VA - Kommissar Rex: Vol. 4 (Original Television Soundtrack) (1997/1994)

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VA - Kommissar Rex: Vol. 4 (Original Television Soundtrack) (1997/1994)

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Kommissar Rex (English title: Inspector Rex; Italian title: Il commissario Rex) is an Austrian police procedural comedy-drama television series created by Peter Hajek and Peter Moser that originally aired from 1994 to 2004 on ORF 1. In 2008, the series was revived under Austro-Italian production on Rai 1, and from the next year, was made fully in Italy, with occasional episodes set in Austria. Rai 1 eventually cancelled the Austro-Italian production in June 2015, after eight Italian seasons.

The show follows the German Shepherd police dog Rex, his partners, and the rest of the team at the Vienna Kriminalpolizei homicide unit, as they work together to solve crimes. Since 2008, the show has been set in Rome.

A spin-off series, Stockinger, that focuses on Ernst Stockinger, one of the original members of the homicide division, came to TV in 1996. Spinoffs include Polish Komisarz Alex (pl) (English title: Inspector Alex), which takes place in Łódź, (2012), Russian spinoff, Muhtar's return (2004-2015, broadcast on Russia-1 and NTV (Russia)) and Slovak series Rex, set in Bratislava, from 2017.
The original series is set in Vienna and focuses on the three-man staff of an office of the Kriminalpolizei - the Austrian Criminal Police - specifically a Mordkommission (homicide unit). In addition to the three policemen, the office is staffed by a German Shepherd called Rex, the main star of the show, who functions variously as a cadaver dog, a sniffer dog (for both contraband and narcotics) and as another pair of eyes and ears for his team.

The original team at the office consisted of Richard Moser, Ernst Stockinger and Peter Höllerer. This team was also assisted by forensic expert Dr Leo Graf and retired policeman Max Koch. The show had many changes in characters, including Christian Böck replacing Stockinger, Alexander Brandtner replacing Moser and former statistics officer Fritz Kunz replacing Höllerer. The final Austrian incarnation of the series featured a male-female duo of the clumsy Marc Hoffmann and a female officer Nikki Herzog working alongside Kunz. Dr. Graf is the only character to remain for the entire Austrian production of the series.

In season eleven, the action moves to Rome, with Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri taking charge of the dog. The show is now shot in both Italian and German. At the end of the season, Rex is apparently mortally wounded when he jumps on Fabbri's head to protect him from a bullet, but is shown in close-up still slightly breathing just before credits roll. The beginning of season 12 shows that Rex survived the bullet, when Fabbri takes Rex to the animal hospital.