Nail salon at center of comedy- drama

The new TNT drama “Claws” features no animals, but the series about five manicurists working in a Florida nail salon has no shortage of wild behavior.

The show doesn’t center on girl fights; instead, “claws” refers to the manicurists’ over-the-top custom designs that transform fingers and toes into miniature objets d’art.

Show creator Eliot Laurence, also a coexecutive producer, said he has long been fascinated with the culture of nail salons.

The series stars Niecy Nash (“Reno 911”) as Desna, owner of Nail Artisans of Manatee County, who lives life to the fullest.

Desna’s smooth-talking, heavily tattooed lover, Roller (Jack Kesy), feels perfectly comfortable dropping by the salon during business hours for a tryst with Desna.

But Desna also has her worries. She cares for her mentally ill brother,

Dean (Harold Perrineau). Her employees include Polly (Carrie Preston), who recently served time in prison for identity theft, and Virginia (Karrueche Tran), who is openly bored with her job.

Worst of all, Roller is running a barely legal pain clinic and using Desna’s business to launder huge profits.

Desna wants out of the arrangement, but Roller won’t let her.

Executive producer Janine Sherman Barrois labels the series “Florida noir,” the crime genre popularized by Carl Hiaasen and Jeff Lindsay.

“Normally you have all these bad things happening in the darkness,” Barrois said by phone. “But with a Florida noir show, you can have things happen in the light and under the bright sun — which is absurd.”