Puppets Who Kill
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Puppets Who Kill is a Canadian television comedy series produced by and appearing on the Comedy Network.
The show is based on the premise that the adorable puppets on television and in live entertainment are in fact all living creatures with their own independent personalities. In the case of the four puppet characters on the show, their careers have plummeted due to unseemly and even criminal behaviour. Although they have been through the justice system on numerous occasions, they appear to be incorrigible and, in a last ditch attempt at rehabilitation, they have been sent to a halfway house.
Characters
- Rocko the Dog (voice of Bruce Hunter) - Rocko is a dog puppet. In reality, he is a hard-cursing, chain-smoking misanthrope, but he was required to tone down his language and behaviour on the children's television show on which he worked. Eventually, the tension of trying to subordinate his personality overcame him and he went berserk on the set, ending his career. He is currently on medication to control his violent mood swings.
- Cuddles (voice of Bob Martin) - Cuddles is an adorable comfort doll. However, he is a clear example of a passive-aggressive personality. He used to help people with their problems, but now he's the problem. His subordination of his own needs for those of others eventually led him to grab a rifle and start sniping at people on the ground from a high perch. Cuddles is generally the best behaved of the group, but his naivete often gets him and his compatriots into trouble.
- Buttons (voice of James Rankin) - Buttons is an adorable teddy bear with eyes made of two different buttons. However, despite his innocent appearance, he is in fact a promiscuous womanizer with no sense of sexual propriety. He lives by the motto "if it feels good, do it". He once had a lucrative corporate sponsorship deal, but the sponsor exercised the "moral turpitude" clause in his contract once his behaviour leaked to the press.
- Bill (voice of Gord Robertson) - Bill is a ventriloquist's dummy, with an oddly menacing appearance, especially when he "smiles". Fifty-six of his partners have died in "accidents". He is in fact a psychopath, whose misbehaviour includes cutting off men's testicles to collect them, cannibalism, cold blood killing, placing explosives in toilets... His arch nemesis is the Rasputin like Curious Bob (John Hemphill) a former partner who has survived four murder attempts.
- Dan Barlow (Dan Redican of The Frantics) - He runs the half-way house, and is a more-or-less competent but cynical social worker. Although he is well trained and often cares about his charges, his primary concern is insuring the flow of funding that keeps the half-way house alive. It has also been mentioned that the only reason why he still keeps his job as a social worker, after all his screw ups, is because he is paid poorly. Dan even mentions that a cleaning lady that Corrections Canada hired for him, is paid more than him.
The Show
Despite its limited budget, Puppets Who Kill features good writing, although the supporting characters are often portrayed as broad parodies. It has touched on several high brow themes, including the plot of Wuthering Heights (where Dan attempts to get Button's lover to believe he is dead) to The Most Dangerous Game (where a kid's TV show host has a pattern of inviting puppets to his private island where they are never heard from again).
Location shots for the show are from its production home in Toronto, and the show makes great use of Canadian talent and has almost one cameo per show. News reader Bill Cameron appears (as himself) semi-regularly, and often foreshadowing the show's plot by reporting on bizarre crimes that could only have been committed by Dan's charges.
The show is currently on its fourth season, set to begin March 2. The first season has been released on DVD, with plans for the second season to follow.
See also
Meet the Feebles - a movie with a similar premise.External link
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