Rocko's Modern Life

Characters

Setting

The show is set in a fictional town called O-Town located near the Great Lakes. Places in the town include Chokey Chicken (later renamed "Chewy Chicken"), a parody of KFC and favorite hang-out for Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt; Conglom-O Corporation, a megacorporation with the slogan "We own you" that owns everything in town; Heck, a parody of Hell dominated by Peaches, also a parody of Satan; Holl-o-Wood, a town that resembles Hollywood; and Kind of a Lot O' Comics, a comic book store owned by a toad named Mr. Smitty, where Rocko works.

Many of the locations in Rocko's Modern Life have the letter "O" in them; for example, O-Town and Conglom-O Corporation. When asked about the use of "O" in his show, Murray explained that the recurring use of the letter "O" in Rocko's Modern Life stemmed from his amusement with business names like "House-O-Paint" or "Ton-O-Noodles," which he felt symbolized how mass production and consumerism strip individuality from products while emphasizing quantity. He connected this idea to the American obsession with volume, which inspired the creation of the fictional Conglom-O Corporation. Since most of the show's residents worked there, Murray decided to name the setting O-Town. He also wanted the town to feel like a generic "anytown" in the United States and noted that he found humor in sports players who wore the number zero, which further influenced the naming choice.^[2]

Initial stages

The character's debut appearance was in an unpublished comic book titled Zak & Travis in the mid-1980s. Murray tried selling the comic book in between illustrating jobs, but never went into its production stage.^[4] Many other characters appeared in various sketchbooks. He described the early 1990s animation atmosphere as "ripe for this kind of project. We took some chances that would be hard to do in these current times (the 1990s)."^[5] In the early 1990s, Murray wanted funding for his independent short film My Dog Zero, selecting Nickelodeon to pre-buy television rights for the series. He presented a pencil test to Nickelodeon, which afterward became interested in buying and financing the show despite having no television experience.^[6] The industry was coming out of a "rough period" and Murray wanted to "shake things up a bit."^[7]

Linda Simensky, a creative executive working for Nickelodeon, described the Nicktoons lineup and concept to Murray. He originally felt skeptical about creating a Nicktoon as he disliked television cartoons, but Simensky told him that Nicktoons differed from other cartoons. He then told her he believed My Dog Zero would not work as a cartoon.^[8] He then researched Nickelodeon at the library and found that Nickelodeon's "attitude was different than regular TV" and that the cable network providers were "making their own rules."^[2] During that time, Nickelodeon, despite being a children's entertainment network, appealed to teens and college students with The Ren & Stimpy Show.^[9]

Murray developed the Rocko character after visiting to a Bay Area zoo, where he came across a wallaby who seemed to be oblivious to the chaos around him.^[7] He further described the character as a 20-year-old wallaby resemblant of a "young anthropomorphic Woody Allen" who moved from home into a more surreal adult world. Murray also considered Rocko to have a sister named Magdalane, but was scrapped because the pitch would function better if Rocko was "on his own."^[10] According to Murray, around three or four months later, he had "forgotten about" the concept and was working on My Dog Zero when Simensky informed him that Nickelodeon wanted a pilot episode. Murray said he was glad he would get funding for My Dog Zero.^[2] On his website, he describes My Dog Zero as "that film that Linda Simensky saw which led me to Rocko."^[11] With the beginning of pre-production for a Rocko's Modern Life pilot, "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" was originally written as the pilot, before Murray eventually decided to write "Trash-O-Madness" as the pilot episode.^[2]

Pilot pitch

When the casting call for "Trash-O-Madness" began, there were fewer voice actors available in San Francisco, leading Murray to seek out local performers who had not done voice acting work prior, including stand-up comedians,^[13] distinctive from other animated series of the time. He attended a stand-up performance by Carlos Alazraqui and asked him afterward if he wanted to audition for the roles of Rocko and Spunky.^[13] Being impressed by Alazraqui's vocalizations of Spunky, Murray eventually hired him for the role.^[13] He would later audition Tom Kenny from a stand-up performance, and Doug Lawrence, a layout assistant in Games Animation, for the respective roles of Heffer Wolfe and Filburt,^[13] in which the latter recorded an audition tape that impressed Murray.^[10]

