When it comes to cultural tests used to measure how online someone is, the Florida Man meme is one of the top tier ones available. For years, the words have showcased the bizarre and weird in reports and now, Netflix is trying to profit off of them.
The streaming service dropped a trailer for their new Florida Man limited series on YouTube earlier today, and it appears it will not be skipping out on the kooky and crazy. The comedy drama follows a disgraced former policeman (Édgar Ramírez) who has to go back to Florida to find a gangster’s wayward girlfriend, and, along the way, several scenes appear to be ripped from the headlines.
For those unaware, about 10 years ago, people began to notice a number of unusual crimes made the news in Florida. Because of the way news headlines are written, the joke is they could often be attributed to Florida Man (or Florida Woman) and the pair would be the world’s worst super-heroic individuals. One shot towards the end of the teaser shows a man appearing to rob a store with a sword (this actually happened), another appears to be damaging law enforcement property (again, real) and, the character played by Anthony LaPaglia tells another the state is an off the rails place and far from the Disneyworld positivity most assume.
“This ain’t Disneyworld anymore.”
The show is produced by Jason Bateman, will have seven episodes, and all of them premiere April 13. In the meantime, two Florida men are likely to run for president, and, on the “overt crimes” front, a Florida man got arrested for slapping a woman with a piece of pizza during an argument, and an unknown Florida woman is breaking into people’s yards and relieving herself before leaving. She is described by police as having a “shiny rear end” and others have nicknamed her the “Spring Break Squatter.”
Again, this is real. What a place. The Florida Man show also features Abbey Lee, Otmara Marrero, Leonard Earl Howze, and Clark Gregg — of one-time Marvel Cinematic Universe fame — as Deputy Sheriff Ketcher, though he will be in a recurring and not a regular role. If you want to check out other Florida Man headlines, you can see the best we rounded up here, too. One has a person who tried to shoplift a chainsaw by stuffing it down his pants, and, bafflingly, a man with no arms and legs was once an armed fugitive there, too.
