| Outrageous Fortune | |
|---|---|
The Season 6 title card |
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| Format | Comedy drama |
| Created by | James Griffin Rachel Lang |
| Developed by | South Pacific Pictures |
| Starring | Robyn Malcolm Antony Starr Siobhan Marshall Antonia Prebble Frank Whitten Kirk Torrance Grant Bowler Tammy Davis Nicole Whippy Shane Cortese Brian Sergent David Fane Craig Hall Elizabeth Hawthorne Sophie Henderson |
| Opening theme | Gutter Black, Hello Sailor |
| Ending theme | Gutter Black, Hello Sailor |
| Country of origin | New Zealand |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 107 (including 2-hour movie) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | James Griffin Rachel Lang Simon Bennett |
| Running time | 42 mins. (approx) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | TV3 |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | 12 July 2005 – 9 November 2010 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Outrageous Fortune was a New Zealand comedy/drama television series, which was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang and was produced by South Pacific Pictures. It finished airing its sixth and final season in New Zealand on 9 November 2010, making it the longest-running drama made in New Zealand.[1]
The central plot is that a family of criminals decide to go straight after the patriarch is jailed. Like the show itself, episodes take their names from Shakespeare quotations. The main characters each walk a fine line between right and wrong according to their respective values - the law, the criminal code of honour, loyalty to family, and respectability.
Contents |
| Season | Episodes | Year | Cost of Production | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | 2005 | $5.3 Million [2] | 263,000 [3] |
| 2 | 17 (Including Christmas Telemovie) | 2006 | $7.6 Million[2] | 311,000 [3] |
| 3 | 22 | 2007 | $9.9 Million [2] | 381,000 [3] |
| 4 | 18 | 2008 | $8.1 Million [2] | 453,000 [3] |
| 5 | 19 | 2009 | $9.1 Million[2] | 407,000[3] |
| 6 | 18 | 2010 | $8.6 Million[2] | 520,000[3] |
When career criminal Wolf West is jailed for four years for assorted criminal acts, his wife Cheryl makes the decision that the family will get honest employment, instead of continuing to embark on their life of crime. Wolf is not pleased about this, but there's not much he can do from jail. Cheryl is initially disillusioned by her attempts at earning a legal living, but she and a couple of her friends start a business called "Hoochie Mama" making and selling sexy underwear, all the while resisting the newly found attraction from policeman Wayne Judd. The West children Jethro, Van, Pascalle and Loretta all struggle to cope with the new found rules in their own ways, while Ted struggles to come to terms with his late wife.
In Season two, Wolf has been released on home detention. He has no intention of keeping to Cheryl's new rules on life. Judd is determined to tear him away from Cheryl, and attempts to entice Wolf to break his parole so that he is returned to prison. Wolf escapes home detention and Judd moves in, much to the horror of the children. Pascalle starts to date Indian doctor Bruce, Van finds the love of his life Aurora and Loretta starts to date much older man Hayden. Jethro shocks his mother when he reveals he is still a criminal and only doing law to learn how to break the law more successfully. The season ends on Wolf framing Judd for a robbery he committed.
This one off two hour TV movie followed on from season 2.
The West family, as well as Aurora, Eric and Munter go camping at Tutaekuri Bay, a magical place where they have gone camping every year at Christmas. Tutaekuri means "dog shit" in Māori.[4]
The third Season sees Cheryl still battling to keep her family on the straight and narrow. Both the men in her life are inside – Wolf after turning himself in to the cops as part of his master plan to frame Judd; Judd because he fell in love with the wrong woman - Wolf’s woman. She borrows money from Gary Savage to pay for a lawyer for Judd, which results in his release but the debt causes a strain in their relationship. Pascalle breaks up with Bruce after he sees her porn movie and Aurora dies in a road accident, spiraling Van into depression. Loretta is devastated when Hayden edits their film for commercial gain, breaks up with him and burns down his house, only to discover she is pregnant. Jethro finds love in Danielle, a solo mum and ex wife of Gary. Ted becomes suspicous of Gary and tracks down Wolf, only to find Gary is Wolf's half brother. Over the season Munter develops a relationship with Kasey and marries her in the final.
A fourth season of the show was confirmed on the show's official site, with 18 episodes commissioned. TV3 began screening an advertisement in May 2008. The season premiered on Tuesday 17 June 2008 at 9:30pm on TV3.
