He created one of Nickelodeon’s longest-running programs of all-time.
Between 2001 and 2018, the kids’ cable channel aired 10 seasons and 172 episodes of The Fairly OddParents, a show about a boy whose fairy godparents help him get through his troubles.
Only SpongeBob SquarePants has aired for a longer tenure on the channel.
Now the man behind the OddParents, Butch Hartman, has a new project, looking to bring Christian teachings to children.
Hartman left Nickelodeon in 2018, a move which effectively ended his show’s incredible run. Since then, he’s been working on a new series called The Garden, enlisting private investors to help him realize his Scripture-fueled dream.
The show follows a lion named Lenny and a lamb named Lucy, a pair of animals who live in a garden where “everything beautiful grows” and who are tasked by God, who comes to them in the form of a rainbow, to solve problems.
Hartman and his wife Julieann, who helped him develop the program, are aiming the show at young children, telling The Christian Post, “Our point is to get Scripture as early into the hearts of children as we can.”
Julieann said the show uses songs to help children remember key points of the Bible’s teachings, much in the same way Schoolhouse Rock! Helped teach Gen X kids about civics and history.
The first six episodes of The Garden are available to stream on PureFlix, Yippee and Christian Cinema. The Hartmans say they already have 40 episodes completed.
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