''Funky Squad'' was a short-lived 1995

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

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series which satirised 1970s-era U.S. police television dramas, such as ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III ...

''. Only seven half-hour episodes were produced, which were broadcast on the ABC. Real television commercials from the 1970s were shown during the program's "commercial breaks". The show featured four "funky" undercover detectives: undetectable as police, given their "hipness". The conclusion of each episode was deliberately designed to be incredibly predictable: usually the perpetrator of the crime under investigation could be identified within the first few minutes of the episode. Before the television series, ''Funky Squad'' originally aired as a series of episodes on radio station

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back t ...

Rob Sitch Robert Ian Sitch (born 17 March 1962) is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter, actor and comedian. Early life Sitch was born in 1962, the son of Melbourne bus proprietor Charles (Charlie) Sitch. Sitch attended St Kevin's College and ...

, who played Grant, was replaced by Tim Ferguson when the series went to television.

Characters

In a metafictional setting, the characters were played by "actors" whose "names" were displayed in the opening credits of the program. These "real names" were also satirical, poking fun at the names of actors who appeared in American 1970s cop shows.

"Stix": Joey Alvarez

* Played by

Santo Cilauro Santo Luigi Cilauro (born 25 November 1961) is an Australian comedian, television and feature film producer, screenwriter, actor, author and cameraman who is also a co-founder of '' The D-Generation''. Known as the weatherman in '' Frontline'' ...

* Had a large afro.

"Grant": Blair Steele

* Played by Tim Ferguson * The leader of the group; the cool guy.

"Poncho": Harvey Zdalka Jr

* Played by Tom Gleisner * Mute, as a bullet had hit his tongue. The joke was that this was a ridiculous plot device to get around having accidentally hired an actor with poor English.

"Cassie": Verity Svensön-Hart

* Played by Jane Kennedy * The token female; a stereotypical 1970s feminist.

The Chief: Baldwin Scott

* Played by Barry Friedlander * The tough cop to whom the Funky Squad reported.

Production

The program was created and written by Australian comedians

, Jane Kennedy, Tom Gleisner, and

of '' Frontline'' and '' The Late Show'' fame. Cilauro, Kennedy and Gleisner also co-directed the series. Sitch was originally to star but was replaced by Ferguson due to study commitments overseas. The show was given a meagre production budget of A$1,000 per episode, so many of the costumes were acquired by wardrobe director Kitty Stuckey (best known for her work on ''

Kath & Kim ''Kath & Kim,'' (also written as ''Kath and Kim'') is an Australian sitcom created by Jane Turner and Gina Riley, who portray the title characters of Kath Day-Knight, a cheery, middle-aged suburban mother, and Kim, her self-indulgent daught ...

'') at local

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Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

stores.

Merchandise including video and DVD release

In 1995 ''The Funky Squad Annual'' was published. Unlike many TV show tie-ins this was not a behind-the-scenes work or analysis of the show but was a parody of annuals for TV shows in the 1970s. As such it addressed a child readership and included many pictures, features, puzzles and comic strips. A VHS video containing three episodes of the series ("A Degree in Death", "Wrong Side of the Tracks" and "The Carnival is Over") was released in 1996. A DVD set of all seven episodes of the series was released in Australia on 7 November 2007. The DVDs were marked as Region 4, but appear to be region-free.Review: Funky Squad
''DVD Times'' (UK).

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0111972, title=Funky Squad
Unofficial Episode Guide
1995 Australian television series debuts 1995 Australian television series endings 1990s police comedy television series Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian comedy television series Television shows set in Melbourne