If you thought The Glades was a new sitcom about a dysfunctional yet aromatic family of air fresheners, you're wrong. That show, The Stick-Ups, doesn't debut until fall.
The Glades, which premiered last night on the A&E network, is actually a detective drama set in a fictional South Florida town called Palm Glades. Matt Passmore -- a former reality show contestant -- plays Detective Jim Longworth, a dude with a buffalo-sized chip on his shoulder.
The good news (at least for Passmore) is that the show debuted to virtually unanimous
positive reviews.
The LA Times said the drama is "an accomplished if occasionally vexing affair." CBS News pronounced it "surprisingly funny." TV Squad picked the show's lead as the next hunky cop to fire up small-screen fans: "Passmore will be a breakout star," it predicted. "He's not well-known, but he will be."
Also starring in the series as Passmore's love interest is Kiele Sanchez, best-known for Lost.
Though parts of the pilot were filmed in the Tampa Bay area, the rest of the season is to be shot in Miami.
The Glades' faux hamlet of Palm Glades could be a geographical pastiche of Belle Glade, Clewiston, or Pahokee -- it's poised on the edge of Big Sugar and the big swamp but close enough to the Gold Coast to go golfing in style.
