Pubdate: Sat, 06 Aug 2005
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2005 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365
Author: Douglas Durden
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

TV: SHOWTIME'S NEW 'WEEDS'

Showtime Show Not All (If Any) Hugs & Kisses

What is love? asks Showtime's new "Weeds" repeatedly and with a caustic 
sense of humor that won't appeal to everyone.

Is it the mom who, after the sudden death of her husband, becomes a drug 
dealer to keep her family in the middle-class lifestyle it's accustomed to?

Or is it the mom who constantly nags her preteen daughter to lose weight 
because the world doesn't like chubby women?

"Weeds," which previews at 11 p.m. tomorrow before moving to 10 Mondays 
(with several weekly repeats), is also quizzing viewers about their 
expectations of humor.

Like an increasing number of half-hour shows -- more on cable, but Fox's 
"Arrested Development" is also an example "Weeds" isn't asking its 
audiences to laugh, but to wince. You have to work really hard to find 
anyone to like, at least among the adults, and even if you can, you might 
be wondering, what's the point?

Although "Weeds" isn't a "Desperate Housewives" rip-off -- it was in the 
works before ABC's hit was on the air -- it has a similar 
secrets-of-the-suburbs theme.

Everyone in the well-manicured neighborhood of Agrestic, Calif., has 
something to hide, although they don't do a very good job of hiding it.

Nancy Botwin, for instance, is your friendly neighborhood drug dealer, 
including an accountant and a lawyer among her regulars. She won't sell to 
children, and she wouldn't miss her son's grief counseling. But past that, 
Nancy doesn't have too many rules in her life.

Nancy is played by Mary-Louise Parker, whose kitten-in-the-headlights stare 
works well for a woman who apparently has no skills to rely on other than 
her ability to move pot.

Nancy has two sons she's raising in between trips to her supplier and her 
clients. And by the way, her supplier and her family could be their own series.

Shane (Alexander Gould), a precious 8-year-old, watches home videos of his 
late father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a ringer for Robert Downey Jr. if Downey 
could look utterly happy) and pretends to be a super hero. Silas (Hunter 
Parrish) is a 15-year-old obsessed with the opposite sex.

Another secret that a lot of people know about in Agrestic, Calif., is the 
fact that Nancy's friend Celia has a husband who's cheating on her with a 
female tennis pro.

Celia is played by Elizabeth Perkins, who becomes less lovable with each 
subsequent role in her career.

Celia is the Medea of the middle class with two daughters to torment. She 
ships 15-year-old Quinn off to a boarding school in Mexico by the end of 
episode one. Not so lucky is Isabel (Allie Grant), the chubby one, at least 
in her mom's critical eye.

For all of her faults, Nancy is a devoted mother. Celia is also devoted -- 
to herself. You can tell she takes it as a personal affront that Isabel 
isn't rail thin. She mocks her daughter and worse.

Isabel will get her revenge several episodes in. So does her older sister 
Quinn, who makes sure her mother finds out about dad's affair.

Yeah, ABC's desperate housewives are starting to look a whole lot less 
desperate -- and a lot nicer.

"Desperate" creator Marc Cherry also has more affection for the suburbs 
than "Weeds" creator Jenji Kohan, obvious from Kohan's choice of theme 
song, "Little Boxes," an anti-establishment folk song from the '60s. 
("Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, Little 
boxes . . . all the same.")

Male characters include Andy Milder as Celia's nebbish husband, Kevin 
Nealon as Nancy's accountant (and chief client), and starting in episode 
four, Justin Kirk as Nancy's bad-boy brother-in-law, Andy. Andy counsels 
nephew Silas on sex (just do it) and buys Shane a set of nunchuks.

(Casting trivia note: Parker and Kirk both starred in HBO's "Angels in 
America.")

Teen hunk Justin Chatwin (Tom Cruise's son in "War of the Worlds") shows up 
in episode one as Nancy's drug-dealing competition, who asks Nancy to help 
him restock.

Doing his best Pauly Shore impersonation, Chatwin's character explains that 
the midnight showing of "Winged Migration" ate up all his supplies -- but 
not as much as "The Passion of the Christ" did.

"People got stoned for 'The Passion of the Christ?'" asks Nancy, horrified. 
"That's disturbing."

"Not as disturbing as not getting stoned," Chatwin answers. "It's a 
straight-up snuff film."

Remember, nowhere did we imply this was a family comedy.
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