“Sweet Magnolias:” The Netflix Adaptation of Sherryl Woods’ Book Series

Sherryl Woods’ women’s fiction series of books, mixed with a little baseball, is turned into a TV show.

by Rich Watson

Earlier this year we discussed the Sherryl Woods novel Stealing Home, the first book in the “Sweet Magnolias” series (eleven books and counting). I had mentioned the series had been adapted into a Netflix program. I gave it a watch.

The soap opera aspect is greater as a TV show than as a book, but the baseball elements remain, so it’s worth mentioning here.

The basics behind Sweet Magnolias 

Woods is an executive producer on Sweet Magnolias (not to be confused with Steel Magnolias) along with showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson and Dan Paulson. One season—ten episodes—has aired to date. It’s done well so far: Season 1 rated a 78 on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.4 on IMDB.

Covington, Georgia stands in for the fictitious town of Serenity, South Carolina. Here’s an article on the town sometimes called “the Hollywood of the South.” The upcoming Season 2 moved to Madison, Georgia.

The stars are JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Maddie), Brooke Elliot (Dana Sue) and Heather Headley (Helen), with Justin Bruening (Cal), Chris Klein (Bill) Carson Rowland (Ty) and Jamie Lynn Spears (Noreen).

Maddie and Cal’s romance played out on screen

As you may recall, Maddie, a recent divorcee, falls for Cal, her son Ty’s baseball coach, but in small-town Serenity, their relationship sets tongues to wagging. 

Garcia Swisher and Bruening look good together—almost too good. She bears a close resemblance to Amy Adams, and he looks way too fashionable to be a Little League coach. One doesn’t doubt things will work in their favor. 

This subplot goes slower than I expected. The relationship ties closer to the baseball stuff on the show—for instance, there’s a storyline involving Ty’s teammate, the mayor’s bratty son, and his busybody mom—but overall it’s less dramatic on screen than in the book. I found that disappointing, but perhaps it was a result of balancing all the other subplots.

Meanwhile, Garcia Swisher and Klein have their share of tension. I have to wonder why he left her to begin with, especially for Spears (Britney’s sister, in case you didn’t know) who, pregnancy aside, looks like a child in comparison. Then again, maybe that’s the point? Garcia Swisher has a nice scene with Token Gay Friend in which she confesses her anxieties over her divorce from Klein and her fears about her potential future with Bruening.

JoAnna Garcia Swisher and her real-life baseball hubby

In one sense Garcia Swisher is well-cast as Maddie: she’s married to an actual ballplayer. Nick Swisher played outfield and first base for twelve years. You may recall reading about him in the book Moneyball, about the Oakland Athletics club whose frugality was key to their success. 

His best year was as an Athletic, when he hit 35 homers with 95 RBI in 2006. He was also part of the World Series Yankee club in 2009, when he had 29 homers and 82 RBI.

Swisher and Garcia dated in 2009 and got hitched a year later, in Florida. They have two daughters. In 2011 he appeared as himself in Better With You, his wife’s sitcom at the time. Here’s a sample article about the couple.

Sweet Magnolias subplots

Magnolias expands on Stealing Home to include story arcs from subsequent books in the series. 

Dana Sue has issues with her teenage daughter Annie, who isn’t happy with small-town life. Dana Sue is forced to fire the sous chef of her restaurant, but he doesn’t take it well. Meanwhile, Helen puts together the spa she’ll run with Dana Sue and Maddie, but an old flame returns to town and causes problems—and there’s more where that came from. The teens get lots of attention in the show, as do the senior characters, such as Maddie’s mom. There’s drama, but little truly feels earth-shaking—until the season finale, that is.

Elliot and Headley are fine, and with Garcia Swisher, they work as BFFs, drinking margaritas and confiding in each other. Of the primary cast, Klein and Spears are the only ones who put on Southern accents of any kind, especially Klein, which kinda makes him seem like he’s from another part of the South than everyone else, but whatever. 

Also, I feel it’s worth mentioning there are a number of POCs on this show in a variety of roles, young, old and in-between, and I find that gratifying.

Bottom line

The Stealing Home story as part of Magnolias is more compelling as a book. In the show, it’s one of a variety of subplots. Still, the program itself is good-hearted and easygoing, with kind and supportive characters at its core. 

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Have you watched Sweet Magnolias?