Nickelodeon spent much of their Comic-Con panels focusing on the nostalgia factor for their beloved shows of the 1990s. One of these was Rocko’s Modern Life, which is slated to return in 2018 in the form of a film called Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling. But did you know the history of this series?
The Rocko character first appeared in a comic book illustrated by Joe Murray that he unsuccessfully pitched to publishers. He eventually presented it as a pitch to Nickelodeon for a cartoon series, and it was picked up there, despite Murray not having worked in television before. The “Trash-O-Madness” episode was developed as the pilot, and season one soon entered production, with the first season debuting on September 18, 1993.
The story focused on the titular Rocko, a wallaby, and his best friends Heffer Wolfe, a steer, and Filburt Shellbach, a turtle. Rocko has a pet dog, Spunky, and his neighbors are the antagonistic Ed Bighead and his wife Bev, who are both toads. The episodes generally featured Rocko or one of his pals getting into some sort of everyday predicament, from going to the gym to waiting in line at the DMV to recycling, and so on.
Rocko’s Modern Life became known for its adult, often tongue in cheek humor, which wasn’t too often found in cartoons being marketed to children. Notable racy jokes and gags included the “Chokey Chicken” restaurant, Rocko and Heffer visiting the “No-Tell Motel,” and Rocko briefly working as an adult-oriented telephone operator. Certain scenes and even entire episodes were pulled from rerun rotations, such as the infamous scene in “The Good, The Bad, and The Wallaby” where Heffer discovers a milking machine for cows.
The series proved to be a significant success and is often credited with launching the careers of many of the voice actors and other creative team members. For instance, Tom Kenny, the voice of Heffer, went on to voice the titular character in SpongeBob SquarePants as well as the Ice King in Adventure Time; Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, two of the show’s writers, have since created Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law for Disney. Much of the show’s cast and crew also reunited for Murray’s other animated series Camp Lazlo, which aired on Cartoon Network.
Besides the show, a video game, Rocko’s Modern Life: Spunky’s Dangerous Day, was developed and released for the Super Nintendo, and a short-lived comic series was published by Marvel also based on the show. With Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling on the horizon, it should prove interesting to see what a modern life looks like more than two decades after the show’s original premiere.
