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106-413: Rocko's Modern Life is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon . The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric steer Heffer Wolfe , the neurotic turtle Filburt , and Rocko's faithful dog Spunky . It is set in the fictional town of O-Town. Throughout its run to present day,

212-511: A megacorporation with the slogan "We own you" that owns everything in town; Heck , a place of eternal torment run by Peaches where bad people go when they die; Holl-o-Wood, a town that resembles Hollywood ; and Kind of a Lot O' Comics, a comic book store owned by a cruel 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

318-410: A 1997 interview Murray said that he at times wondered if he could restart the series; he feels the task would be difficult. "I think what set the [1990s] apart was the fact that the climate was ripe for people taking chances and doing different things. Both Nick and Cartoon Network were able to invest on people who had nothing to lose. Of course, the result of that was that there was a big explosion in

424-445: A cartoon. He then researched Nickelodeon at the library and found that Nickelodeon's "attitude was different than regular TV". The cable network providers were "making their own rules": for example, Murray stated that he "didn't write for children", which the executives were fine with. Murray was unsure at first, but was inspired by independent animation around him, such as Animation Celebration and MTV 's Liquid Television , and gave

530-518: A child-friendly show, shifted its target group to ages 12 and up, resulting in a darker and more mature storyline. Animated film theatrical series include all early animated series: Animated Weekly (1913), The Newlyweds (1913 — 1915), Travelaughs (1913, 1915 — 1918, 1921 — 1923), Doc Yak (1913 — 1915), Colonel Heeza Liar (1913 — 1917, 1922 — 1924), Kapten Grogg  [ sv ] (1916 — 1922), Les Aventures des Pieds Nickelés (1917 — 1918),

636-542: A few days of the Nickelodeon premiere, an arrangement possible as Nickelodeon does not have to meet the Federal Communications Commission rules which disallow that arrangement for broadcast channels due to regulations banning paid programming to children. Nick Jr. Channel (sometimes shortened to Nick Jr. ) is a pay television network aimed mainly at children between 2 and 6 years of age. It features

742-593: A local station of a television network broadcasts an animated series as a part of its own programming, the time-slot will vary by region. All early animated television series, the first being Crusader Rabbit (1950 — 1959), are comic cartoon series. However, later series include sports ( Speed Racer , Captain Tsubasa , Slam Dunk ), action ( Hajime no Ippo , G.I. Joe ), science fiction ( Mobile Suit Gundam , Tenchi Muyo ), drama ( Neon Genesis Evangelion ), adventure ( Dragon Ball ), martial arts ( Baki

848-418: A long-standing broadcast partnership with Mattel to air films and specials based on the toy company's Barbie (and later Monster High ) dolls. The first Barbie movie to air on Nickelodeon was Barbie as Rapunzel on November 24, 2002. The Barbie and Monster High films are usually aired under a brokered format in which Mattel purchases the time in order to promote the release of their films on DVD within

954-451: A lot done independently. Murray has likened the independence to that of "Termite Terrace" ( Warner Bros. Cartoons ) from the 1930s. As Nickelodeon began to have more success with its animation cartoons, Murray said the "Termite Terrace" mentality was not working as much. Producer Mary Harrington made the move from New York City to Los Angeles to set up Games Animation, in order to produce Rocko's Modern Life . The crew first began production on

1060-450: A low-quality clip was made available online as early as late December 1997, and two higher quality clips have been available as late as 2021. 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. This scene is left intact in the Canadian broadcasts of

1166-399: A mix of current and former preschool-oriented programs from Nickelodeon, as well as some shows that are exclusive to the channel. The Nick Jr. Channel launched on September 28, 2009, as a spin-off of Nickelodeon's preschool programming block of the same name , which had aired since January 4, 1988. The channel replaced Noggin , which was relaunched as a streaming service in 2015 and acts as

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1272-526: A mix of newer live-action and animated shows from Nickelodeon such as Henry Danger , The Fairly OddParents , The Loud House , SpongeBob SquarePants , and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles alongside original series airing exclusively on Nicktoons. TeenNick is a pay television network that is aimed at adolescents and young adults, named after the TEENick block that aired on Nickelodeon from March 2001 to February 2009. The channel merged programming from

1378-491: A neurotic turtle who often feels awkward or disturbed and his faithful dog Spunky . Living next door to Rocko is a middle-aged couple, Ed Bighead , a cynical and cantankerous toad who despises Rocko, and his compassionate and more friendly wife Bev Bighead. All of the characters in Rocko's Modern Life are anthropomorphic animals of varying species and varying in size, the vast majority of whom are mentally unstable. Murray said that he matched personalities of his characters to

