Trivia / Inspector Rex

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies:
  • Tobias Moretti did not want to know anymore of Rex and did not want to be recognized mainly as Richard Moser, so he wanted the writers to kill him off.
  • Kaspar Capparoni went because he did not want the comical style of the Austrian series to return (albeit the series was not that dark at the point), so he left the series. It was decided to kill Lorenzo off.
• Adored by the Network: Australia's SBS has a love affair with this series, which they pretty much admit on their special Inspector Rex website. As of this writing the show has more-or-less been slotted in at 7.30pm on Thursday since 1997, and marathons are not uncommon.
• Blooper: Several, naturally, but among the most perplexing is the beautiful, large sports alloy wheels on Frau Baumann's expensive car in Episode 7, Season 3. They switch to the small steel wheels and plastic alloy covers of a cheap car in the closeups, and switch back to a completely different look when she arrives at the esoteric conference. I can only imagine the fancy car was no longer available for pick up shots.
• Channel Hop: The ten Austrian seasons were produced by ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk). After an hiatus the series was retaken by the Italian producer RAI. Season 11 was filmed in both Vienna and Rome, but from Season 12 onwards it becomes fully Italian, although in Season 12 there was a last meeting with Kunz and Dr. Graf.
• Creative Differences: Ettore Bassi (the actor that plays Davide Rivera) and Andrea Costantini left the series because they did not want the series to marginalize the action and the main inspector in favor of a comedic atmosphere. The same happened before to Kaspar Capparoni, albeit the series was not as dark back when he was interpreting Lorenzo Fabbri.
• The Other Darrin: Due to the long time of the series, Rex was portrayed by at least five dogs. The most obviously different one is Aki, who has a blacker face.
• Recast as a Regular:
  • Brandtner, Moser's replacement, and Hoffmann, Brandtner's replacement, were both played by actors who had previously appeared as villains.
  • Elke Winkens had played a minor character in the seventh season (a love interest to Brandtner) before playing Nikki Herzog.
  • Alessia Balera played a minor character before playing Da Chief Annamaria Fiori in the latest seasons.
• Role Reprise: After the hiatus, Martin Weinek and Gerhard Zemann return in the Italian series to reprise Fritz Kunz and Leo Graf respectively.
• Sending Stuff to Save the Show: Despite the series having low ratings and the newer seasons being widely seen as inferior to the Austrian seasons, a "Rex non deve finire" (Rex must not finish) campaign was pushed to try to push for the series not to be finished, but it was unsuccessful.
• You Look Familiar: Several Austrian actors also have reoccurring roles throughout the series. There is a special case with Denise Zich: she played a character in the chapter "Der Tod kam zweimal" (seventh season) before playing Erika Hedl in the two earlier chapters of the Italian revival.

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