Murray wrote and produced the pilot episode, "Trash-O-Madness" at his studio in Saratoga, animating half of the episode. The production occurred entirely in the United States, with animation in Saratoga and processing in San Francisco.^[14] He believes that, due to his lack of experience with children, Rocko's Modern Life "skewed kind of older."^[1] Murray noted, "There's a lot of big kids out there. People went to see Roger Rabbit and saw all these characters they'd grown up with and said, 'yeah, why don't they have something like that anymore?'"^[15]

In the original series pilot, Rocko was colored yellow. During shipping of the first episode of Rocko's Modern Life, executives forced Murray to change it when a toy merchandising company informed Nickelodeon they were interested in marketing toys but did not want to market Rocko because "the color was too close to another major cartoon character that they were making a lot of money off of." Murray eventually changed Rocko's color to beige, but after the pilot aired, the company opted out of producing toys for the series, making the color change unnecessary.^[16] When the series was in development prior to the first episode's release, the series had the production title, The Rocko Show.^[17]

Overview

In November 1992, two months before the production of season 1 of Rocko's Modern Life, Murray's first wife died by suicide.^[18][19] Murray had often blamed his wife's suicide on the show being picked up. He said, "It was always an awful connection because I look at Rocko as such a positive in my life."^[20] He felt that he had emotional and physical "unresolved issues" when he moved to Los Angeles, describing the experience as participating in a "marathon with my pants around my ankles." Murray initially believed that he would create one season, move back to the San Francisco Bay Area, and "clean up the loose ends I had left hanging." When Nickelodeon approved of new seasons, he felt surprised by the offer;^[2] Nickelodeon renewed the series for its second season in December 1993.^[21]

Producer Mary Harrington made the move from New York City to Los Angeles to set up Games Animation to produce Rocko's Modern Life, beginning production on the show in January 1993.^[6] Being Nickelodeon's first fully in-house animated production,^[6] Murray's Joe Murray Productions and Games Animation rented office space on Ventura Boulevard in the Studio City neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.^[18][22] The production moved to a different office building on Vineland Avenue in Studio City, where executives did not share space with the creative team.^[23][24] Throughout production, Sunwoo Entertainment, and later Rough Draft Studios, assembled the animation.^[25]

According to Murray, as Rocko's Modern Life was his first television series, he did not have prior experience or knowledge with the atmosphere of typical animation studios. He says that his experience in independent films initially led him to attempt to micromanage many details in the production, as the approach used for the production of television shows was "driving me crazy." This led him to allow other team members to manage aspects of the Rocko's Modern Life production, including director and later creative director Stephen Hillenburg, whom Murray met at an animation film festival where he was showing his three short films.^[1] Murray later hired Hillenburg as the director of Rocko's Modern Life, making it his first job in the animation business as director.^[26] Additionally, when Murray opened his Los Angeles studio, he hired various animators who worked on The Simpsons, Cool World (1992), and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).^[10]

Murray said that he opted to operate his studio similarly to the operation of his Saratoga, California studio, which he describes as "very relaxed."^[2] His cadre included many veterans who, according to him, described the experience as "the most fun they had ever had!" He, saying that the atmosphere was "not my doing," credited his team members for collectively contributing.^[2] Referred to by Murray as the "Wild West",^[10] he described the daily atmosphere at the studio as "very loose," adding that the rules permitted all staff members to use the paging system to make announcements. He stated that one visitor compared the environment of the production studio to "preschool without supervision."^[23][24] Despite the relaxed nature of production, episodes were produced on time.^[10] Throughout production, according to Murray, 70 people in the United States and over 200 people in South Korea and Japan animated the series.^[2]

Rick Bentley of the Ventura County Star said that it was unusual for a cartoon creator to select a wallaby as a main character. Bentley also stated that the Rocko universe was influenced by "everything from Looney Tunes to underground comics."^[28] The crew of Rocko's Modern Life were fans of surreal humour in both animated and live-action form. Tom Kenny cited Looney Tunes and SCTV as influences for the show, and also stated "I'm sure if you asked Joe Murray or Mr. Lawrence or any of those guys, especially in terms of animation, the weirdest cartoons would, of course, be our favorites—those weird '30s Fleischer brothers Betty Boop cartoons and stuff like that."^[29]

