Rocko's Modern Life

***Rocko's Modern Life*** is an American animated television created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian-immigrant wallaby named Rocko as well as his friends: the gluttonous steer Heffer, the neurotic turtle Filburt, and Rocko's faithful dog Spunky. It is set in the fictional town of O-Town, and is laden with adult humor, including double entendre, innuendo, and satirical social commentary. Murray created the title character for an unpublished comic book series in the late 1980s, and later reluctantly pitched the series to Nickelodeon, who were looking for edgier cartoonists for their new Nicktoon. The network gave the staff a large amount of creative freedom, with the writers targeting both children and adults. The show premiered on September 18, 1993, and ended on November 24, 1996, totaling four seasons and 52 episodes. After the show's cancellation, much of the staff regrouped to work on *SpongeBob SquarePants*, created by producer Stephen Hillenburg. The creator Joe Murray also went on to create his second project, *Camp Lazlo*, this time for Cartoon Network.

## Why It Rocks

1. The characters have a pretty unique personality and design-wise; The main protagonist is an immigrant Australian wallaby named Rocko who is trying to live his modern life with the help of his best friends, the gluttonous steer Heffer and the perpetually nervous turtle, Filburt.
2. The show was one of the first six Nicktoons on Nickelodeon, and it was by far the best and most down-to-earth.
3. A stark, unique animation style, one that presents everything at a slight angle, provides a great backdrop for Rocko's adventures and paints a truly different world that sets the cartoon apart from all others.
4. The show is an excellent example of the beginning of the adult cartoon era despite being a Nickelodeon show.
5. Your typical *Rocko* episode has mundane adult annoyances like credit cards, parking, the DMV, air travel, and other things you'd find in a live-action except here, have the added benefit of being in a wacky cartoon.
6. Years after being off the air, it spawned a comic book adaptation that serves as a slight but great continuation of the series.
7. To add to the surreal and psychedelic humor of the show, inanimate objects are personified in a goofy way.
8. Great character designs.
9. Even though it ended over twenty years ago, it got a Netflix special called *Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling* in August 2019, which was just as good.
10. Hilarious *Looney Tunes* inspired humor.
11. The show inspired *SpongeBob SqurePants* with not only its same short of characters, but also the late Stephen Hillenburg began his animation career as a writer on this show. That was how he met future *SpongeBob* voice actors Tom Kenny (Heffer) and Mr Lawrence (Filbert).

## Bad Qualities

1. The series harbors many, many inside jokes and innuendos just below the surface of its goofy cartoonish art-style. As seen in some of the episode titles ("Schnit-Heads," "Who Gives a Buck?"), some character/establishment names (Doctor Bendova, the Chokey Chicken fast-food restaurants), and countless other little occurrences throughout every episode on occasion.
	* In fact, the second episode was so sexual that it got banned.
2. Many disgusting, typical gross-out scenes, consisting of a lot of eye-gouging scenes.
3. Ed Bighead, Rocko's neighbor, can be unlikable and very mean at times.
4. There were a few bad episodes such as Fly Burgers, Belch of Destiny and Bedfellows.