Tutenstein, Time Warp Trio, Scout's Safari, Street Sharks, Trading Spaces: Boys vs
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 18, 2006 with two seasons and 26 episodes in total having aired.
The series is about an anthropomorphic tiger shark named Kenny who decides to move out of the ocean. He was the protagonist and main character in the series.
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.
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 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 (who can talk to Kenny) and her family (who can also talk to Kenny—rarely). 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. Kenny is 14 to 15 years old during the series.
Katarina "Kat" Cassidy (voiced by Kelli Rabke): An elementary/middle school student who is the only one who can speak Kenny's language. She is Kenny's owner and best friend. Kat is optimistic and fun loving, but prone to trouble. 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. (11 in "Goodbye, Old Chum")
Karl Cassidy (voiced by Karen Culp): Kat's little brother. He thinks that Kenny is a dog. He doesn't appear in most episodes. Karl is 1 1/2 years old.
Grace Cassidy (voiced by Karen Culp): Kat and Karl's 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 (voiced by Russell Horton): Kat and Karl's 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.
Oscar (voiced by Nicolas King): Kat's best human friend seen in Who Framed Kenny the Shark?. He is obsessed with the Mayans, from whom he is descended.
The Wilson Street Trio: A group of three unattractive boys from Brooklyn, New York. There is an African-American Fierce who is the leader and the toughest and meanest out of the boys. an Asian-American Spex who is the smartest and wimpiest, and an Australian-American Dash who is the manliest and dumbest out of the trio. 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 (and the song) 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 Time Warp Trio.
Burton Plushtoy III (voiced by Oliver Wyman): 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. Plushtoy is the only true main antagonist in the series. He has a British accent.
Merkins the Butler: Plushtoy's butler and henchman when trying to kidnap Kenny. He has a British accent, like Plushtoy.
Marty (voiced by Rob Bartlett): 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 (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 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 (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: approximately 77 years.
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 (due to tiger sharks being his natural prey), and has him do his bidding by threatening to swallow him.
Broadcast
The series continued to run on Discovery Kids until the network became The Hub on October 10, 2010. Discovery Kids closed with a 4-hour marathon of Kenny the Shark episodes. Despite the closure, Kenny the Shark still aired on The Hub until March 25, 2012.
It also aired reruns on the American Spanish network, Azteca America, from December 1, 2013 to June 1, 2014.
Three DVD volumes from Magna Pacific in Australia entitled "First Bite" (10 short episodes), "Second Bite" (8 short episodes) and "Third Bite" (8 short episodes) were released in 2005.
The first 10 episodes became available for purchase in the United States on the iTunes Store in 2009.
