The Glades

I've been in Florida for 35 years, working as both a script writer and newspaper editor. I've been on the sets of most of those made-in-Florida productions and invariably they try to over-sell the Sunshine State with the glamorous South Beach style that typifies almost every show since Miami Vice. The Glades, however, gets its right with stories about the warm heart of Central Florida, with stories most Florida shows forget. Instead of Cuban drug lords we get stories of the football heroes bred in Imokalee, the spiritualists in Cassadaga and the surfers in Melbourne. The cast is down-to-earth with the right accents and attitudes. Very shows have understood their material this well since Ivan Tors migrated to North Miami.