After the series' third season, Murray handed the project to Stephen Hillenburg, performing most of the work for season 4; Murray continued to manage the cartoon.^[2] He stated he would completely depart from production after season 4, encouraging the network to continue production, but Nickelodeon eventually canceled the series. The motive was unclear, but it was likely the wholesome image Nickelodeon was beginning to develop and promote at the time. He described all 52 episodes as "top notch," and in his view, the quality of a television show may decline as production continues "when you are dealing with volume."^[2] On his website, he said that "in some ways it succeeded and in some ways failed. All I know it developed its own flavor and an equally original legion of fans."^[5] In a 1997 interview, Murray said he thought if he could restart the series, but felt it would be difficult.^[2]

Writing

The writers aimed to create stories that they describe as "strong" and "funny." Writers George Maestri and Martin Olson often presented ideas to Murray while eating hamburgers at Rocky's, a restaurant formerly located on Lankershim in the North Hollywood section of the San Fernando Valley.^[31] He took his team members on "writing trips" to places such as Rocky's, the La Brea Tar Pits, and the wilderness. If he liked the story premises, the writers produced full outlines from the premises, becoming Rocko's Modern Life episodes when both approved by Murray and Nickelodeon.^[31] Maestri describes some stories as originating from "real life" and some originating from "thin air."^[31][32]

Murray stated that each episode of Rocko's Modern Life stemmed from the personal experiences of himself and/or one or more of the directors or writers, including the season-two episode "I Have No Son", based on Murray's frustrations with Nickelodeon and his father's past disapproval of his aspiration to become an artist.^[2][13] He said that he did not intend to use formulaic writing seen in other cartoons, desiring content that "broke new ground" and "did things that rode the edge," and that could be described as "unexpected." Murray did not hire writers with previous experience with writing cartoons; instead, he hired writers who worked outside of animation, including improv actors and comic artists. He said that if a story concept "ever smacked close to some formula idea that we had all seen before," it received immediate rejection.^[33]

At the start of its production, Murray received significant creative freedom from the network, and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, a storyboard writer who went on to co-create Phineas and Ferb, says that writers of Rocko's Modern Life targeted both children and adults. He cites Rocky and Bullwinkle as an example of another series that contains references indecipherable by children and understood by adults. Aiming for a similar goal, Marsh described the process as "a hard job." According to him, when censors questioned proposed material, sometimes the team disagreed with the opinions, but agreed with the rationale of the censors. He says that "many people" told him that the team "succeeded in this endeavor" and that "many parents I know really enjoyed watching the show with their kids for just this reason."^[34]

John Pacenti said the series "seems very much aimed at adults" "for a children's cartoon."^[35] Marsh believes that the material written by Doug Lawrence stands as an example of a "unique sense of humor." For instance, Marsh credits Lawrence with the "pineapple references," adding that Lawrence believed that pineapples seemed humorous.^[34] The staff drew upon Looney Tunes and the Fleischer cartoons to appeal to a wide demographic: having a certain adult sensibility but also enjoyed by kids.^[29]

Animation

Rocko's Modern Life's animation process has been described as similar to that of the output of Warner Bros. cartoons of the Golden Age, with a visually driven show heavy on humor, sight gags, and high-quality animation. Instead of a finished script, the animators usually received a three-page outline, requiring them to come up with a majority of the gags and dialogue. The animation team appreciated this approach, with storyboard artist Jeff Myers, formerly of The Simpsons, quoted as saying, "The script [at The Simpsons] was carved in stone. Here it's ... more of a challenge and a lot more fun when we're given a rough outline."^[36] Murray's animation lacked parallel lines and featured crooked architecture similar to various Chuck Jones cartoons. In an interview, he stated that his design style contributed to the show's "wonky bent feel."^[2]

Jean Prescott of the Sun Herald described the series as "squash-and-stretch."^[37] A 1993 Houston Chronicle article described the series' setting as having a "reality that is 'squashed and stretched' into a twisted version of real life."^[38] Linda Simensky said that she asked the creators of Rocko's Modern Life about why the women in the series were drawn to be "top-heavy," the creators told her that they believed that drawing women "the traditional way" was easier. Simensky described the creators as "talented guys" who formed "a boy's club" and added that "we pushed them to be funny, but a lot of their women are stereotypical."^[39] Throughout its production, Nickelodeon pushed Murray to use a strong female character on Rocko, eventually creating Dr. Hutchinson, a dentist who "lost her hand to a crocodile patient."^[10]

