Kenny the Shark
Kenny the Shark is an American animated television series produced by Discovery Kids. The show premiered on NBC's Discovery Kids on NBC from November 1, 2003 and ended February 19, 2005 with two seasons and 26 episodes in total having aired. The series is about an anthropomorphic tiger shark named Kenny. The series is about a six-foot, 800 pound tiger shark who's tired of being a predator, and wants to live with a suburban family.
The series was not Kenny's first appearance. In the late 1990s, a series of shorts featuring Kenny ran between regular programming. Kenny was not seen, as the camera was from his point of view. Unlike most animated shows taking place in fictional cities or states, etc., the show took place in the real-life town of Tiburon, California.
The theme song was performed by PFFR, who would later produce MTV2's Wonder Showzen and Adult Swim's .
After the series ended, reruns continued to air until March 25, 2012, then returned on Discovery Family for a short time in August 2017.
Characters
- Kenny the Shark : He is a sarcastic tiger shark. Kenny is a comical character with a happy-go-lucky attitude. Kenny was tired of life in the ocean and he went to live 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 Kat and her family. He loves eating chum, seal pops, seals and sushi. Like most anthropomorphic animals, Kenny is able to walk, but he uses his tail fins as feet.
- Katarina "Kat" Cassidy : A young school student who is the only one who can speak Kenny's language. Kat is obsessed with sharks. She is Kenny's owner and best friend. Kat is optimistic and fun loving. She possesses rather unrealistic characteristics. She usually wears sandals like her parents, but later in the series she wears tennis shoes. She is biracial. In the episode "I Love the Nightlife", it has been revealed that Kat's full name was Katarina. Kat is 10 years old. In "Goodbye, Old Chum" Kat turns 11.
- Karl Cassidy : Kat's little brother. He thinks that Kenny is a dog. He doesn't appear in most episodes. Karl is 1 ½ years old.
- Grace Cassidy : Kat and Karl's Asian mother 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.
- Peter Cassidy : Kat and Karl's Caucasian father and Grace's husband. Peter is an eco-sensitive hippie who 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. In Season 1 Peter's hair is blonde. In Season 2 his hair is brown.
- Oscar : Kat's best human friend seen in Who Framed Kenny the Shark?. He is obsessed with the Mayans, from whom he is descended.
- The Phoebes: A group of three popular girls that share the same name. Kat tries to be friends with them, but soon realizes they are mean, rude and sarcastic. They become Kat's rivals and refer to her as a "sea dweeb" because she loves sharks. They once "stole" the lead drummer for Kat and Oscar's band, whom Kenny replaced. At first, they are 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. They are a parody of the Heathers.
- Burton Plushtoy III : An obnoxious rich child and one of Kat's rivals. Plushtoy wants Kenny to be in his own private collection of exotic pets. He has been foiled by Kat twice. He has a British accent. He looks very much like Richie Rich, who is also a rich child.
- Merkins the Butler: Plushtoy's butler and henchman when trying to kidnap Kenny. He has a British accent, like Plushtoy.
- Marty : A Dachshund and Kenny's other best friend who occasionally gives Kenny advice. Kat seems to understand Marty as much as she understands Kenny. Marty bears a resemblance to his human owner.
- Elly : 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.
- 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, they all become friends. He helps Kat and Kenny sometimes, and they helped him with a sleepwalking problem once in "Over the Ocean". Age: 68 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 ," 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. She apologises to Kenny, and a teenage boy comes to fix the pool. Kat falls in love with him, and Marty says, "I've seen this before."
- Grandma Pat: Kat and Karl's grandmother and Peter's mother. 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 Check Up. 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, 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".
- Gezabelle: Ms. Hattie's pet cat seen in Naughty Naughty Kenny.
- Buster the Orca: A fierce-looking orca whale with a temperament to match. He thinks lowly of Kenny, and has him do his bidding by threatening to swallow him.
Episodes
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.Three DVD volumes from Magna Pacific in Australia entitled "First Bite", "Second Bite" and "Third Bite" were released in 2005.
The first 10 episodes became available for purchase in the United States on the iTunes Store in 2009.