1484-529: A new nationwide audience on April 1, 1979, with Pinwheel as its inaugural program. The network was initially commercial-free and remained without advertising until 1984. Nickelodeon gained a new facelift regarding programming and image that fall, and its ensuing success led to it and its sister networks MTV and VH1 being sold to Viacom in 1985. Nickelodeon has expanded its franchise through several sister channels and programming blocks. Nick Jr. launched as preschool morning block on January 4, 1988, and

1590-487: A pilot episode. Murray said that he was glad that he would get funding for My Dog Zero . On his website he describes My Dog Zero as "that film that Linda Simensky saw which led me to Rocko ." "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" was originally written as the pilot; the executives decided that Heffer Wolfe , one of the characters, would be "a little too weird for test audiences". Murray, instead of removing Heffer from "Sucker for

1696-564: A program shared with TeenNick , was cancelled in mid-2018. In electronic program listings, the titles of each 'block' merely delineate an hour in those listings and outside those titles denoting video theming, have no on-air mention. The network's specific theming to younger pop artists has also been underplayed as of 2024, due to various cuts at Paramount Global and the network's complete disassociation from further developing "triple threat" stars due to personnel and industry changes. Nickelodeon Animation Studio (formerly Games Productions, Inc. )

1802-740: A restaurant formerly located on Lankershim in the North Hollywood section of the San Fernando Valley. 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. Outlines approved by both him and Nickelodeon became Rocko's Modern Life episodes. Maestri describes some stories as originating from "real life" and some originating from "thin air". Murray stated that each episode of Rocko's Modern Life stemmed from

1908-459: A separate sister brand. Noggin's programming is distinct from the Nick Jr. channel's; it mainly carried preteen-oriented programs at its launch, and its 2015 streaming service features a variety of exclusive series. On October 1, 2012, the Nick Jr. Channel introduced NickMom , a four-hour nighttime block aimed at parents, which ran until September 28, 2015. While traditional advertising appeared on

2014-407: A series of hour-long specials. The first installment, Kids, Race and Unity: A Nick News Special premiered on June 29, 2020, and was hosted by R&B musician Alicia Keys . Since 2021, Nickelodeon has aired at least one live National Football League game a year, produced by corporate sibling CBS Sports and incorporating elements unique to Nickelodeon into the broadcast such as green slime in

2120-455: A set time period in "segments", including several such shorts. When advertising is taken into account, the cartoon itself may be only 15 — 20 minutes of the half hour, although Netflix and many other streaming companies do not show commercials. There are also series with a very short episodes lasting approximately five minutes; they have recently become more common in Japanese animation . If

2226-418: A similar manner to the operation of his Saratoga , California studio, which he describes as "very relaxed". 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. Murray described the daily atmosphere at the studio as "very loose", adding that

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2332-457: A slightly remixed version of the first and was used for episode 8. Version 2 had high-pitched, distorted voices in the chorus. The third version of the theme song was performed by Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider from the B-52s . They performed the Rocko's Modern Life theme song for the rest of the series. At first, Murray wanted Paul Sumares to perform the theme song since Sumares created most of

2438-402: A sluggish magazine industry. A new version of the magazine was published by Papercutz from June 2015 to mid-2016. Nick Radio was a radio network that launched on September 30, 2013, in a partnership between both the network and iHeartMedia (then called Clear Channel Communications), which distributed the network mainly via its iHeartRadio web platform and mobile app . Its programming

2544-454: A term for masturbation , was renamed "Chewy Chicken" for the series' fourth season. In the 2019 special Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling , they go back to using the original "Chokey Chicken" name. As the series entered reruns after it ended, more scenes were cut. The entire episode "Leap Frogs", in which Bev Bighead attempts to seduce Rocko, was skipped. The entire episode "Heff in a Handbasket", in which Heffer Wolfe attempts to sell his soul,

2650-420: A variety of original made-for-TV movies, which usually premiere in weekend evening timeslots or on school holidays . Nickelodeon also periodically acquires theatrically released feature films for broadcast on the channel. The channel occasionally airs feature films produced by the network's Nickelodeon Movies film production division (whose films are distributed by sister company Paramount Pictures ). Although

2756-607: A veteran of many bands, including the New York-based instrumental group the Raybeats, and a side gig, the 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 , wind player Rob DeBellis, and bassist David Hofstra . Like SpongeBob SquarePants and Ren & Stimpy , Irwin also uses selections from

2862-485: A wallaby as a main character. Bentley also stated that the Rocko universe was influenced by "everything from Looney Tunes to underground comics ". The staff of the show consists of fans of outrageous comedy, both animated and not animated. 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,