Music

Originally, Murray wanted Paul Sumares to perform the theme song since Sumares created most of the music from My Dog Zero, and wanted the same style in My Dog Zero exhibited in Rocko's Modern Life. However, Nickelodeon preferred a person with more experience.^[17] According to Sumares, Murray asked for Danny Elfman and felt stunned when Nickelodeon decided to honor his request by asking Elfman to perform.^[17] However, Elfman was booked for another project. Therefore, he decided to choose the B-52s, his second choice, instead of Elfman, stating that the difference between the stories "could just be a recollection conflict because Paul is a brilliant amazing guy."^[17] Murray also sought Alan Silvestri, but Viacom did not want to use Silvestri as the organization preferred a band "slightly older kids could identify with."^[17]

Pat Irwin, a veteran of many bands including the Raybeats and B-52s, spent five years as a music director on the series. Leading a six-piece combo on keyboard and guitar, Irwin brought together musicians such as trombonist Art Baron, drummer Kevin Norton,^[40] wind player Rob DeBellis, and bassist David Hofstra.^[41] On April 7, 2023, a soundtrack album featuring tracks from the first and second seasons was released on streaming and digital download.^[42] A deluxe edition released on September 18 with eleven additional tracks, timing the 30th anniversary of Rocko's Modern Life.^[43]

Censorship

Rocko's Modern Life has been noted for its racy humor.^[45] Despite having been on a network that appealed to children, adults made up more than one-fifth of the audience for the show during its run; this was similar to the approach The Ren & Stimpy Show had for adult audiences.^[46] The series contained numerous adult innuendos, including Rocko's brief stint as a telephone operator implied to be a sex hotline in the season one episode "Canned," where an instruction sheet notes employees to "Be Hot, Be Naughty, and Be Courteous," while he flatly repeats "Oh baby" into the receiver, turning out to be Mrs. Bighead.^[47] The restaurant named "Chokey Chicken," a term for masturbation, was renamed "Chewy Chicken" for the series' fourth season.^[48]

Joe Murray noted that the season one episode "Leap Frogs" received "some complaints from some parents" due to its sexual humor, in which Bev attempts to seduce Rocko, leading to Nickelodeon removing the episode from air for the remainder of the show's run.^[44][49] Initially from "The Good, the Bad and the Wallaby," Heffer finds pleasure in a milking machine.^[50] According to Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, writer and director of the series, the scene initially had hearts appear in Heffer's eyes during its climax. Despite being cut, the crew explained the scene to Nickelodeon censors. "We described the scene, and then waited for the axe to fall, but all they said was 'can you change the hearts to stars?', we said sure, and it went in." The scene, along with the following scene of Heffer saying goodbye to the milking machine, was removed before its premiere.^[44]

There were at least two occurrences of immediate censorship of the series. The original broadcast of the season two episode "Road Rash" featured a scene in which Rocko and Heffer arrive at a love hotel (the "No-Tell Motel") advertising "hourly rates" and ask to stay the night, prompting the horse desk clerk to comment, "All night? [whistles] Wheeeooo! Okay."^[50] The scene was never shown again after its debut, though it was later leaked as a video file by 1997.^[44] The first airing of the season two episode "Hut Sut Raw" included a scene in which Rocko is picking berries; upon picking one lower on the bush, a bear rushes out whimpering and grasping his crotch.^[47] When Shout! Factory and Paramount announced a DVD retail release for the series, there was uncertainty whether Nickelodeon would allow them to release the series complete, containing sexual innuendos that were cut out for reruns.^[51] In the end, Shout! Factory and Paramount only received materials from sources edited for broadcast, meaning the episodes remained censored on the DVDs.^[45][52]

Ratings

Murray said that the cartoon "resonated" with people because the scenarios depicted in the cartoon involving "the neurosis, the daily chores of everyday life" were based on Murray's own experiences, "breaking out into the world" after leaving school.^[68] The show debuted in a preview on September 18, 1993, then premiered as a series on September 26,^[69] to join Nickelodeon's Sunday morning animation block.^[70] On September 18, the series' first night of airing, Rocko's Modern Life received a 3.0 in ratings. By January 31, 1994, the series' audience grew by 65% and was the second-highest rated cable program behind World Championship Wrestling on TBS.^[21][13]

Rocko's Modern Life was at the time the network's highest-rated cartoon launch ever.^[71] There was a brief period in 1993 when the network received numerous complaints from members of a religious group that Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life were too adult-oriented to be shown to kids on Sunday mornings. They wanted Nickelodeon to move the shows to a different time slot, but the programming change was not made.^[72] However, Rocko's Modern Life was later moved to a different time slot when new advertisers of Nickelodeon disapproved of the show, contributing to its decrease in ratings and cancelation.^[13]

