'Claws' come out in TNT's new salon-set Niecy Nash drama

While nails are being done, “Claws” come out, at least at one salon.

The sometimes shaky relationships of several Florida manicurists fuel a serio-comic TNT series - premiering Sunday, June 11 - that includes Rashida Jones, “Criminal Minds” alum Janine Sherman Barrois and filmmaker Howard Deutch among its executive producers. Niecy Nash plays the owner of the salon, where employees with very colorful backgrounds are portrayed by Judy Reyes, Carrie Preston, Jenn Lyon and Karrueche Tran.

“We all collectively, I think, agree that we had not seen this show on television,” says Nash, whose character tries to balance the histrionics at her shop with tending to her mentally ill twin brother (played by “Lost” alum Harold Perrineau). “We couldn't find it in the moment, so we were so happy to be a part of telling this particular story about women in this very weird way ... and intense. A weird and intense way.”

“It's about these women who are prevailing in whatever way,” Preston adds, “and I think today, women are trying to prevail as much as possible. The matriarchy is a little compromised at this moment, so to read a script like this, that's about a tribe of women who are not after each other ... certainly, these characters are true sisters, and they're family and they've created this situation where they can prevail together. They don't have to do it alone.”

Though “Claws” largely is female-driven, it also incorporates men pivotally, such as the pain-clinic operator (Jack Kesy) who uses the nail salon for money laundering. Also in the mix: a manicurist's husband (Kevin Rankin), who is struggling to stay sober, just as she is; a drug-clinic doctor (Jason Antoon); and a high-ranking criminal in the so-called Dixie Mafia (“Breaking Bad” veteran Dean Norris).

Created by Eliot Laurence, also an executive producer of the show, the New Orleans-filmed “Claws” is letting Jones - who concludes her third season of the TBS comedy “Angie Tribeca” Monday, June 12 - continue to develop the behind-the-scenes skills she also used with creative partner Will McCormack (who's involved in “Claws” as well) on the 2012 movie “Celeste and Jesse Forever.”

“Partnership is everything,” Jones reasons. “I think my biggest talent is just allowing people who are really talented into my life to help me and guide me to be a better producer, a better writer, a better actress ... all that. Like this, for instance, with the synergy of meeting Eliot and Will and Janine and being a part of the show. I just feel lucky to be around them. And everybody works so hard and everybody is so talented, I get to take a moderate amount of credit for that.”