An Elongated Ode to Rocko's Modern Life

(Originally Posted on Coffee and a Script on 9/22/2018)

25 years ago this month, one of the greatest, and most underrated cartoons of all-time made its debut. This cartoon would launch the careers of many prominent talents, from writers to voice actors to creative directors. Without Rocko, we wouldn’t have classic Family Guy, Spongebob Squarepants, Camp Lazlo, and even Phineas and Ferb. As a matter of fact, Classic Simpsons and Rocko have a lot more related than you’d like to believe in terms of talent as multiple people worked on both cartoons during the epic run of animated cartoons. And to rise above the heap of already-great television and leave a mark in the industry showcases the power of your quality and the power of your influence. But Rocko’s Modern Life does something that nearly no other cartoon managed to do: end before it got stale.

Let me paint the picture of 1993-1994 television in terms of animated cartoons: Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series, The Simpsons—each of these quickly dominating the market. Nickelodeon was looking for something edgier, something that would appeal to a demographic older than the tykes enjoying Rugrats, Doug, and thousands of reruns of Looney Tunes cartoons. Joe Murray was a cartoonist in charge of his own animation studio who had sent a demo to Nick, and they actually didn’t have much hopes for it. But in the first string of many surprises in the history of Rocko, Nickelodeon loved the product so much they asked for an entire season. And off we went.

Now, very few television shows has a strong first season. Even Seinfeld, arguably the most successful sitcom of all-time, was off to a slow start. The Simpsons, the best cartoon ever made, had a ho-hum opening two years before absolutely tossing out classic after classic. Rocko’s Modern Life knew what kind of cartoon it was going to become from the getgo. The opening episode was simple: Rocko has to take out the garbage. But Rocko’s Modern Life accomplishes the notion of taking a simple concept and exaggerating it as far as humanely possible, even sometimes trying their best to toss jokes above the censors. The trash episode includes a psychotic dog threatening our everyday hero, a garbage truck that is destroying vehicles as it makes its way towards Rocko, and this random piece of trash that Spunky has taken a liking to.

The opening season isn’t the strongest, but set the blueprints for what to expect when watching Rocko. The episodes consist of mundane things we experience in life, and then twists them into crazy scenarios full of obstacles, enemies, dangers, and forces Rocko or whomever else to not just accomplish the task, but to survive it. In the meantime, the adult viewer is treated to not only adult jokes, references, and scenarios (sometimes entire fun throwaway scenes that children wouldn’t understand), but we also get some commentary into society from economics to relationships to acceptance all the way to the sacrilegious subject of religion. It’s a fun juxtaposition when we have an episode with criticisms of religion tied to the storyline of Heffer joining a sausage cult (make your own joke here).

Season One of Rocko gave us these gems: Rocko getting a credit card, Heffer going to hell (“There IS NO REMOTE”), Rocko visiting a ranch (which gave us the masterful Heffer/milking machine scene), Heffer finding out he’s adopted, and the vacuum cleaner episode which gives us the classic If Your Vacuum Sucks bit. So it was a good start.

Then came Season Two and beyond, and Rocko’s placement in Nickelodeon history was set.

Starting on season 2, the theme song changed, and the production value as well as the quality beefed up. It started with the shocking inclusion of the Bigheads’ long-lost son, who is actually a cartoonist. And then from there it was classic moment after moment, as all the characters are far more established and more minor characters become introduced. The strongest episodes included Wacky Deli which takes on art and business, Rocko becoming an underwear model, the Star Wars-inspired golfing episode, the masterful fortune cookie episode, Rocko confronting his bully, Rocko winning free wrestling tickets, and oh God, the April Fool’s episode which has one of my all-time favorite lines in any form of media:

“Holy Mother of Buddha did you get fat!”

The depth of Rocko’s Modern Life is what allows it to marinate with the generation of viewers that still adores the cartoon today. On the surface you see childish humor and plenty of slapstick, but then you’ll see some risqué and sometimes outrageous adult jokes so subtle you’ll need a second or third viewing to catch the fun. On the other hand, on the surface of nearly every episode it’s one storyline, and beneath it lies an entire dialogue about a specific subject.