2968-564: Is a production firm with two main locations (one in Burbank, California , and the other in New York City ). They serve as the animation facilities for many of the network's Nicktoons and Nick Jr. series. Nickelodeon Productions is a production studio in New York, that provides original sitcoms, animated shows and game-related programs for Nickelodeon. Despite this, the studio's logo is also seen at

3074-610: Is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through Paramount Media Networks ' subdivision, Nickelodeon Group . Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children , the channel is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 2 to 17, along with a broader family audience through its program blocks . The channel began life as a test broadcast on December 1, 1977, as part of QUBE , an early cable television system broadcast locally in Columbus, Ohio . The channel, now named Nickelodeon, launched to

3180-416: Is based on an automated "wheel" schedule that was introduced during the early years of MTV2 . A new loop starts at 6 a.m. Eastern Time , and is then repeated at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Lyric videos are sometimes substituted due to content concerns with the artist's actual music video. The network launched on May 1, 2002 as MTV Hits , with its programming composed entirely of music videos. As with MTV Jams ,

3286-739: The Tom and Jerry cartoon short films released in movie theatres from 1940 to 1967, and many others. Direct-to-video animated series include most Japanese original video animations (OVAs). The first OVA series (and also the first overall OVA) was Dallos (1983 — 1985). Almost all hentai (pornographic) anime series are released as OVAs. Animated web series are designed and produced for streaming services . Examples include Happy Tree Friends (1999 — 2023) and Eddsworld (2003 — present). They can also be released on YouTube , such as Asdfmovie , which debuted in 2008. Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (occasionally shortened to Nick )

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3392-510: The APM Music into his score. On April 7, 2023, a soundtrack album featuring tracks from the first and second seasons was released on streaming and digital media, as well as a deluxe edition issued on September 18, 2023 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series, with 11 additional tracks. All tracks are written by Pat Irwin , except where indicated Rocko's Modern Life has been noted for its racy humor. Adults made up more than one-fifth of

3498-417: The Rocko's Modern Life concept, and submitted it to Nickelodeon believing that the concept would likely be rejected. Murray felt they would not like the pilot, and he would just collect his sum and begin funding his next independent film. 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

3604-684: The TeenNick channel in 2009. As of December 2023 , Nickelodeon is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States, down from its peak of 101 million households in 2011. The channel's name comes from the first five-cent movie theaters called nickelodeons . Its history dates back to December 1, 1977, when Warner Cable Communications launched the first 2-way interactive cable system, QUBE , in Columbus , Ohio . The C-3 cable channel carried Pinwheel daily from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and

3710-448: The "TV movie" versions of Nickelodeon's original series differ from traditional television films in that they have shorter running times (approximately 45 minutes, as opposed to 75–100 minute run times that most television movies have), and use a traditional multi-camera setup for regular episodes (unless the program is originally shot in the single-camera setup common of films) with some on-location filming. In 2002, Nickelodeon entered

3816-474: The 1990s, more mature content than those of traditional cartoon series began to appear more widely, extending beyond a primary audience of children. These cartoon series included The Simpsons , South Park , Family Guy , Futurama , The Ren & Stimpy Show , Rocko's Modern Life , Beavis and Butt-Head , King of the Hill , and Duckman . Canadian computer-animated series ReBoot , which began as

3922-550: The Bad and the Wallaby", Heffer encounters a milking machine and finds pleasure, although only his reactions are shown onscreen. According to writer/director Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, the scene was originally supposed to have hearts appearing in Heffer's eyes at the climactic moment. Although it clearly wasn't going to be included, they described the scene to the Nickelodeon censors anyway: "We described

4028-548: The DVDs. The only uncut release of the show on DVD so far was published in Germany in October 2013, although this release is still missing the uncut version of "Road Rash". Back when the show was rerun on Nicktoons, "Leap Frogs" and "Heff in a Handbasket", the two episodes banned for content, were restored. While the former was removed from the rotation again, the latter was in circulation until

4134-454: The Grappler ), and other genres. The first animated sitcom was The Flintstones (1960 — 1966), produced by Hanna-Barbera . It was followed by other sitcoms of this studio: Top Cat (1961 — 1962), Jonny Quest (1964 — 1965), The Jetsons (1962 — 1963, 1985, 1987) and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (1972 — 1974), an adult-oriented animated series in

4240-571: The Power of Juju . Nick.com is Nickelodeon's main website , which launched in October 1995 as a component of America Online 's Kids Only channel before eventually moving to the full World Wide Web. It provides content, as well as video clips and full episodes of Nickelodeon series available for streaming. The website's popularity grew to the point where in March 1999, Nick.com became the highest rated website among children aged 6–14 years old. Nickelodeon used