The family is brought together when Cheryl talks Loretta out of adopting out her baby, which she names Jane. Cheryl having broken up with Judd, starts to feel towards Wolf again, who is in a rocky relationship with much younger Sheree. Sheree's dodgey brother Nicky arrives and falls for Pascalle, who has married a millionaire named Milt. Milt dies, leaving Pascalle a fortune, that Nicky attempts to steal by dating Pascalle. Jethro is forced to run away when he is blamed for Nicky's drugs being destroyed and Van starts an affair with Sheree. Loretta and Jethro set Wolf up for burglary and Cheryl returns to Judd, becoming pregnant. Sheree also becomes pregnant, either to Van, Wolf or Jethro. Hayden returns to care for his child and Ted marries the scheming Ngaire. Pascalle becomes engaged to the dodgey Nicky much to her family's disbelief.
New Zealand On Air allocated NZ$9,107,650 to produce Season Five of Outrageous Fortune, which ran for 19 episodes. Season Five premiered at 9.30pm on Tuesday 2 June 2009.
New policemen Zane Gerard becomes a fixture in the West's lives, due to his past involvement with Sheree and Nicky. Van is pressured into narking, infuriating Sheree when she finds out. Loretta's past feelings for Hayden return and Jethro starts up a party pill business. Nicky truely falls for Pascalle, enraging Sheree who makes off with Pascalle's millions and attempts to murder Van. Pascalle breaks up with Nicky and dates Gerard while Cheryl loses her baby. Loretta gets back together with Hayden and the two decide to marry as so they get custody of Jane. Ted ends up in prison for robbery and is helped out by Nicky, causing he and Pascalle to get back together. The season ends with Gerard trying to arrest Pascalle for assault, only to be stabbed in the neck by Cheryl and turning round to fire three bullets in her direction.
Season 6 returned on 13 July 2010 at a new time slot of 8.30pm. John Campbell appeared as a news reporter in a small cameo.[5] The season is the last for the series,[6] and will reach its hallmark 100th episode. Ten-second promos started airing for the show on 14 June. The West family house set will be on show in Auckland Museum for six months after the series ends.
Pascalle takes a bullet but survives, while Gerard dies and Cheryl is imprisoned for murder. Van starts to see his lawyer Bailey, only to learn she is dating Jethro. Loretta opens up a brothel while Nicky escapes prison and tries to take Pascalle with him. The two break up and Sheree reveals where her children are, with Van becoming a part time father to them. Judd and Pascalle develop feelings for eachother and start an affair, disgusting Ted. Cheryl's charges are dropped and she is devastated to learn about Judd, finally forgiving him in the season finale. Pascalle and Judd leave, while Van marries the Russian Elena. Loretta, Hayden and Jane continue to be a happy family and Jethro fulfills his mother fixation. The series ends on Cheryl realizing how her rules have changed the family and how much better they have become.
| Outrageous Fortune – Series One | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | Australia | |||
| 8 December 2005 | 1 March 2008 | |||
| Outrageous Fortune – Series Two | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | Australia | |||
| 15 March 2007 | 3 May 2008 | |||
| Outrageous Fortune – Series Three | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | Australia | |||
| 25 March 2008 | 4 August 2008 | |||
| Outrageous Fortune – Series Four | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | Australia | |||
| 13 November 2008 | 30 June 2009 | |||
| Outrageous Fortune – Series Five | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | Australia | |||
| 15 October 2009 | 12 May 2010 | |||
| Outrageous Fortune – Series Six | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | Australia | |||
| 17 November 2010 | 11 May 2011[9] | |||
| Outrageous Fortune – The Choice Series 1-3: Limited Edition | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| Australia | ||||
| 3 November 2008 | ||||
| Outrageous Fortune – The Complete Series 1-5 | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| Australia | ||||
| 13 October 2010 | ||||
| Outrageous Fortune – Serial Offenders - The Complete Collection | ||||
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| Set details | Special features | |||
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| Release dates | ||||
| New Zealand | ||||
| 17 November 2010 | ||||
Two compilation soundtracks have been released for the show, and both draw on New Zealand music. The title track for the series is Hello Sailor's "Gutter Black".
Versions of the series have been produced in the United Kingdom and United States. The UK remake, "Honest" was produced for ITV by the independent production company Greenlit. The first episode aired on 9 January 2008, and the show ran for a single season.
The US remake, titled Scoundrels, premiered in June 2010 to mixed reviews. A previous adaptation developed by Rob Thomas, entitled Good Behavior, failed to be picked up for broadcast by any networks.[11] After its initial 8 episode run, Scoundrels was not picked up for another season.