Critical reception

The Miami Herald ran an article about series that were "rais[ing] the standards for children's programming," singling out Rocko's Modern Life as "definitely worth a look."^[73] Jennifer Mangan of the Chicago Tribune likened the series to The Simpsons, noting the show as another example of adult animation that is "not for kids."^[74] Newsday highlighted the show's twisted sight gags.^[70] Ted Drozdowski of The Boston Phoenix stated in the "Eye pleasers" article that he enjoyed Rocko's Modern Life because of "jovial excitement," "good-hearted outrage," "humanity," and "pushy animated characterizations."^[75] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described the series as "a witless rip-off of Ren & Stimpy: mucus jokes without the redeeming surrealism or contempt for authority."^[76] Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times called the series "rock bottom" and a "tasteless attempt to capture the Ren & Stimpy audience," mostly expressing displeasure at the crass humor.^[77]

Brahna Siegelberg of Slate said that the most compelling aspect was that the show had "a really poignant critique of the materialist demands of American life." She added that she "realized that Rocko was really a show about how to navigate the adult world; one that could be appreciated by kids for its slapstick humor and absurdity, but had even more to say to young adults—like me."^[78] IGN called the show a prime example of the "sophisticated, intelligent brand of children's programming" during Nickelodeon's golden age.^[79] The A.V. Club called the show "one of the best series" from that era, praising the show's "impressive commitment to expressive character acting, well-drawn sight gags, and cartoony jokes that play with the form's slapstick strengths."^[9] New York compared the series' humor, in retrospect, to that of Office Space (1999) and praised the subversive, anti-corporate stories.^[80] Common Sense Media reviewer Emily Ashby gave Rocko's Modern Life four stars, stating that Rocko's Modern Life is "modern and funny, but edgy content isn't suitable for young kids."^[81]

Awards and nominations

Timothy J. Borquez, Patrick Foley, Michael Giesler, Michael A. Gollorn, William B. Griggs, Tom Jeager, Gregory LaPlante, Timothy Mertens, and Kenneth Young of Rocko's Modern Life received a 1994 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Film Sound Editing.^[82] George Maestri was nominated for a CableACE Award for his writing on Rocko's Modern Life.^[83][84] The series also won an Environmental Media Award in 1996 for the episode "Zanzibar!," a musical episode focusing on environmentalism, pollution, and deforestation,^[85] accepted by the episode's writers, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, future creators of the hit Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb.^[86]

Legacy and impact

The fourth Nicktoon to debut, Rocko's Modern Life boasts a sizable cult fanbase.^[9] Tom Kenny cited the show as vital in learning how to do voiceovers for animation. He recalled seeing Charlie Adler have a self two-way conversation as the Bigheads without any edits as "dazzling."^[29] Kenny described the show's impact in an interview, saying, "Rocko's Modern Life was just one of those shows that were the first break for a lot of people who went on to do other stuff in the business."^[87]

Some members of the Rocko's Modern Life staff created other successful ventures. Mitch Schauer, the show's assistant storyboard artist, would later create The Angry Beavers, which premiered on Nickelodeon in 1997 and ended initially in 2001, with some episodes premiering in the US on Nicktoons in 2006. Stephen Hillenburg pitched SpongeBob SquarePants to Nickelodeon in 1997. Murray said of the pitch, "If it goes well, it'll be a blessing to us all."^[2] The network bought the show, which premiered in 1999, and it became a popular, critical, and financial success, and one of the biggest shows on Nick. Hillenburg stated that he "learned a great deal about writing and producing animation for TV" from his time on Rocko's Modern Life.^[27] Povenmire and Marsh went on to create Phineas and Ferb for Disney Channel. The show became a ratings success and received numerous award nominations.^[88]

When Murray returned with a new animated series, Camp Lazlo on Cartoon Network, in 2005, much of the former staff of Rocko's Modern Life joined him.^[1] He stated that "We always kept in touch and they told me to look them up if I ever did another project," adding that the crew already knew his sensibilities and an extra decade worth of experience. Carlos Alazraqui, who played Rocko, also ended up playing the main character of Lazlo.^[1] Derek Drymon and Nick Jennings, both crew members, drew on its influence for future animated series they worked on.^[29]