Go Girls

Go Girls
Format	Drama/Comedy
Created by	Gavin Strawhan Rachel Lang
Developed by	South Pacific Pictures
Starring	Jay Ryan Bronwyn Turei Alix Bushnell Anna Hutchison Matt Whelan (Season 2) Esther Stephens (Season 2)
Narrated by	Jay Ryan
Opening theme	"Piece of my Heart" by The Electric Confectionaires
Country of origin	New Zealand
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Barnett Simon Bennett Gavin Strawhan Rachel Lang
Broadcast
Original channel	TV2
Picture format	576i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) TV2 HD,
Audio format	2.0-channel stereo sound
First shown in	New Zealand
Original run	19 February 2009 – present
External links
Website

Go Girls is a New Zealand comedy/drama television series centering around four adult friends, Amy, Britta, Cody and Kevin, who live on the North Shore, Auckland. Dissatisfied with their lives, they make challenging promises to each other that they endeavour to fulfill throughout the series.

Go Girls aired its first season starting in February 2009 and was successful enough that it was renewed for a second season, which aired in 2010, and then later a third season which began airing Tuesday 8 February 2011 in its new timeslot of Tuesday at 8.30pm. .

The series has also been screened in Australia. The first episode screened in Australia on 8 August 2009. The show was created by Rachel Lang, responsible for the popular Outrageous Fortune television series, and Gavin Strawhan (Burying Brian). The two are responsible for the writing of the show, along with Kate McDermott.

On 25 March 2011 Go Girls was renewed for a fourth season of thirteen episodes to be filmed later this year and aired in 2012 after the show's third season proved another ratings winner for its channel, TV2

Production

Exterior shots of characters' homes are located in Mairangi Bay, Takapuna, Vauxhall and Cheltenham, North Shore respectively. The interior shots of the homes are constructed completely inside South Pacific Pictures' studio facilities on the North Shore.

The workshop 'Ezytune', of which characters Cody and Kevin work at, is actually a Midas workshop located on Wairau Road in Glenfield, North Shore City. The show's producers acquire use of the workshop and simply place an 'Ezytune' sign over the existing Midas lettering during filming.

The bar frequented by the characters, 'The Taka' , is a completely fictitious premises and was constructed within a studio. An enlarged photograph of the Hauraki Gulf, with volcano Rangitoto Island in the background, is used as the backdrop outside of the windows of the bar, this can be noticed in some scenes filmed on the bar's decking area.

Music

Continuing with co-producer Lang's theme throughout Outrageous Fortune of using only New Zealand music within the series, Go Girls features an array of New Zealand bands and artists. The opening theme to the show "Piece of my Heart" by The Electric Confectionaires, was fittingly chosen as the band originate from the North Shore area.

As well as an eclectic mix of New Zealand songs throughout the season's episodes, a few set artists and songs were chosen to represent the show. The set score of the show most notably consists of music by three specific artists. Used in almost every episode to set mood, is music taken mostly from the New Zealand band, The Brunettes 2002 debut album, Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks. At least one song from this album can be found in every one of the 13 episodes of season one. A cover of the song "End of the Runway" from the album is sung by actress Alix Bushnell, who plays Britta McMann, in the final episode during characters Cody and Eli's wedding dance.

Another artist from the North Shore, Lydia Cole, features often with her song "Come With'", from her 2008 album Twenty Years.

The Electric Confectionaires song "Mr Whippy" is also used within the show.

Reviews

Crew still from the production of Go Girls. From left: Peter Salmon (Director of five episodes), Anna Hutchison, Alix Bushnell, Jay Ryan and Bronwyn Turei. Photo: Jay Frew.

The show received mostly positive reviews upon airing.

The New Zealand Herald reviewer said about Go Girls: "It has not only restored my faith in television and womankind, but it made me laugh out loud in the process" and another reviewer from the same paper said "It looks good for a laugh provided by a set of appealing Shore girl characters.". The Sunday Star Times said "It's the scripts that make it - more productions of this calibre please"

However, not all reviews were positive with a reviewer for the Dominion Post newspaper saying Go Girls had "Bad overacting, no direction, lame dialogue and characters that don't ring true [has made for a] truly tedious hour of viewing".

U.S. Adaptation

In October 2009 it was announced Go Girls would be adapted for U.S television by ABC. Liz Tuccillo, a writer on Sex and the City and the book and film He's Just Not That Into You. In November 2010 it was reported that the series is currently being developed by writer Michael Oates Palmer (Army Wives, Kyle XY). The American version will be a loose adaption described as being about "a single man and his three single female friends, all in their early-mid 30s, trying to make relationships work in a major American city while all their other college friends are off starting families"

