The D-Generation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The D-Generation | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | Rob Sitch Santo Cilauro Marg Downey Michael Veitch Magda Szubanski John Harrison Tom Gleisner |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| No. of episodes | 20 (including Channel 7 specials) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC TV |
| Original run | 1986 – 1987, 1988 |
The D-Generation was a popular and influential Australian TV sketch comedy show, produced and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for two series, in 1986 (10 x 30mins) and 1987 (6 x 30mins). The show was produced and directed by Kris Noble. Three specials The D-Generation Goes Commercial, Degenocide and, The D-Generation Salute to Roy Smeck aired on Channel 7 in 1988 as well as a fourth special The D-Generation Country Homestead in 1989. They were each 60 min long and were produced by Andrew Knight and directed by Ted Emery.
The series and specials were created and written by a group of Melbourne University students who had gained local notoriety for their stage work: Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Marg Downey, Michael Veitch, Magda Szubanski, the now retired-from-comedy John Harrison (being the original six cast members), and Tom Gleisner (head writer and honorary seventh member). Also part of the original team was Nick Bufalo, who appeared in the unscreened one-hour D-Generation pilot (1985), before accepting a long-running role on TV soap A Country Practice. Several of Bufalo's sketches from the pilot (including the famous Thunderbirds parody) were incorporated into series one, and Bufalo himself returned for the specials. Actress/comedian Jane Turner and New Zealander Tony Martin joined from series two, and Melbourne Uni Revue stars Mick Molloy and Jason Stephens were added for the specials.
[edit] Post D-Generation
This show has been noted for its political incorrectness and led to several spinoffs, including a hugely successful radio breakfast show which ran for five years (1987-1992) on Melbourne's Triple M. The cast of the radio show (Sitch, Gleisner, Martin, Cilauro, Molloy, Stephens and Jane Kennedy) subsequently moved on to the equally popular ABC TV series The Late Show (1992-1993), which also featured stand-up comic Judith Lucy.
Four D-Generation cast members (Veitch, Downey, Szubanski and Turner) went on to a similarly-styled and very popular sketch comedy series, Fast Forward (1989-1992) on Channel 7. All later made guest appearances on this show's sequel, Full Frontal (1993-1997), which marked the TV debut of actor and comic Eric Bana.
Fast Forward itself led to the Channel 7 comedy shows, Big Girl's Blouse (1994), starring Magda Szubanski, Jane Turner and Gina Riley, and Something Stupid (1998), with the same trio plus Marg Downey. Both series featured the parodic Aussie suburban characters who were later the 'stars' of the hit series Kath & Kim (2002-).
Three of the original D-Generation cast - Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner, along with Jane Kennedy and long time D-Gen producer Michael Hirsh - are the principals of the successful Australian production company Working Dog Productions, which produced the TV shows Frontline (1994-1997), Funky Squad (1995), A River Somewhere (1997-1998), The Panel (1998-), All Aussie Adventures (2001-2004)) and Thank God You're Here (2006-), the radio serial Johnny Swank (1996), and the hit feature films The Castle (1997) and The Dish (2000).
Tony Martin and Mick Molloy have remained an on-again/off-again team, with the hit radio show Martin/Molloy (1995-1998), three ARIA Award-winning albums The Brown Album (1995), Poop Chute (1996) and Eat Your Peas (1998), and the movies Tackle Happy (2000), Crackerjack (2002), Bad Eggs (2003) and BoyTown (2006). Both have hosted separate radio shows on the Triple M network: Get This (2006-2007) with Martin, Ed Kavalee and Richard Marsland, and Tough Love (2004-2006) with Molloy, Robyn Butler and Richard Molloy. Molloy was the host of two short-lived and poorly-received Nine Network series, The Mick Molloy Show (1999) and The Nation (2007)
Michael Veitch and Marg Downey returned to sketch comedy in Let Loose Live (2005) which lasted two episodes.
Nick Bufalo is now a successful TV director who has made several videos and specials with The Wiggles.
Jason Stephens is now the Director of Development for Fremantlemedia Australia, one of Australia's leading independent television production companies. He produced The King [1] , the AFI Award-winning telemovie based on the life of Graham Kennedy, and is the executive producer of Newstopia (2007-) with Shaun Micallef. Jason was the creator of the Choir of Hard Knocks. [2],
There were three D-Generation albums: Thanks For Being You (1987), the ARIA Award-winning The Satanic Sketches (1989) which included the single Five In A Row and The Breakfast Tapes (1990). In 1987 a book The D-Generation Bumper Book of Aussie Heroes appeared, and various D-Generation members have since published books of their own, including Gleisner's Warwick Todd trilogy (1997-2001), Gleisner, Sitch and Cilauro's fake travel guides Molvania (2003), Phaic Tăn (2004) and San Sombrèro (2006), Martin's Lolly Scramble (2005), and Veitch's Flak (2006).
