D-Generation alumni Santo Cilauro, Jane Kennedy and Tom Gleisner were joined by former Doug Anthony Allstars member Tim Ferguson to bring Aussie TV audiences a hilarious cross between The Mod Squad and Starsky and Hutch.
Grant, Stix, Cassie and Poncho were the Funky Squad – the smoothest talkin’, sharpest dressing crimefighters in town.
In 1976, the generation gap has widened and younger people have little respect for
the “squares” in authority, parents are having trouble coping with their long-haired.
switched-on children and the crime rate is soaring.
The police department decides to take four young adults who speak the language of the kids on the street and train them up as police officers.
Stix (Cilauro), is the driving force, coming from the wrong side of the tracks and sporting an extraordinary afro. He is most in touch with the rough kids on the street.
Grant (Ferguson) is the macho, male chauvinist. Blonde, tall and suave, he is a hit with the chicks – but this hunk is not to be messed with.
Cassie (Kennedy) is the babe. Blonde flowing locks, an endless supply of blue eyeshadow and the ability to hold a gun so it highlights her face in the best possible light, she is “sassy and svelte”. An exotic European accent adds to her sophisticated, sultry image but she keeps her pretty head cool under pressure.
Poncho (Gleisner) is the mysterious “silent partner” who took a bullet in the tongue years ago. But his lack of speech does not stop him from being the brains of the gang, often saving his colleagues from uncomfortable scrapes.
Rooted very firmly in the 1970s, Funky Squad was a shameless celebration of a very specific genre of television cop shows.
Complete with bad costumes, appalling storylines, dopey music, shonky acting and stereotyped messages, the show went all out to recreate the era.
Camera’s zoomed with stomach-wrenching rapidity for closeups of the character’s sideburns, and the series was shot on grainy film so that everything was a bit fuzzy around the edges (just like the whole of the 1970s).
For added authenticity, mock commercial breaks even replayed some of the especially memorable TV ads of the period.
Funky Squad aired on the ABC on Monday nights at 8.00 pm.
Stix (Joey Alvarez)
Santo Cilauro Grant (Blair Steele)
Tim Ferguson Tim Ferguson Poncho (Harvey Zdalka Jr)
Tom Gleisner Cassie (Verity Svenson-Hart)
Jane Kennedy The Chief (Baldwin Scott)
Barry Friedlander
Episodes
A Degree in Death | The Art of Murder | Little Girl Lost | A Shot in the Dark | The Wrong Side of the Tracks | Diamonds are a Cat’s Best Friend | The Carnival is Over
Video
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Grant, Stix, Cassie and Poncho were the Funky Squad – the smoothest talkin’, sharpest dressing crimefighters in town.
Poncho (Gleisner) is the mysterious “silent partner” who took a bullet in the tongue years ago. But his lack of speech does not stop him from being the brains of the gang, often saving his colleagues from uncomfortable scrapes.
