''City Life'' was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

that screened on TV 2 from 1996-–98. It was portrayed the lives and loves of ten singles who lived in an upmarket apartment building in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand. The show was touted as New Zealand's answer to ''Melrose Place''.''City Life'' TV Show - ''City Life'' Television Show - TV.com
/ref> The show starred

Claudia Black Claudia Lee Black (born 11 October 1972) is an Australian actress, best known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in ''Farscape'', Vala Mal Doran in ''Stargate SG-1'' and Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery in the film '' Pitch Black''. She has had promin ...

Lisa Chappell Lisa Irene Chappell (born 18 October 1968) is a New Zealand actress and musician. She is known for her roles as Chelsea Redfern in '' Gloss'' (1987–90), her acting debut, and as Claire McLeod in ''McLeod's Daughters'' (2001–03), a performanc ...

Laurie Foell Laurie Foell (born Laurence Foel on 10 February 1968) is an Argentinian-born Australian actress. She is best known for her portrayal of both Angela "Angie" Russell and her cousin Josie, in the successful Australian television soap opera '' H ...

and

Oliver Driver Oliver Driver (born 22 November 1974) is a New Zealand actor, director, broadcaster and television presenter. Television Driver was the host of ''Let's Be Frank'', and the Creative Director of New Zealand's only alternative music television st ...

and featured a guest appearance by well known New Zealand actor,

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

. The show had a long development period, and the original treatment for the show had it set in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

with the working title ''96 Oriental Parade''. However, it was decided to produce the show in Auckland instead, and as such, the shows setting was changed along with the name to ''City Life''. The first episode began with a controversial first scene, featuring a drunken Damon (Kevin Smith) who owned the apartment building, in a homosexual kiss with his former lover Ryan on the night before his wedding. Damon was later killed off in the same episode after being hit by a car on the way to his wedding, and he left his apartment building to all of his friends. However, Damon's fianceè vowed to fight for her share of Damon's estate, leading to a storyline that would span the show's first five episodes. The show initially rated well but executives were somewhat alarmed by a major drop in the show's audience in the first five minutes of the first episode (believed to be the result of the kiss between Damon and Ryan). Within weeks ratings had dropped to the point where the show was placed in a later timeslot. A few weeks later, the show was taken off air entirely, after ten episodes had been screened. The show was not brought back until late 1997, and the remaining episodes were screened until the beginning of 1998.

Cast and characters

as Angela Kostapas: A corporate lawyer, who later quits her cushy position and tries her hand at legal aid. She shares a past with Aaron (they had an affair and she ended up aborting his baby) and is accidentally responsible for the death of Damon South (

) in the first episode. * Jack Campbell as Aaron Kellett: Despite being a member of the wealthy Kellett family, Aaron is a somewhat shady character who shares a past with Angela. Aaron has made a career for himself in event management, organising dance parties and other similar events. During the course of the series he becomes involved with drug dealing. *Katrina Browne as Kristen Wood: A somewhat ditzy university student, Kristen considers herself to be a slacker and indulges herself by spending copious amounts of time on the internet discussing conspiracy theories. While this makes Kristen a nerd in the eyes of some, she is also spectacularly beautiful, a fact that Kristen seems totally unaware of. Kristen finally forms a relationship with her best friend Josh and loses her virginity to him after seemingly being frigid and uninterested in men throughout the series. *

as Bronwyn Kellett: Aaron's spoilt sister who runs an art gallery. Her privileged Pakeha views often clash with Wiki's Maori sensibilities, though the two are usually close friends. *

as Josh Gribble: An aspiring comedian. As one would expect, Josh is often the source of humour for the series and is best known for his sarcastic one liners. Josh develops a crush on his best friend Kristen, which eventually leads to a relationship. *

as Stephanie Cox: A former children's television presenter who longs to become a serious journalist. She is estranged from her parents as her father pimped her out to one of his friends when she was a teenager. This experience has affected her relationships with men. *John Freeman as Gideon Miller: An economist who used to work for the New Zealand treasury. He is known to his friends for his habit of one-night stands, but falls deeply in love with Siobhan (

Rachel Blakely Rachel Leigh Blakely (born 28 July 1968) is a Malaysian-born Australian-American actress. Her works include films such as ''Love Until'', '' Young Hercules'' and ''Counterstrike'', as well as guest appearances on television shows such as '' Xen ...

), a drug addict early in the series. *Michelle Huirama as Wiki Taylor: An aspiring actress. Her ambition to become famous often leads her into sticky situations, most notably when she is raped while filming a love scene for a movie. * Charles Mesure as Ryan Waters: A gay bartender, who begins the series in love with Damon South. Later on he agrees to donate sperm to his boss Mia (played by Donogh Rees), whose husband can't have children. Ryan has a habit of falling for men who do not return the same level of affection, such as his best friend Damon South and later Michael Lee (

Kenneth Moraleda Kenneth Moraleda (born 17 April 1973) is an actor. Of Filipino descent, Moraleda was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has lived in Seattle, the Philippines, Los Angeles and is now based in Sydney, Australia. Moraleda trained at Australia ...

). *Peter Muller as Hugh Campbell: A photographer who has the unfortunate curse of being unlucky in love, having a few disastrous flings over the course of the series.

Websites

http://www.tv.com/city-life/show/2481/summary.html

References

*Horrocks, Roger & Nick Perry (2004). ''Television in New Zealand: Programming the Nation'' p23 Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:City Life (Tv Series) 1990s New Zealand television series 1996 New Zealand television series debuts 1998 New Zealand television series endings English-language television shows New Zealand television soap operas Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television shows set in Auckland TVNZ 2 original programming Television series by South Pacific Pictures