4346-437: The Suck-O-Matic", decided to write "Trash-O-Madness" as the pilot episode. In the original series pilot, Rocko was colored yellow. His color was changed when a toy merchandising company informed Nick 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 changed Rocko's color to beige, but after

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4452-546: The TEENick block with The N , a former block on Noggin. Although TeenNick has more relaxed program standards than the other Nickelodeon channels (save for Nick at Nite and the NickMom block on Nick Jr.) – allowing for moderate profanity, suggestive dialogue and some violent content – the network has shifted its lineup almost exclusively towards current and former Nickelodeon series (including some that are burned off due to low ratings on

4558-769: The ancestors of the Satcom series, the SES and AMC satellite constellations, still operate, Nickelodeon presently broadcasts on AMC-11 ). Originally commercial-free, advertising was introduced in January 1984. Programming seen on Nickelodeon includes animated series (such as SpongeBob SquarePants , The Loud House , Middlemost Post , The Patrick Star Show , Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years , The Smurfs , Rugrats and Monster High ), live-action, scripted series (such as Danger Force , Tyler Perry's Young Dylan and That Girl Lay Lay ), and original made-for-TV movies , while

4664-526: The animated series that aired on Nickelodeon were largely imported from foreign countries, with some original animated specials that were also featured on the channel up to that point. Though the Nicktoons branding has infrequently been used by the network itself since the 2002 launch of the channel of the same name , original animated series continue to make up a substantial portion of Nickelodeon's lineup. Roughly, six to seven hours of these programs are seen on

4770-657: The animation business as a director. Murray designed the logo of the series. He said that, after his design drifted from the original design, Nickelodeon informed Murray of how it intended the logo to look like. Murray also designed the covers of the comic book, the VHS releases, and the DVD releases. The writers aimed to create stories that they describe as "strong" and "funny". The writers, including George Maestri and Martin Olson , often presented ideas to Murray while eating hamburgers at Rocky's,

4876-620: The app will be discontinued. Nickelodeon Movies is a motion picture production unit that was founded in 1995, as a family entertainment arm of Paramount Pictures (owned by Nickelodeon's corporate parent, Paramount Global). The first film released from the studio was the 1996 mystery/comedy Harriet the Spy . Nickelodeon Movies has produced films based on Nickelodeon animated programs including The Rugrats Movie and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie , as well as other adaptations and original live-action and animated projects. Nickelodeon Magazine

4982-442: The audience for the show during its run. The series contained numerous adult innuendos, such as Rocko's brief stint as a telephone operator at what is implied to be a sex hotline in the season one episode "Canned": the instructions on the wall behind him helpfully remind all employees to "Be Hot, Be Naughty, and Be Courteous" while he flatly repeats "Oh baby" into the receiver, who turned out to be Mrs. Bighead. Joe Murray noted that

5088-523: The channel during the NickMom block, the network otherwise only runs programming promotions and underwriter-style sponsorships in lieu of regular commercials. Nicktoons is a pay television network that launched on May 1, 2002, as Nicktoons TV ; it was renamed Nicktoons in April 2003 and rebranded as Nicktoons Network in September 2005 before reverting to its previous name in September 2009. The network airs

5194-624: The channel was labelled "Pinwheel" on remote controllers, as it was the only program broadcast. Initially scheduled for a February 1979 launch, Nickelodeon launched on April 1, 1979, initially distributed to Warner Cable systems via satellite on the RCA Satcom-1 transponder (the owner of the satellite, RCA Americom, later became GE Americom as a result of General Electric 's acquisition of RCA Americom 's parent company, RCA Corporation , before merging with Luxembourg -based Société Européenne des Satellites to form SES Global, now SES , which one of

5300-512: The creative team. Murray rented a floor in the Writers Guild of America, West building, although the team of Rocko was not a part of the union, which the staff found ironic. Sunwoo Entertainment , and later Rough Draft Studios , assembled the animation. According to Murray, as Rocko's Modern Life was his first television series, he did not know about the atmosphere of typical animation studios. Murray said that he opted to operate his studio in

5406-458: 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)". Murray wanted funding for his independent film My Dog Zero , so he wanted 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. Murray had never worked in television before. The industry

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5512-575: The end of animated TV shows. Nickelodeon on Sunset was a studio complex in Hollywood, California which served as the primary production facility for Nickelodeon's series from 1997 until 2017; the studio is designated by the National Register for Historic Places as a historical landmark as a result of its prior existence as the Earl Carroll Theater, a prominent dinner theater . It served as

