Go Girls, the local comedy/drama series focusing on a group of friends on Auckland’s North Shore, returns to TV2 this week, but with a very different cast.
The original friends have moved on with only Britta’s troublesome sister Candy providing a link between the old and the new.
We may not have a bottle of tequila or a beach handy but it seems only fitting that the TV Guide asks George Mason and Shara Connolly, two of the new cast of Go Girls, what their personal quest is for 2013.
After a few ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ it becomes obvious why tequila is usually involved in the process on screen.
“I don’t know if I want to be honest,” Mason laughs. “My quest was to get Go Girls.”
“It’s kind of like a New Year’s resolution,” Connolly says. “That’s a tough one. It’s been such a good year so far. It’s really not a quest but I hope that this new series makes the fans happy and it’s received well.”
“My quest is to surf some good waves in Bali,” Mason says. “I’m going there when I finish for five weeks and spending a bit of time in Australia also.”
It is not surprising that the pair’s hopes lie with the show because season five is just a little bit different.
Connolly’s character Candy McMann, the troublesome younger sister of Britta, is back and along with Connolly’s character Ted Keegan and his friends Bennie, Alice and Levi they are replacing Kevin, Britta, Cody, Amy and Brad as the core cast of the Kiwi comedy.
Naturally, the new cast were nervous taking the reins of Go Girls.
“It’s really exciting,” Connolly says. “I mean, of course it’s a bit daunting, having worked with the past cast who were awesome. I’m so grateful that I got this opportunity and I’m just having fun with it.”
New to the set this year, Mason replaces Jay Ryan as the down-to-earth narrator who holds his group of friends together.
“I’m new but I feel like I’m part of the clockwork now,” Mason says.
“I suppose initially we were like, ‘These are some big boots to fill’ but nah, this new Go Girls cast is awesome… We’re not the same as the old cast necessarily which is awesome but it’s still totally Go Girls. It’s still there.”
Connolly and Mason insist that although the show is different, it still has that same Go Girls feel.
“The same rule applies,” Mason says. “It’s 25 year olds, where is my life going It is like that in real life.”
“It’s great because the aesthetic sort of changes,” Connolly says. “The fashions are different, it’s a different looking thing but the crux of it is still there, you know
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“There’s still the same issues they had there at the beginning and I think that’s quite sweet, how it comes back round and everyone’s facing the same things.”
“Yeah, it’s always same, same but different,” Mason adds. “That’s always the way I look at it. Ted’s a landscaper and Kev was a mechanic, but it’s still quite blokey, salt-of-the-earth stuff, you know But they’re still very, very different characters.”
Mason thought that the role of Ted was perfect for him and admits that they have a lot in common.
“I did do a bit of landscaping work,” he says. “I’m an actor so when I’m unemployed I’m always doing lots of different work. I suppose Ted’s not that far away from me… He’s an ‘outdoorsy’ sort of guy. He plays the guitar, he’s a surfer and they’re all quite similar traits to me.
“I’m only 22 and Ted’s 25 but I like to think that he’s a bit more easily misled than George is, but other people might beg to differ.”
Candy, on the other hand, is the bad girl of the group, who Ted believes is intent on ruining his life. Consequently, she is a little harder for Connolly to relate to.
“There are some things that initially were a bit confronting to play,” she says. “But now I’m really used to it. There are some things that I see in her that are really great qualities and I try to bring out as many warm, nice qualities as I can, when it’s allowed. She’s quite in your face and sometimes I just think, ‘Don’t do that’. But it’s really fun playing her.”
Ted and Candy are enemies from their days at school together where Candy was a bully; but is there a fine line between love and hate
“Mine and Shara’s relationship is love/hate,” Mason quips.
“Aww, it’s just love,” Shara laughs. “Candy just wants to be mates. She’s like, ‘Get over it, Ted. What’s your problem’ ”
WHEN: TV2 Tuesday
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