Series / Housos

Just a mob of typical 'Strayans.^note Translation: Just a group of typical Aussies.

A show about one of the most feared and hated elements of Australian society... bogans. In fact, Housos is something of an affectionate portrayal of Australia's working-class bludgers (i.e. the working-class who don't work). The title comes from Australian slang for those who live in the government's Housing Commission's public housing. Created by Paul Fenech, it has his hallmark tendency to take ethnic or class stereotypes and send them hurtling through the roof. Despite its heavy basis in outrageous satire and parody, two current affairs programs aired 'exposés' on this offensive new "Reality Show", which only helped boosting its publicity.

Started airing October 2011 on SBS. A movie of the series titled Housos vs Authority was released in 2012. A sequel that crossed over with Pizza later debuted in 2014.

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Tropes in the series include:

• Addiction Displacement: Dazza gives up alcohol and other drugs in one episode... and promptly takes up gambling instead.
• Addled Addict: Kev and Dazza end up on disability due to years of drug abuse including alcoholism. Shazza and Vanessa use this to their advantage in the quest for free money, getting them drunk and convincing the two men to marry them.
• Bland-Name Product: Centerlink, YouseTubez, Jim Dean
• Big Eater: Renzo the Centerlink worker. Ends up in rehab over it.
• The Bogan: Every. Single. Character.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Every. Episode. Ever.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: Franky loves his thongs. Also done to a lesser extent with Dazza and Abdul.
• Curves in All the Right Places: Vanessa, who brags that she has the best arse in all of Sunnyvale.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Dazza's received a fair few bottles to the head, courtesy of Shazza.
• Drunken Montage: Everytime someone gets smashed (especially Franky) there’s a montage.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite the rivalries between the various gangs, everyone is united in their hatred for The Junkies, due to their constant stealing.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: There’s hardly been an episode without at least two sex scenes.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Shazza, Vanessa and Beryl. Played for Laughs with Johnno the dwarf-sized bikie.
• Forced Meme: In universe, when Franky and Kev tried to make thonging^note hitting someone with a sandal go viral.
• Gangbangers: The Lebanese gang are these sorts of criminals in an Australian setting; Street-level, composed primarily of an ethnic minority group, and with at least one Gangland Drive-By performed.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: No one comes off sympathetic in this show.
• Jerkass Woobie: In 'Housos Vs Authority', we learn that Shazza's mother walked out on her when she was very young, which caused her to have longstanding resentment towards her and to be raised exclusively by her father. This is implied as the reason why she gets so angry at just about everything. At the start of the movie, we learn that her father (who was the narrator in the first series) has died, with Shazza spending much of the time grieving, and her mother contacts her out of the blue to say she too is dying. After some thought, the two reconcile and seem to be getting on well, only for her mother to die too. As a result, Shazza returns to her old ways.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Kev is stabbed with a knife after a domestic with Vanessa over one of their children misbehaving during sex ed. Upon Dazza discovering this, they proceed to watch the footy together.
• Manchild: Reg, Beryl's de facto partner.
• Manly Gay: Bubbles.◊
• Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: Believed to be the reason why Garry travelled to Thailand at the same time as the Housos.
• Painted-On Pants: Shazza and Vanessa love their tights.
• Perky Goth: Angie, when not passed out on Franky's couch.
• Poe's Law: Actually granted the show massive publicity when the Nine Network and Seven Network's current affairs programs both ran hard-hitting "shockers" about how the SBS program was using tax-payers' money to ridicule real people. Of course, the people were all actors, and the show was funded from revenue SBS raised itself. Both networks promptly backpedalled furiously and ran pieces where they asked people about their thoughts on the "hot new upcoming show". Fenech credited this publicity to helping the show find a larger audience.
• Police Are Useless: Justified, a few too many bad experiences with Sunnyvale residents means Officers Richard Head and Gary Kock just do not care about protecting the community.
• Porn Stache: Franky.
• Powder Keg Crowd: Sunnyvale loves an excuse to throw a good ol-fashioned riot.
• Prison Rape: Happens to Dazza while in prison.
• Public Service Announcement: Parodied with Stop Da Gamble.
• Punny Name: Officers Richard Head and Gary Kock.
• Reality Show:
  • Not one, but got free publicity as this, referenced in one of its online promos.
  • One of the episodes is a parody of the show COPS
• Really Gets Around:
  • One of the women at rehab liked to have sex, a lot.
  • Franky too.
• Refuge in Audacity: The first episode involves Franky setting his friend's wheelie-bin on fire so he can steal the fire-truck and drive to hospital, culminating in his buddies from a Lebanese gang shooting up the fire station. It Makes Sense in Context. If you're as screwed-up as Franky, anyway.
• Satire: Most of Fenech's work satirises racial stereotypes.
• Shirtless Scene: Franky, also receives a fair few pantsless scenes as well.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The other Dazza is kidnapped by the bikies when they get no information on the progress of Shazza transporting steroids to Thailand. He is ultimately thrown into the ocean despite Shazza succeeding in getting the drugs there.
• Shout-Out/Take That!: To Neighbours in the opening credits.
  Shazza: Neighbours getting to be good friends? Yeah, fucking come down to Sunnyvale mate!"
• The Stoner: Dazza.
• Sydney: As with much of Fenech's preivous work it is filmed in South Western Sydney, far far away from the beaches, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
• A Threesome Is Hot: If there isn’t a scene of two, there’s a scene of three.
• Token Trio: The main blokes are Franky (Maltese-Australian), Dazza (Anglo-Australian), and Kev (Maori-Australian). However, the main blokes aren't the main characters as such, and the core cast is not a Token Band.
• Too Dumb to Live: The Lebanese gang releases a video of themselves wearing masks committing crimes around Sunnyvale - and then proceed to put their names in the credits for the video.
• Tsundere: Vanessa.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist - Franky. He spends part of the first episode tormenting an old man in an automated wheelchair. This later comes back to bite him.
• Verbal Tic: Abdul, who makes a "kss" sound when angry, complete with hand gestures.
  • Habib says "Oh My God" so often, he practically uses it as punctuation.
  • Reg is usually heard laughing (usually at someone else's misfortune) or crying. He does possess some ability to talk, though is only seen doing so on a couple of occasions.
• Would Hurt a Child: The police are not above tasering children for tagging their police car.

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