Bullwinkle the... Puppet?

If you're as old as Nixon's socks, like I am, you remember when Rocky and his Friends premiered on ABC in 1959, and know that in 1961 it was renamed The Bullwinkle Show and moved to NBC—in prime time, no less! What most people don't remember is that when it moved, it was hosted by Bullwinkle himself... as a puppet! He was a drunk, of course (most puppets are), and he was fond of ridiculing the network. He loved making fun of Walt Disney, whose Wonderful World of Color followed The Bullwinkle Show on Sunday nights. Since Disney's show was the #1 draw on NBC in those days, that went over with the network execs like holey socks at Valley Forge. One night he encouraged the kids in the audience to pull the knobs off their TV sets so they'd be tuned in to watch the next week's show. 20,000 of the little buggers did just that, and all of their moms called the network to complain. "Encouraged" to rectify the situation, Bullwinkle told the kids the next week to put them back on—with glue! The final straw came one night when Bullwinkle—higher than usual—tossed a puppet version of the recently-introduced NBC peacock into a cooking pot. Bullwinkle the puppet was axed. Nobody has heard from him since. I personally never knew the guy, but I sure like his attitude! The DVD collection of the show's first season includes some rare footage of the Bullwinkle puppet.