The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show

The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show (known as Rocky & His Friends during its first two seasons and as The Bullwinkle Show for the remainder of its run) is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 27, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks. Produced by Jay Ward Productions, the series is structured as a variety show, with the main feature being the serialized adventures of the two title characters, the anthropomorphic moose Bullwinkle and flying squirrel Rocky. The main adversaries in most of their adventures are the Russian-like spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. Supporting segments include Dudley Do-Right (a parody of old-time melodrama), Peabody & Sherman (a dog and his pet boy traveling through time), and Fractured Fairy Tales (classic fairy tales retold in comic fashion), among others.

Rocky & Bullwinkle is known for the quality of its writing and humor. Mixing puns, cultural and topical satire, and self-referential humor, it was designed to appeal to adults as well as children. It was also one of the first cartoons whose animation was outsourced; storyboards were shipped to Gamma Productions, the same Mexican studio employed by Total Television). Thus the art has a choppy, unpolished look and the animation is extremely limited even by television animation standards. Yet the series has been held in high esteem by those who have seen it; some critics have described the series as a well-written radio program with pictures.

The show was never a ratings hit and was shuffled around the day (airing in afternoon, prime time, and Saturday morning) but has garnered a minor yet influential cult following over the decades, influencing shows from The Simpsons to Rocko's Modern Life. Segments from the series were later recycled in the Hoppity Hooper show. A feature film based on the series was produced by Universal Studios and released on June 30, 2000 to lukewarm reviews.