Line #0 Series/PuppetsWhoKill


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/puppets_who_kill.jpeg]]
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8	''Puppets Who Kill'' was a Canadian-produced BlackComedy series from Creator/TheComedyNetwork that centered on the lives of four puppets who had been sent to a halfway house run by the cynic Dan Barlow (played by Creator/DanRedican) as a last ditch effort to rehabilitate them as every other effort had failed.
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10	The puppets themselves were:
11	* Rocko the Dog (Creator/BruceHunter), who after suppressing his very child-unfriendly personality snapped on set;
12	* Cuddles (Bob Martin), a comfort doll whose consistent curbing of his own desires ended up with him shooting people with a rifle from a roof;
13	* Buttons the Bear (Creator/JamesRankin), a sex maniac who had a good life until his private deeds were released to the public and he was fired.
14	* [[DemonicDummy Bill the Dummy]] (Gord Robertson), a psychopath with a constant [[SlasherSmile smile]] and a taste for [[ImAHumanitarian meat]] who had 56 partners die in tragic "accidents".
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16	The show tended to balance itself on the edge of a knife, often crossing the line [[CrossesTheLineTwice more than twice]] and happily embracing the darkly humorous tone inherent in a show about living puppets who regularly break the law.
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19	!!This series provides examples of:
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21	* AnimateInanimateObject: The puppets are treated and behave like humans, even having organs both internal and sexual, despite otherwise being made of felt and wood.
22	* AssholeVictim : A lot of people the characters meet are sometimes this.
23	%%* AxCrazy: Bill, Rocko sometimes.
24	%%* BerserkButton: Do not call Cuddles a rooster. Just don't.
25	* BlackAndGrayMorality: Almost everyone is a jerk in some way, and often deserve the horrible things that happen to them.
26	* BlackComedy
27	* BrainInAJar: [=CBC=] has a whole room filled with them.
28	* BrainwashedandCrazy: Cuddles on more than one time.
29	* ButtMonkey: Buttons, Cuddles and Dan share the title.
30	* TheCasanova: Buttons.
31	* TheChessmaster: Dan
32	* ClusterFBomb: The show has quite a lot of them.
33	* CreepySouvenir: Bill collects testicles.
34	* DeadpanSnarker: Dan, Rocko and Bill.
35	* DepravedKidsShowHost: Rocko is this mixed with NiceCharacterMeanActor.
36	* DoesThisRemindYouofAnything?: In Cuddles the Manchurian Candidate, which originally aired in 2005, a [[GeneralRipper rogue US General]] invades Canada to acquire Canada's water supply. He calls it [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Operation Liberation]].
37	* EmbarrassingNickname: "Poopy pants". [[spoiler: Bill]]
38	* EscalatingWar: It ended with an exploding toilet.
39	* FauxAffablyEvil: Bill and Rocko.
40	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Buttons' reaction to being saved from a PsychoLesbian and her girlfriend moments before his death is one of disappointment, because it meant he would miss the lesbian make-up sex.
41	* ILoveTheDead: The plot of the final episode is [[spoiler: Buttons' ghost]] stealing Dan's girlfriend by being a better lay.
42	** Dan's cousin Hazel in "Dan and the Necrophiliac" makes love to a dead relative at the funeral they're attending. Rocko, the only one who saw this, is forced to [[SecretKeeper keep it between them]], but he tells Dan anyway. This ends up with them formulating a scheme for Dan to get some from her, only for him to find out the funeral home director also is into screwing corpses.
43	%%* InTheStyleOf: "The Twilight Place" is one to ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', with Creator/RonPardo [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed as]] Creator/RodSerling providing narration.
44	* KarmaHoudini: The puppets sometimes get away with crimes they do mostly Bill and Rocko.
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46	** 2 Lesbians in the episode Dead Ted get off scot-free from forcing a vacuum into Button's genitals
47	** A similar couple in the episode Prostitutes for Jesus gets away with leaving Button to almost get burned alive. The same could said with some minor characters in some episodes.
48	* ImAHumanitarian: Just one of Bill's many traits, with several of the episodes often focused on his habits.
49	* KavorkaMan: Dan.
50	* LargeHam: Most of the minor characters and Buttons.
51	%%* LaughablyEvil: Buttons.
52	* MrViceGuy: Dan means well, but is mainly interested in the halfway house's funding and his own job, even willing to [[SelectiveObliviousness look the other way]] when the puppets commit crimes.
53	* OnlySaneMan: Dan seems to play this roll.
54	* PsychoLesbian: Buttons is nearly killed by one for having sex with her girlfriend, who only slept with him in the first place because [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys seeing her act psychotically jealous turned her on]].
55	** In Dead Ted, Buttons is tricked by a lesbian woman and her girlfriend into giving his sperm away.
56	* SerialKiller: Bill has killed people in various episodes though it's offscreen
57	* SignOfTheApocalypse
58	* SlasherSmile: Bill's default expression.
59	* SociopathicHero: Bill, in spades. He's the smartest among the cast, and is often the one who saves them from their problems. Too bad his solutions usually involve cannibalism and violence.
60	* {{Squick}}: In-universe, Dan gets increasingly grossed out over the process of inserting a camera up a urinary tract in "Bill's Brain".
61	* ThreatBackfire: One episode had Bill being ransomed by some mafia types, who threaten to send him back [[FingerInTheMail piece by piece]]; when the others refuse to cooperate, they do just that, cutting Bill up and sending the bits back to the halfway house. It never occurred to them that Bill is a puppet, and all the others have to do is stitch him back together again.
62	* WideEyedIdealist: Cuddles.
63	* VillainProtagonist: The main cast is this

Context Series / PuppetsWhoKill