5618-474: The end zone and SpongeBob SquarePants ' face superimposed on the netting of the goalposts. Nickelodeon also carries the weekly shoulder program NFL Slimetime during the season which includes similar graphics. Nickelodeon offered the first alternate broadcast of a Super Bowl in 2024 when it aired a SpongeBob SquarePants -themed simulcast of CBS' coverage. Nicktoons is the branding for Nickelodeon's original animated television series . Until 1991,

5724-399: The episode. Both scenes were edited by Nickelodeon after their first broadcasts and are the only instances of censorship on the season two DVD, released in 2012. On the season three DVD, the "Wacky Delly" segment was shortened by approximately ten seconds to remove footage of Sal Ami repeatedly whacking Betty Bologna over the head with a telephone receiver. The restaurant named "Chokey Chicken",

5830-648: The film division bears the Nickelodeon brand name, the channel does not have access to most of the movies produced by its film unit. The majority of the live-action feature films produced under the Nickelodeon Movies banner are licensed for broadcast by various free-to-air and pay television outlets within the United States other than Nickelodeon (although the network has aired a few live-action Nickelodeon Movies releases such as Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and Good Burger ). Nickelodeon also advertises hour-long episodes of its original series as movies; though

5936-431: The flagship channel) that have stricter content standards. It also airs some acquired sitcoms and drama series. NickMusic is a pay television network in the United States featuring music videos from arists appealing to Nickelodeon's target audience. It launched on the channel space formerly held by MTV Hits on September 9, 2016. Like its sibling music video -only networks BET Jams, BET Soul , and CMT Music , NickMusic

6042-498: The gaming and video streaming options on the website. Nickelodeon released a free mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers operating on the Apple and Android platforms in February 2013. Like Nick.com, a TV Everywhere login code provided by participating subscription providers is required to view individual episodes of the network's series. In December 2023, it was announced

6148-473: The immediate rejection. Jeff "Swampy" Marsh , a storyboard writer who went on to create Phineas and Ferb , says that writers of Rocko's Modern Life targeted 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

6254-596: The largest indoor theme park in the western hemisphere, unseating the Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe which had the title from 2008 to 2019. On August 18, 2009, Nickelodeon and Southern Star Amusements announced that it would build a Nickelodeon Universe in New Orleans, Louisiana on the site of the former Six Flags New Orleans by the end of 2010, which was set to be the first outdoor Nickelodeon Universe theme park. On November 9, 2009, Nickelodeon announced that it had ended

6360-543: The licensing agreement with Southern Star Amusements. Current attractions Closed areas Between 1993 and 1995, Nickelodeon opened international channels in the United Kingdom , Australia , and Germany ; by the later year, the network had provided its programming to broadcasters in 70 countries. Since the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Nickelodeon as a brand has expanded into include language- or culture-specific channels for various other territories in different parts of

6466-492: The loose ends I had left hanging". Murray said that he felt surprised when Nickelodeon approved new seasons; Nickelodeon renewed the series for its second season in December 1993. After season 3, he decided to hand the project to Stephen Hillenburg , who performed most of the work for season 4; Murray continued to manage the cartoon. He said that he would completely leave the production after season 4. He said also that he encouraged

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6572-496: 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. 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. Rocko's Modern Life has been described as similar to that of

6678-456: The music found in My Dog Zero . Murray wanted the same style in My Dog Zero exhibited in Rocko's Modern Life . Nickelodeon wanted a person with more experience. According to Sumares, believing for the request to be a long shot, Murray asked for Danny Elfman and felt stunned when Nickelodeon decided to honor his request by asking Elfman to perform. According to Murray, Elfman, his first choice,

6784-467: The network a shot. At the time, Nickelodeon was selling itself as a network-based as much around the edge as around kids' entertainment. It aimed to appeal to college students and parents as much as children. Murray developed the Rocko character after visiting a zoo in the Bay Area and coming across a wallaby that seemed to be oblivious to the chaos around him. Murray combed through his sketchbooks, developed

6890-449: The network started off when THQ published their Ren & Stimpy game for Nintendo consoles in 1992, followed by a full-fledged console deal in 1998 with several Rugrats titles, and expanded in 2001, when THQ acquired some of the assets from Mattel Interactive , namely the computer publishing rights, and all video game rights to The Wild Thornberrys . Nickelodeon also worked, alongside THQ on an original game concept, Tak and

6996-556: The network to continue production, but Nickelodeon eventually decided to cancel the series. It is unclear why it was cancelled, but was likely to suit the wholesome image Nickelodeon image was beginning to 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". 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." In

