''Nothing Trivial'' is a New Zealand comedy-drama television series, produced by

South Pacific Pictures South Pacific Pictures is a New Zealand television production company. The company produces drama series, mini-series, telemovies and feature films for the domestic market and international market. SPP's largest property is ''Shortland Street'' ...

. The series is created by the duo of Gavin Strawhan and the co-creator of ''Outrageous Fortune'',

Rachel Lang Rachel Lang is a New Zealand television screenwriter, executive producer and actor. She co-created the television series '' Outrageous Fortune, Go Girls, This Is Not My Life, Mercy Peak, Nothing Trivial, The Blue Rose'', and ''Filthy Rich''. Sh ...

. The pair, who also created the shows ''

Go Girls ''Go Girls'' is a New Zealand comedy-drama television series that centers on four adult friends, three female and one male, living on Auckland's North Shore. In the fifth season it was the same premise, but this time centered on five adult fr ...

'' and ''

This Is Not My Life ''This Is Not My Life'' is a New Zealand television mystery-thriller which originally aired from 29 July to 14 October 2010 on Television New Zealand's TV One. Plot Set in the 2020s, the show centres on Alec Ross (Charles Mesure) who awake ...

'', both write and executive produce the show. The series is set around five characters who meet at a

pub quiz A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. Pub quizzes may attract customers to a pub who are not found there on other days. The pub quiz i ...

. All share the characteristic of being unlucky in love. The series began airing on TV One in July 2011 and the first episode had the highest number of viewers of any locally-made drama debut since 2000.

Cast

Primary

Shane Cortese Shane Cortese (born 13 August 1968) is a New Zealand actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role of Mac on Nothing Trivial, Loki on the Almighty Johnsons and Hayden Peters on hit show '' Outrageous Fortune''. He was also a runner-up ...

plays Mac Delany; an advertising guy with a heart of gold who specializes in general knowledge. *

Tandi Wright Tandi Wright (born 4 May 1966) is a New Zealand actress. She first gained recognition for portraying Nurse Caroline Buxton on the long running New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street''. She is best known for her roles as Fenn Partington on ''S ...

plays Catherine Duvall; an attractive, intelligent and acerbic doctor who specializes in medicine, science, and anything about France. * Blair Strang plays Brian King; a plumber and serial womanizer who specializes in sports, eighties music and geography. *

Nicole Whippy Nicole Whippy (1977 or 1978) is a New Zealand actress who has been in a number of television series and is best known for her role as Kasey Mason in the hit comedy-drama '' Outrageous Fortune''. She is also known for her current role as Cece Ki ...

plays Michelle Hardcastle; a franchise owner and vengeful recently divorced wife who specializes in celebrity gossip. * Debbie Newby-Ward plays Emma Wedgewood; a teacher and eternal optimist who does good sympathy and specializes in food and animals.

Secondary

* Will Hall plays Cory; The antagonistic leader of the opposition pub team * Katherine Kennard plays Jo Delany; Mac's vindictive ex-wife and mother of his children *Barnie Duncan plays Scotty; Michelle's philandering ex-husband * Aaron Ward as the Quiz Master; The man who runs the quiz * Manon Blackman plays Celeste Duvall; Catherine's teenage daughter *

Elizabeth Hawthorne Elizabeth Hawthorne (born 30 April 1947) is a New Zealand actress who is known for her role as Mrs. Macready in the 2005 film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' and the Peter Jackson supernatural comedy ''Th ...

plays Anne; Catherine's mother *

Tim Balme Timothy Guy Balme (born 18 January 1967) is a New Zealand actor and screenwriter. He's most well known for his roles on the long-running soap opera ''Shortland Street'' and '' Mercy Peak'', as well as lead roles in the cult favourites '' Braind ...

plays Jules; Celeste's father * Simon Mead plays Noah Delany; Mac & Jo's elder son * Dylan Holmes plays Frank Delany; Mac & Jo's younger son *

Jason Hoyte Jason Hoyte is a New Zealand screen and voice actor and radio DJ. He has at least 25 television shows to his credit and is best known for his roles as Steve Mudgeway in ''Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby'' and Malcolm "Smudge" in ''Nothing Trivial' ...

plays Smudge; Mac's business partner, real name Malcolm. *

Mark Mitchinson Mark Mitchinson (born 6 July 1966) is an English-born New Zealand actor. He trained at the Guildhall School of Speech and Drama in London. He won an award for his portrayal of convicted murderer Colin Bouwer in the television drama ''Bloodlines ...

plays David Manning. Michelle's therapist in season 3. Cortese said that the cast were already friends before filming started.

Production

In November 2010 it was confirmed that the creators of

had created a new show and it may be airing on TV One. In December 2010 funding was approved for the show and

NZ on Air NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission oper ...

representatives were said to be excited. 6.9 million was given to the show for a 13 episode run. In March 2011 it was confirmed the show will air later in the year and was described as; "a light-hearted and comedic drama based around five friends with two things in common: a pub quiz and the fact that each of them is unlucky or unhappy in love." Blair Strang,

and Debbie Newby-Ward were announced to be in the cast. The show made its debut in July 2011. On 10 October 2011 it was announced that funding had been given for a second season. On 13 March 2014,

New Zealand on Air NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission ope ...

confirmed that they will help fund a two-hour telemovie to give fans closure.

Reception

The show was met with commercial and critical acclaim. The show gained the record of the highest number of viewers of any locally-made drama debut since 2000. Deborah Hill Cone from the

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

stated; "The writing on Nothing Trivial is good enough to have been penned by the guru of romantic comedy,

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

(

Four Weddings and A Funeral ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle ...

Bridget Jones's Diary ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding. A co-production of the United Kingdom, United States and France, it is based on Fielding's 1 ...

). The characters in Nothing Trivial really come alive from the first episode. They seem like people you could know but, of course, wittier... It is a treat." While Simon Wilson agreed with the well structured writing, saying; "(The writing) is witty, it's sharp, it's very tightly put together. The people are walking clusters of mistakes and they are trying to come to terms with that and deal with that. The series will become a celebration of friendship and where friendships might lead. If you do that well, it makes charming television and they are so far doing it well." Melanie Parkes of

Yahoo Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...

also stated; ""The humour is uniquely and distinctly Kiwi... You don't have to be interested in competitive quizzing to enjoy Nothing Trivial, although if you're a regular pub quizzer yourself, you'll certainly find something pleasantly familiar about it." It was reported in August 2011 that pub quizzes were receiving a huge surge in popularity due to the success of ''Nothing Trivial''.

List of episodes

Season 1: 2011

Season 2: 2012

Season 3: 2013

Telemovie: 2014

References

{{reflist 2010s New Zealand television series 2011 New Zealand television series debuts 2013 New Zealand television series endings English-language television shows New Zealand comedy-drama television series Television series by All3Media Television series by South Pacific Pictures Television shows filmed in New Zealand Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television shows set in Auckland TVNZ 1 original programming