Take Wacky Deli, which was about Heffer, Filbert, and Rocko being hired to make a cartoon with the secret intent for failure by Ralph Bighead—only to see them create a smash hit. And then after hating it for so long because its garbage programming, Ralph takes over the cartoon and tries to make it a quality work of art—only to see it instantly get cancelled. It’s a funny plot with dozens of memorable moments, but it also speaks to the audience about how trash will usually be more successful than quality in terms of television and film. And that statement holds very much true today.

But sometimes Rocko isn’t about giving a message, as the episode about Ed Bighead trying to lose on purpose on a golf game against his boss while an army of employees (led by a Death Vader knock-off) tossing pianos at his golf balls doesn’t really have much possible social commentary backing it up. Instead, it’s just usually a hilarious 10 minutes of television where anything is possible; and the rules within the Rocko universe are razor thin and can be broken. This lax rules attitude can be applied to all other aspects of Rocko’s Modern Life from the animation all the way down to its lack of continuity and voice acting.

Rocko’s house has been destroyed at least a dozen times. There are no straight lines in the entire cartoon throughout its entire run (seriously, look at the houses). Body parts pop out of the characters constantly, death has been explored and delivered upon—with Heffer even going to hell at one point and Rocko having to save him. Heffer seems to have a different job every few episodes. Ed Bighead even once won an entire election during an episode that predicted the 2016 presidential election by showing that attitude and image despite the inexperience will always be seen as stronger than the proper candidate—especially one that doesn’t play by the rough rules of politics. In 2016, Trump loosely accused Ted Cruz’s father of being involved with JFK’s assassination; in 1996 Ed Bighead accused Rocko of sinking the Titanic and ruining the Roman Empire.

Rugrats thrived on fun innocence. The Simpsons thrived on fast-paced humor in a slightly exaggerated real-life setting. Animaniacs thrived on an SNL format of sketches. Just like eventual descendants Phineas and Ferb and the close cousin Spongebob Squarepants, Rocko’s Modern Life thrives and relishes in exaggerated insanity, and as a child of the 90s all you can do is sit and enjoy and wait where else Nickelodeon can possibly take the cartoon. Only Rocko’s Modern Life can provide a season opener about Heffer going to Space Camp because of his ability to belch and then end the same season with a musical about recycling and conserving the environment (a message that unfortunately millennials and their children need to be taught again).

However it was a mix of tragedy and quality protection that allowed Rocko’s Modern Life to do something that 99% of television always fails to do (even The Simpsons): know when to quit. Joe Murray encountered a personal tragedy right before the cartoon made its debut, and pretty much spent the next several years trying to emotionally survive while helping deliver quality content. But by the fourth year, he had been exhausted, and Nickelodeon noticed this. Joe Murray by the fourth season had diminished his duties slightly, but was on board enough to keep the cartoon going. Stephen Hillenburg would take over while coming up with his cartoon idea—-which would be the earth-conquering Spongebob Squarepants. Some of the creative humor of Spongebob’s first two seasons can definitely be felt in the final season of Rocko to a point it feels like almost a spin-off.

And here’s the other surprise, after Murray bowed out Nickelodeon decides to cancel the cartoon instead of giving it more life and risking its quality with a new staff. The ratings were still strong, 20% of the audience were adults, and Nick by 1996 didn’t have as much power as it did in the early half. Unlike the ugly finishes of Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats (the first time), and Angry Beavers, Rocko’s Modern Life ended with a ribbon on top, and ended before the quality started to dip. That, along with the quality, allowed Rocko’s Modern Life to age much better than the likes of Doug (which went to Disney and ruined everything), Rugrats (who added Dil and allowed them to grow up…ugh), and of course Ren and Stimpy (which should have ended after Nick fired the creator).

So before your random tweets, your random memes, before the random cutaways of Family Guy, before the exaggerated humor of Spongebob, before the hilarious consistent inconsistency of Phineas and Ferb, we had Rocko’s Modern Life leave their mark in 90s television and the childhoods of millions of kids and teenagers alike. It was fast-paced, funny, and outrageous, surprising, and had such a colorful personality it was impossible to look away. It was a cartoon that didn’t pull any punches and swung so often you never notice the misses. But what separates it from the others was the staff knowing they struck quality gold, and backed away before it ever got stale, allowing us to never yearn for the “good ol’ days”—-because all their days were indeed good.

Happy 25th to Rocko’s Modern Life, one of the best cartoon you’ll ever see.