7102-516: The network was named for a daily program on MTV; in this case, MTV Hits , which was that network's main pop music video program. The network composed of current hit music videos, along with a few older videos from earlier in the year, as well as a few from the late 1990s. As both MTV Hits and NickMusic, the network has maintained a commercial-free format, other than internal promotions for Nickelodeon or MTV and MTV-branded properties. The network has no individual or original programs; TeenNick Top 10 ,

7208-429: The network's daytime schedule is dedicated to shows targeting preschoolers (such as Bubble Guppies , PAW Patrol , and Blue's Clues & You! ). A re-occurring program was bi-monthly special editions of Nick News with Linda Ellerbee , a news magazine series aimed at children that debuted in 1992 as a weekly series and ended in 2015. In June 2020, Nickelodeon announced that they would bring back Nick News in

7314-490: The output of Warner Bros. cartoons in the Golden Age : a visually driven show heavy on humor, sight gags, and good 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 ]

7420-493: The park was themed as "Camp Snoopy" and "The Park at MoA." The theme park contains a variety of Nickelodeon-themed rides, including: SpongeBob SquarePants: Rock Bottom Plunge , Fairly Odd Coaster , and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shell Shock . Nickelodeon and Triple Five Group opened a second Nickelodeon Universe theme park in the American Dream Meadowlands complex on October 25, 2019. Upon opening, it became

7526-574: The personal experiences of himself and/or one or more of the directors or writers. He said that he did not intend to use formulaic writing seen in other cartoons. He desired content that "broke new ground" and "did things that rode the edge", and that could be described as "unexpected". He did not hire writers who had previous experience with writing cartoons, instead, hiring writers who worked outside of animation, including improv actors and comic artists. He said that story concept that "ever smacked close to some formula idea that we had all seen before" received

7632-406: The pilot aired, the company opted out of producing toys for the series, so the color change was pointless. When the series was in development prior to the release of the first episode, the series had the title The Rocko Show . In November 1992, two months prior to the production of season 1 of Rocko's Modern Life , Murray's first wife committed suicide. Murray had often blamed his wife's suicide on

7738-463: The production facilities for several Nickelodeon series. Nickelodeon Games (formerly Nick Games from 2002 to 2009, from 1997 to 2002, Nickelodeon Software , and from 1993 to 1997, Nickelodeon Interactive ) is the video gaming division of Nickelodeon. It was originally a part of Viacom Consumer Products, with early games being published by Viacom New Media . They started a long-standing relationship with game publisher THQ . THQ's relationship with

7844-439: The production. He said that the approach, when used for 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. Director and later creative director Stephen Hillenburg met Murray at an animation film festival where he was showing his three short films. Murray hired Hillenburg as a director on the series, making Hillenburg's first job in

7950-533: 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". Murray stated that 70 people in the United States and over 200 people in South Korea and Japan animated the series. Rick Bentley of the Ventura County Star said that it was unusual for a cartoon creator to select

8056-496: 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, as well as another scene with Heffer saying, "Goodbye" to the milking machine, were later removed. They are intact in the Canadian broadcasts of the episode, however. In addition, the uncut version can still be found on the VHS tape "Rocko's Modern Life: With Friends Like These". There were at least two occurrences of immediate censorship of

8162-729: The scene. There were big successes—like that yellow sponge that popped up in a big way—and with that success came another era where people aren't apt to take as many chances because the stakes are too high." —Series creator Joe Murray in 2011, on being a part of the creative animation scene in the early 1990s The show was jointly produced between Games Animation and Joe Murray Productions. Since Nickelodeon did not have an animation studio, it had to contract out to other studios. After incidents with The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi , Nickelodeon began not to trust its creators as much and began to form its own studio, Games Animation. Murray recalls that they were still able to get

8268-413: The season one episode "Leap Frogs" received "some complaints from some parents" due to its sexual humor, leading to Nickelodeon removing the episode from air for the remainder of the show's run, although it later aired on the cable channel Nicktoons and was made available on DVD and video streaming sites such as Netflix (formerly) and Paramount+ . In a deleted scene from the season one episode "The Good,

8374-438: The series ended its run, much of the staff regrouped to work on SpongeBob SquarePants , created by Rocko ' s creative director Stephen Hillenburg . Rocko's Modern Life follows the life of an easily frightened Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko who encounters various dilemmas and situations regarding otherwise mundane aspects of life. His best friends are Heffer Wolfe , a fat and enthusiastic steer; Filburt ,

