched it, start. After I told a friend of mine about this show (he shall remain nameless), he later told me that instead of watching the girls at his gym, he was watching Phineas and Ferb on the television. I found myself watching a rerun of the “Love Handel” episode instead of watching football on Sunday. I saw pictures of adults dressed up like some of the characters for Halloween. Evander Holyfield and Bowling for Soup have guest starred. The songs (yes there are songs!) are so good, they got their own half-hour special.

The premise: in order to not waste their summer vacation, two half-brothers decide to do something every day. In each fifteen minute episode, they do something big. For example, in the first episode, Phineas and Ferb build the most awesome roller coaster ever in their back yard, and across the town of Danville. Every day, Phineas’ sister Candace tries to “bust” them to their mom, who is the only character on the show who never, ever sees their contraptions. Meanwhile, their pet platypus, Perry, sneaks away because he is a secret agent. Agent P battles Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (and sometimes his daughter Vanessa—who Ferb has a crush on) and his evil invention or scheme (almost always an inator of some type like a monster-truck-away-inator) to take over the Tri-State Area. Most of the time, Perry’s work ends up making Phineas and Ferb’s contraption disappear just in time to foil Candace’s desire to bust them. And there is time for a song.

And there is also time for character development. Candace has a crush on Jeremy who reciprocates. Jeremy’s little sister Susie is evil incarnate, enough to scare the daylights out of Phineas and Ferb’s bully friend Buford. The boys are friends with Buford (the bully who loves his pet fish), Baljeet (the super-smart kid),and Isabella (who has a crush on Phineas and leads the Fireside Girls). Candace is friends with Stacey. The two of them like video game wrestling and a band called “The Bettys.” Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s daughter Vanessa tries to bust her father to her mother, Dr. D’s ex-wife, who never believes he is evil. Vanessa’s mother is also friends with Phineas’ mother. Phineas’ mother, Linda, was a former one-hit wonder named Lindana. Ferb’s dad is an antique collector and lecturer. The grandparents have their own adventures such as roller derby and gorge jumping on motorcycles. Linda and Dr. D went on a date in 1982 where Dr. D suggested she should try to be a pop star and she suggested he start small to try to take over the Tri-State area. Pretty good for a 15 minute show!

So far, Phineas and Ferb have traveled through time twice, visited outer space twice, raised awareness about the aglet (the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace), and most recently found the lost city of Atlantis. Aren’t they a little young to be roller coaster engineers, time travelers, and rocket scientists? Yes, yes they are. (“Aren’t you a little young to be a [insert name here]?” “Yes, yes I am,” is a recurring joke). The show is wonderfully self-referential that way. It’s so self-referential, that the writers “change it up” sometimes. There was one episode where Candace and Vanessa’s clothes got switched at the dry cleaners and Dr. D was building a floating city while Phineas and Ferb built a rainbow-inator. Vanessa couldn’t “bust” Dr. D to her mother before the city sunk and the rainbow-inator self-destructed at the end. Recently, the show has added a character named Irving who is a “fan” of their adventures and waits eagerly for recurring lines like Phineas’ “Where’s Perry?” or Isabella’s “Whatcha doin’?”

There are laugh out loud jokes, clever humor, puns, inside jokes, and sight gags.

What a simply wonderful show. Watch it and enjoy.