Florida Girls Makes Me *almost* Wish I Was From Florida

Today I wanted to write about a new show that had me along for the ride within the first 10 minutes, Florida Girls. Florida Girls created by and starring Laura Chinn is about exactly what the title suggests, some girls in Florida. Ordinarily I probably* wouldn’t have watched this show, but I saw Laura Chinn speak on a panel about pilots at ATX and I wanted to check her show out. After the panel I looked up the show to see when it would air and made a mental note to watch it once it premiered. Well you know how mental notes go, they don’t. So I forgot and it wasn’t until I was trying to watch season 5 of Schitt’s Creek on the Pop Now app that I was reminded. After finishing Schitt’s Creek (maybe I’ll write a post about Schitt’s Creek?). I knew my next venture would be Florida Girls. I had to act quickly because I was using a free trial of Youtube TV and only had 5 days to get through everything I wanted to get through on the Pop Now app. 

*I say probably because sometimes I just turn on the first show that pops up and see where it takes me

Pop TV

Seven minutes into the pilot and I was snapping a clip of it to send to my best friend. There was a scene where Chinn’s character, Shelby, was trying to convince one of the girls, Jayla to pawn her necklace and just say that she lost it. Jayla’s response was, “Ain’t nobody tryna wife a bitch who lose shit.” Personally I wouldn’t know, but she kind of sounds like she’s onto something. Twelve minutes into the show and I was fully laughing out loud. Florida Girls was shockingly funny and I was into it. 

Florida Girls is about a group of working class women that have been friends since childhood living together in a trailer home in Florida. The show starts with one of the friends moving away after getting her GED in the pursuit of a better life. The departure of their friend sparks a fire within Shelby. She’s decided that she deserves more out of life and wants to get her GED to make it happen. The show follows the outright of shenanigans that occur in the groups day to day life all while Shelby is trying to better herself and educate her friends along the way. Her friends, however, have different plans. Jayla has a sugar daddy she’s trying to convince to marry her, Erica is great at stealing stuff, and Kaitlin has this tough exterior but deep down is terrified of change and wants things to stay exactly the way that they are. On top of Shelby’s journey to greatness she also deals with being biracial, but passing for White. Her friends constantly crack jokes about her not being Black enough so she is alway trying remind and convince people of her identity.

Pop Tv

These girls, as ridiculous as they may be, just seem familiar. They feel like a true group of friends. They call each other out when they’re being unsupportive or when they’re making poorer choices than usual or even when Erica steals one of their belongings. They support one another (for the most part) and at the end of the day they love each other. Jayla is never shy when it comes to calling out one of the girls for being problematic and Shelby constantly tries to tell them that women deserve better while also trying to convince herself of this fact.
I’m not from Florida, but somehow this all seems like it’s on brand for the sunshine state. Currently there is no news of whether the series will be renewed or not, but for now it is available for viewing on the Pop Now app. Florida Girls airs Wednesday nights on the Pop TV network.

–T

**If nothing above has sparked your interest, what if I told you that there’s a recurring character that just whips his penis out at the bar? (probably won’t change your mind, but I just wanted to share that)