8480-441: The series has been controversial for its adult humor , including double entendre , innuendo , and satirical social commentary, and gained a cult following, similar to The Ren & Stimpy Show . Murray created the title character for an unpublished comic book series in the late 1980s, and later reluctantly pitched the series to Nickelodeon, which was looking for edgier cartoonists for its then-new Nicktoons . The network gave

8586-512: The series' setting as having a "reality that is 'squashed and stretched' into a twisted version of real life". The background staff hand-painted backgrounds with Dr. Martin Dyes, while each episode title card consisted of an original painting. 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"

8692-404: The series. The original broadcast of the season two episode "Road Rash" featured a scene in which Rocko and Heffer stop at what is suggested to be a love hotel (the "No-Tell Motel") advertising "hourly rates" and ask the horse desk clerk for a room, who infers the two will be engaging in intercourse: "All night? [whistles] Wheeeooo! Okay." The scene was never shown again after its first airing, but

8798-504: 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." Murray felt that he had emotional and physical "unresolved issues" when he moved to Los Angeles . He describes the experience as like 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

8904-593: The show in January 1993. Rocko's Modern Life was Nickelodeon's first in-house animated production. 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 . The production moved to a different office building on Vineland Avenue in Studio City. Executives did not share space with

9010-505: The show was removed from the network. Rocko's Modern Life first ran on Nickelodeon from 1993 to 1996, and was briefly syndicated to local stations by Nick during 1995 and 1996. In 2004, the show briefly returned to Nickelodeon as part of U-Pick Live 's Old School Pick, with select episodes airing on June 1 and June 11. In the summer of 2006, the series returned to Nick as part of the Nick Rewind block, and on November 22, 2007, it

9116-427: 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. A special , Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling , was digitally released on Netflix on August 9, 2019. The show launched the careers of voice actors Carlos Alazraqui , Tom Kenny , and Mr. Lawrence . After

9222-592: The stage with the actors instead of "behind glass" in a control room, which he describes as "the norm" while making animated series. He believes that, due to his lack of experience with children, Rocko's Modern Life "skewed kind of older". 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?'" When he began producing Rocko , he says that his experience in independent films initially led him to attempt to micromanage many details in

9328-1038: The style of All in the Family . The Alvin Show from Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and Beany and Cecil from Bob Clampett are also sitcoms. The 1980s and 1990s were a renaissance of the animated children and adult television series. Various broadcast networks and media companies began creating television channels and formats designed specifically for airing cartoon and anime series. Companies that already had these types of formats in place began to revamp their existing models during this time. Most of this animations were American-based or Japanese anime. Listed below are examples of television networks and channels that include animated programs. American British Japanese Canadian Australian Examples of animation-focused networks and channels are listed below; but some of them aired live-action programs occasionally. American South Korean Canadian Japanese During

9434-410: The team disagreed with the opinions of the censors and sometimes the team 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". John Pacenti said the series "seems very much aimed at adults" "for a children's cartoon". Marsh believes that

9540-401: The town to be 'anytown' USA, and I used to love sports players with a big ZERO on their back. It was funny to me. Originally, the character appeared in an unpublished comic book titled Travis . Murray tried selling the comic book in the late 1980s, between illustrating jobs and did not find success in getting it into production. Many other characters appeared in various sketchbooks. He described

9646-512: The use of "O" in his show, Murray said: I always got a big kick out of the businesses that were 'House-O-Paint', or 'Ton-O-Noodles', because their names seemed to homogenize what they sold, and strip the products of true individuality and stress volume... and we all know, the American dream is volume! So what better company to create volume than 'Conglom-O', and since a majority of the town worked at Conglom-O, it should be called 'O' Town. I also wanted

9752-543: The various animals in the series to form a social caricature . The show is set in a fictional town called O-Town located near the Great Lakes and most likely based on Chicago , Illinois , as the city is located close to the Illinois - Wisconsin border. Places in the town include: Chokey Chicken, later renamed "Chewy Chicken", a parody of KFC and a favorite place/hang-out for Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt; Conglom-O Corporation,

9858-417: The website in conjunction with television programs which increased traffic. In 2001, Nickelodeon partnered with Networks Inc. to provide broadband video games for rent from Nick.com; the move was a further step in the multimedia direction that the developers wanted to take the website. Skagerlind indicated that over 50% of Nick.com's audience were using a high speed connection , which allowed them to expand

9964-500: The weekday schedule, and around nine hours on weekends, including a dedicated weekend morning animation block . In 2006, the channel struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation to develop the studio's animated films into television series (such as The Penguins of Madagascar ). Since the early 2010s, Nickelodeon Animation Studio has also produced series based on preexisting IP purchased by Paramount, such as Winx Club and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . Nickelodeon has produced

