The star is from Australia. The executive producer runs the show from Los Angeles. The pilot was shot in Georgia and St. Petersburg.
Otherwise, “The Glades” is all South Florida, for the most part
. The A&E; cop drama has set up headquarters in a converted warehouse in Pembroke Park. However, the show is there only two days out of the seven set aside for each episode. The rest of the time, it’s on location all over town.
This makes for unexpected star-watching. You never know where you might run into the show filming.
For a lucky few, it’s a fiscal windfall. One recent day, the set was the Pompano home of Bryan and Jessica King. At one point, 18 people were packed into the sweltering kitchen area, as a hostage standoff was filmed in the living room. A scene that will go just longer than a minute in the show was filmed again and again for more than four hours. (This is why it takes seven days to shoot 40 minutes.)
The Kings and their neighbors had set up beach chairs under shade trees on a lawn across the street to watch their home become a TV star – a well-paid TV star. Allowing “The Glades” to film in their home “was very lucrative,” Jessica King said. “It will help pay for our windstorm insurance.”
“The Glades” production schedule has the cast and crew in Broward through Labor Day, shooting the dozen episodes in addition to the pilot. The hope is this will be an annual occurrence for the next five years or so.
Conceptually, the series breaks no new ground: a charismatic irreverent and incredibly resourceful cop, feeling his way through a new base of operations. It will succeed or fail on the appeal of the cast, primarily the chemistry of its engaging stars, Matt Passmore and Kiele Sanchez.
Passmore plays Jim Longworth, a hunky, easy-living homicide detective from Chicago. He relocated after his captain accused him of sleeping with his wife. Jim says he didn’t, although everyone else in the squad room did. The captain didn’t believe him. Seeing Jim operate around women, this is understandable. The boss put a bullet in his back, which left Jim with an ugly scar and a handsome settlement.
The latter allowed him to be choosey about where to resume his career. He opted for fictional Palm Glade because it struck him as a quiet town not likely to see many murders. This would allow him to indulge in his passion, golf, every day. “If it gets busy, I’m out of here,” he confides to a friend.
Of course, it does. By then, he has another reason to stay – Callie Cargill.
Callie (Sanchez) is a nurse studying to become a doctor. Her path intersects Jim’s when he suffers an only-in-Florida injury.
It’s infatuation at first sight for him. She’s more reserved because of some heavy baggage: a husband doing hard time at Raiford and their 12-year-old son, Jeff. Jim’s creative persistence – a key is winning over Jeff as an ally – gets Callie gradually to lower her guard.
Playing Jim is an actor’s dream, Passmore said. “The character gives me a lot to work with. He doesn’t give a crap. That’s liberating. Also, his No. 1 objective is not to be bored.”
Getting into character was a breeze, the man from Down Under said. “Jim is a fish out of water in Florida, and I’m kind of the same.”
“Matt’s terrific,” executive producer Clifton Campbell said. “He totally gets the character.”
In many ways, Passmore totally is the character.
Passmore swam in Florida waters several years ago. “I backpacked from Daytona to the Keys. But I don’t remember much, just flashes of bikinis, tequila and hangovers.”
The only drawback to the job: “I’m working my ass off in a place that feels like a holiday.”
A typical day starts at 5 a.m. in the makeup chair, he says, and night shooting often goes past midnight. He’s in almost every scene, so he’s always on call.
He lets loose on weekends. “I found a couple of local bars, a sports bar and an Irish pub. That’s pretty much all I need.”
There is one other little thing. Passmore is a wild fan of Australian Rules Football, but he has been unable to find a bar that can pick up a sports channel that shows the games. He’s been getting the results from a friend on Twitter, a tweet at a time. “That can be maddening,” he said.
Broward had an inside track in landing “The Glades.” Campbell grew up in Hialeah.
Miami was taken by “Burn Notice,” so he shifted north. Besides, he said, “I wanted to capture a specific part of Florida that hasn’t been exploited.”
Selling Broward was a snap. “A&E; fell in love with the environment,” Campbell said.
The pilot was shot largely in Georgia for practical reasons. “I wanted to take advantage of the tax credits Georgia was offering,” Campbell said.
Florida had already expended its 2009 budget when he began filming before Christmas. Once the new year brought new money, the state did everything it could to bring the show to Broward, he said. “It’s very friendly to the business.”
It’s an investment that gives back. The mainline stars and top-of-the-line production people – Timothy Busfield directed the episode shot in Pompano – are mostly imported from Hollywood. “Everybody else is from Florida,” Campbell said. “We use a lot of Florida actors.”
Also Florida homes and businesses. “We rent as many as the budget allows.”
Broward hotels and restaurants benefit, too. Passmore, for example, is put up in a beachfront hotel from April through September.
He’s a handsome guy, so he gets hit on a lot. One produced a memory he’ll carry home. “An 80-year-old woman tried to pick me up.”
Don’t be surprised if that works its way into “The Glades.”
Tom Jicha can be reached at tjicha@sun sentinel.com
On TV
Program
: “The Glades”
Airs
: 10 p.m. Sundays on A
