''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 A ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. 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 to ...

. Rob Sitch, who played Grant, was replaced by

Tim Ferguson Timothy Dorcen Langbene Ferguson is an Australian comedian, film director, screenwriter, author and screenwriting teacher. Early life and education Timothy Dorcen Langbene Ferguson grew up in Singapore, and later on a rural property near t ...

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 * Had a large afro.

"Grant": Blair Steele

* Played by

* The leader of the group; the cool guy.

"Poncho": Harvey Zdalka Jr

* Played by

Tom Gleisner Thomas Edmund Gleisner (born 24 October 1962) is an Australian comedian, television presenter, producer, director, writer, occasional actor and author. Gleisner currently hosts Network 10's ''Have You Been Paying Attention?''. Early life and ...

* 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 Jane Kennedy may refer to: * Jane Kennedy (courtier) (died 1589), Scottish courtier *Jane Kennedy (actress) (born 1964), Australian actress and comedian *Jane Kennedy (politician) (born 1958), British Labour Party Member of Parliament See also *Ja ...

* The token female; a stereotypical 1970s feminist.

The Chief: Baldwin Scott

* Played by

Barry Friedlander Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

* The tough cop to whom the Funky Squad reported.

Production

The program was created and written by Australian comedians Santo Cilauro,

, and Rob Sitch of ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'' and ''

The Late Show The Late Show may refer to: Books * ''The Late Show'' (book), a 2017 book by Michael Connelly Film * ''The Late Show'' (film), a 1977 film * ''Late Show'', a 1999 German film by director Helmut Dietl Music * ''The Late Show'' (Eddie "Loc ...

'' 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 Kitty or Kittie may refer to: Animals * Cat, a small, domesticated carnivorous mammal ** Kitten, a young cat Film * Kitty Films, an anime production company in Japan * ''Kitty'' (1929 film), based on the Deeping novel; the first British talki ...

(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 daughter ...

'') at local

Melburnian This is a list of people from Melbourne with some call to fame. A Melburnian is an inhabitant of Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, Australia. The word is a demonym. Native Melburnians The following were born or grew up in Melbourne. ...

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 c ...

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