10070-552: The weirdest cartoons would, of course, be our favorites—those weird '30s Fleischer brothers Betty Boop cartoons and stuff like that." Murray produced the pilot episode, "Trash-O-Madness", at his studio in Saratoga; he animated half of the episode, and the production occurred entirely in the United States, with animation in Saratoga and processing in San Francisco . While directing during recording sessions, Murray preferred to be on

10176-506: Was a print magazine that was launched in 1993; the channel had previously published a short-lived magazine effort in 1990. Nickelodeon Magazine incorporated informative non-fiction pieces, humor (including pranks and parodical pieces), interviews, recipes (such as green slime cake), and a comic book section in the center of each issue featuring original comics by leading underground cartoonists as well as strips about popular Nicktoons. It ceased publication after 16 years in December 2009, citing

10282-720: Was aired on MetroVision . The series was also shown in Ukraine on ICTV . In Italy, Rocko's Modern Life was aired on Rai 2 . Animated television series Animated television series are presented daily or on certain days of the week during a prescribed time slot , including for example saturday-morning cartoons , prime time cartoons , late night anime , and weekday cartoons ; series broadcast only on weekends. The duration of an episode also varies. Traditionally, they are produced as complete half-hour or nearly half-hour programs; however, many are presented as animated shorts of 10 — 11 minutes, which can be combined for filling

10388-422: Was also skipped. When Shout! Factory and Paramount announced a DVD retail release for the series, there were concerns on whether Nickelodeon would allow them to release the series complete with some of the racier humor that the network eventually cut out for reruns. In the end, Shout! Factory and Paramount only received materials from sources that were edited for broadcast, so the episodes still remained censored on

10494-611: Was also streamed via the Nick.com website and on New York City radio station WHTZ as a secondary HD channel. Nick Radio focused on Top 40 and pop music (geared towards the network's target audience of children, with radio edits of some songs incorporated due to inappropriate content), along with celebrity interview features. In addition to regular on-air DJs , Nick Radio also occasionally featured guest DJ stints by popular artists as well as stars from Nickelodeon's original series. Nick Radio shut down without warning on July 31, 2019, and

10600-459: Was booked. Therefore, he chose the B-52s, his second choice. According to Sumares, Murray decided to use the B-52s instead of Elfman. Murray states that the difference between the stories "could just be a recollection conflict because Paul is a brilliant amazing guy". Murray also sought Alan Silvestri . According to Sumares, Viacom did not want to use Silvestri as the organization wanted a band "slightly older kids could identify with". Pat Irwin ,

10706-502: Was carved in stone. Here it's ... more of a challenge and a lot more fun when we're given a rough outline." 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". Jean Prescott of the Sun Herald described the series as "squash-and-stretch". A 1993 Houston Chronicle article described

10812-508: Was coming out of a " rough period " and Murray wanted to "shake things up a bit". Linda Simensky , then in charge of animation development in Nickelodeon, described the Nicktoons lineup and concept to Murray. He originally felt skepticism towards the concept of creating a Nicktoon as he disliked television cartoons. Simensky told him that Nicktoons differed from other cartoons. He then told her that he believed that My Dog Zero would not work as

10918-448: 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 ". There are three versions of the Rocko's Modern Life theme song. The first and original version can be heard playing throughout every episode in Season 1 except for episode 8. The second version of the theme song was

11024-460: Was eventually spun-off into a separate channel in 2009. Nicktoons , based on the flagship brand for original animated series , launched as a standalone channel in 2002. Noggin , an interactive educational brand created in partnership with Sesame Workshop , existed as a channel from 1999 to 2009 and as a mobile streaming service from 2015 to 2024. Two blocks aimed at teenage audiences, Nickelodeon's TEENick and Noggin's The N , were merged to form

11130-455: Was replaced by Hit Nation Junior, likely due to the network's general failure to establish any sustained "triple threat" artists/actors throughout the 2010s, along with the general failure of the children's-only radio format in the streaming age. Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America is the first indoor Nickelodeon theme park in the United States. Before being re-themed to Nickelodeon in 2007,

11236-596: Was shown on Super Stuffed Nicksgiving Weekend . Reruns of Rocko's Modern Life aired on Nicktoons in the United States from May 1, 2002, to September 5, 2011. In the UK, the series premiered on Nickelodeon UK on November 6, 1993. The series was also screened on Channel 4 from August 9, 1994, until 2000. From 2002 to 2017, it also aired on Nicktoons in the United Kingdom . MTV picked up Rocko's Modern Life from Nickelodeon in early 1994. In Malaysia , Rocko's Modern Life

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