Cast

Current Main Cast

Actor	Character	Seasons	Notes
Jay Ryan	Kevin	1 -	Main character and narrator of the show. Manager of Easy Tune automotive repair shop. Married to Amanda. Appeared in every episode.
Bronwyn Turei	Cody Latimer	1 -	Main character. Mother of Possum. Silent partner at Easy Tune auto repairs. Appeared in every episode.
Alix Bushnell	Britta McMann	1 -	Main character. Appeared in every episode. Owns The Party Fairy Company. Former barmaid and real estate agent.
Anna Hutchison	Amy Smart	1 - 2, 3 -	Appeared in every episode of season one and the first five episodes of season two, after which she left to go to overseas with her boyfriend Hans. She had a cameo appearance in the last episode of season two. Returned Season 3, episode 9</ref>
Matt Whelan	Brad Caulfield	1 - 3	Recurring season one. Starring season 2+. Amy's ex who then married Angelina, though the two have now separated. He then dated Britta before the two broke up and he headed overseas.
Esther Stephens	Olivia Duff	2 -	The quartet's former high school friend and Amy's flatmate when the pair were in London together.

Current Recurring Cast

Actor	Character	Seasons	Notes
Tania Nolan	Angelina Caulfield	1,2,3	A classmate and Amy's arch-rival who married Amy's ex, Brad Caulfield.
Ingrid Park	Fran McMann	1,2,3	Britta's mother. Partner of Jeffrey Duff.
Annie Whittle	Jan McMann	1,2,3	Britta's grandmother. Partner of Carol Duff.
Irene Wood	Nan McMann	1,2,3	Britta's great-grandmother.
Bronwyn Bradley	Gwen Latimer	1,2,3	Cody's mother. Suffers from early onset of Alzheimers disease.
William Davis	Wiri Latimer	1,2,3	Cody's father
Brittany Wakelin	Possum Latimer	1,2,3	Cody's daughter, currently living with her grandparents, Gwen & Wiri. Named after the NZ rally driver, the late Possum Bourne.
Michele Hine	Carol Duff	2,3	Olivia's mother. Partner of Jan McMann.
Simon Prast	Jeffrey Duff	2,3	Olivia's father. A doctor at the North Shore Hospital. Dumped wife Carol to be with Britta's mother, Fran.
Leighton Cardno	Leo Browning	2,3	Friend of Olivia, whom he met when they attended university. In season 2 he was Olivia's boss at the fictional North Shore Chronicle newspaper while in season 3 Olivia became his boss. Has a crush on Britta.
Zoe Cramond	Amanda	3	Kevin's wife. Used to go to school with Kevin, Amy, Britta, Cody and Olivia.
Roy Snow	Nick/NSB	3	Cody's boyfriend.
Johnny Barker	Joel	3	A musician. Olivia's boyfriend.
Kyle Pryor	Shane	3	Kevins long lost cousin.
Jacqui Nauman	Mia	3	Had a one night fling with Brad and when she became pregnant she thought the child was Brad's.
Peter Muller	Pastor Mike	3	A pastor at Amanda's church who offers guidance to her and Kevin and officiates at their wedding.
Elliott McKee	Jesse	3	Works at EasyTune. Has a crush on Cody.
John Tui	Timbo	1,2,3	A workmate of Kevin and Cody at Easytune.

Former recurring characters

Actor	Character	Seasons	Notes
Joseph Naufahu	Eli Fa'asalele	1,2	Cody's ex-husband and rugby player for the North Shore Giants. Currently residing in France.
Stephen Lovatt	Larry Smart	1,2	Amy, Scott and Possum's father, married to Alison.
Theresa Healey	Alison Smart	1,2	Amy and Scott's mother, married to Larry.
Jared Turner	Ben Maddox	1,2	Cody's former boyfriend and Possum's former teacher. He got involved with Cody, despite already being married to Helen (Sarah Somerville)
Ari Boyland	Scott Smart	1,2	Amy's brother and Possum's half-brother.
Gareth Reeves	Philippe	1,2	Eli's former boyfriend. Is devastated when Eli dumps him to marry Cody.
Blair Strang	Joseph Little	1,2	An actor Britta met in season one while she was an extra filming The Epic Tales of Zoltar. He later got his own spin off series. The two are later engaged for a short time in season 2.
Monique Bree	Kirby	1,2	One of the W.A.G.s (Wives and Girlfriends), of the rugby team, married to Zave (Te Kohe Tuhaka). Has an affair with Kevin in season 2.
Greg Johnson	Flinty	2	Eli's publicist who causes trouble for Cody.
Chris Widdup	Ross McCormack	2	Amy's bank manager who dated Britta once.
Brooke Williams	Wanda	1	Barmaid at 'The Taka' who was involved with Kevin
Shara Connolly	Candy McMann	1	Britta's younger sister. Has a brief fling with Kevin.
Dean O'Gorman	Marco	1	Britta's playboy ex.
Lynette Forday	Antonia Li	1	A reality show producer who was Amy's boss. Has a son, Gabriel (Caleb Griffiths) who Britta babysat.
Roy Ward	Don Parkin	1	Fran's deceased second husband who was briefly thought to be Britta's father.

Episodes

Main article: List of Go Girls episodes

External links

• TV review: Friends' chemistry enlivens Shore's answer to Westie icon
• Go Girls leads new season TV schedule