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"Weeds" (2005)

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63 comments in total

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104 out of 126 people found the following comment useful :-
Little Showtime, Happy at Last, 27 July 2005
Author: nick rostov from Los Angeles, California

This show is as good as it gets. As in, Six Feet Under good, without being any kind of clone: it's its own magical world, of which there will be many future clones, but nothing will ever come close to this for wit, emotion, pacing, or perfection of casting. This show says This Is Us like nothing I've seen in a long time. Showtime has done some good shows, and they've been getting better (after decades of astonishingly lazy creative thinking) but in Weeds the we-try-harder network finally has a true destination series. For one thing, Mary Louise Parker, who is always brilliant, here manages to pull it off with none of the mannerisms that have colored some of her lesser roles: she is luminescent and true in every moment. And the kids? And the son's girlfriend? You get this weird feeling there was no camera around--there couldn't have been for people to come off this completely real. Bravo bravo bravo! Can't wait to see episode 2.

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87 out of 98 people found the following comment useful :-
Weeds is BRILLIANT!, 7 October 2005
Author: martinbear from Cayman Islands

I haven't been a dedicated fan of a TV series since Moonlighting back in the 80's but I'm totally hooked on Weeds. Mary-Louise Parker plays the role of Nancy Botwin perfectly! As a widowed housewife trying to maintain an upper class lifestyle for herself and her two sons by selling weed, she obviously encounters problems maintaining her two roles....mother and drug dealer. Parker really emphasizes this "dual role" and she does it brilliantly....you'll find yourself really feeling for the character and cheering for her all the way. Elizabeth Perkins in the role of Celia, Nancy's close friend, is phenomenal. Watch her carefully in this show, her brilliant acting and her characters dry sarcastic nature provides much of the shows' comedic value but it is sometimes very subtle. I personally think Perkins deserves a supporting Emmy for this one. In short, Jenji Kohan has scored big-time with Weeds and I hope it enjoys a good long run on Showtime....I'm definitely a dedicated fan! My only suggestion....episodes should be an hour long!

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64 out of 76 people found the following comment useful :-
Jeebus!, 28 September 2005
Author: Julia from United States

Good lord, this show is good. It's thought provoking. Really, so many of the decisions made are poor, so many of the characters do fairly rancid things. But you can't help loving them and you can't help loving the plots. I've fallen in love with every member of the Botwin family. This is a smart, very funny, sexy and sophisticated show. I'm not going to summarize anything here because I'm sure people are aware of the premise.

It sounds like it could be ho-hum, but you must see it- each episode, people are dealing the characters deal with difficult decisions. Sometimes there's deliberation, sometimes there's regret- the show's smart enough where it assumes we know what the "right thing" was that one should have done. Most often, the characters don't do that right thing, and yet we love them, maybe even think "I would have done that." This is a show that basically says, beneath the normalcy, everyone is pushed to the limit in some way. It's no where near as dark as "Twin Peaks," but somehow, without the freakiness/fear, it reminds me of it because it's intelligent and it shows what lies beneath a bit.

When you watch it, watch out for Shane Botwin who is the Id of the show, and Andy, his grown up version who I personally hate yet am totally charmed by.

Ah, and yes, the acting is superb.

Here's hoping it goes to DVD!

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48 out of 58 people found the following comment useful :-
Don't keep us in suspense!, 16 October 2005
Author: terryjo13 from Texas USA

Every Monday at 9PM CST I am in front of my TV to watch one of the best shows written with the best cast on a sitcom. And I would re-watch it throughout the week. The characters, the storyline and even the opening song that you can't get out of your head. The only way to make it better is make it an hour long and use Kevin Nealon a lot more. Please don't keep us in suspense! Is it going to be renewed? I got Showtime just to watch this show and it is definitely worth it! This show does well showing part of suburbia that most people don't want to think really exists. But exist it does and not just in California. I like the plots and the passion that keep you coming back for more and hating it when the show is over. There should be a few Emmy awards waiting!

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38 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
Suburban life portrayed to the extremes in this hilarious but poignant comedy, 22 May 2006

Author: B M from United States

Mary Louise Parker plays a widowed suburban housewife forced to create new ways to generate enough income to support the lifestyle she and her family had become accustomed before her husband departed. Parker and Elizabeth Perkins are excellent representations of housewives dealing with serious problems in this unrealistic yet frighteningly realistic comedy about living in the suburbs. Unrealistic because it is doubtful that this scenario could actually take place but realistic because the actors portray real suburban characters that you might meet anywhere in the US. The PTA scenes are a scream to any mom that has attended these mundane meetings. Kevin Nealon is great as the always high accountant looking to score and Justin Kirk accurately plays Parkers outrageously screwed up brother-in-law that can't seem to stay out of trouble. Even though this is a comedy, it also examines important aspects of suburban life. Drug abuse, race relations, cancer, homosexuality, mortality and morality are all explored in a real life yet unreal setting. It kind of makes you think while you are laughing at the superb dialog.

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44 out of 59 people found the following comment useful :-
Great ensemble cast scores in this dark horse series, 29 March 2006
Author: (schuchat@hotmail.com) from Miami, FL.

WEEDS is the anti-Christ type show for the people lobbying for wholesome story lines. The title only begins to tell all the things about this program that would have it on a Jerry Falwell morals hit list. Maybe that is why I like the show so much.

Mary-Louise Parker leads a great cast with superb veteran performers such as Elizabeth Perkins and Kevin Nealon. The premise of the show is Nancy Botwin (Parker) has to figure out how to keep together her family in an upscale Calif. neighborhood after he early 40's husband, whom we never meet, dies of a heart attack while out running around with his youngest son. This boy now has issues and doesn't quite fit in with his peers. Her older son is discovering his hormones are raging and the brother-in-law has come to visit and he is a horrible influence on the boys, the housekeeper, and Nancy despite her attempts to keep him in check. Despite it all she really loves her brother-in-law as he is her family reminder of the husband she loved and lost.

What she does to keep the roof over her house is to sell weed...pot...marijuana. She gets the stuff from a thoroughly outrageous and hysterical black family on the poor side of town. She sells in the community of Agrestic, where she lives, and she sells to her lawyer/neighbor, a guy on the city council (Nealon), and anyone else that will take, which in this community seems to be almost everyone.

Great part for Parker as she is the consummate actress. She is always a bit understated, never overacts, has a great sly smile, does dry comedy very well, and delivers her lines convincingly. Nealon is great as the burnout councilman/accountant who can't seem to be high enough of the day yet covers his bases so as not to be discovered. But I think it is Perkins who just might steal this show. She plays a very bright yet vapid wife and mother of two girls. She is an overbearing parent who chastises and spy's on her 15 yr. old and harasses her youngest because of the poor girl's weight. Her shallow nature is shown as a defense mechanism for a woman whose own mother (Conchetta Tomei) is even more overbearing than her daughter and toward her husband whom she verbally spars with when they are together.

From the opening song, a reprise of the great Pete Seger song "Little Boxes", to the weekly dilemmas for the characters of coping in suburbia the show scores. Usually HBO has the standard for cable comedy series but this one is as good as any.

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33 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
A daring comedy with heart, 9 May 2006

Author: Michael Lodge from Australia

Weeds is a hilarious comedy, following other trend-setting shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under that deal with real life issues (using real life language). Sometimes wonderfully dark, and sometimes very blunt, the humour seems to suit each episode's general mood.

The quickly progressing story lines provide plenty of interest and we quickly develop a sympathy for the main characters through some genuinely emotional dilemmas, especially Nancy, but this is no doubt helped by the fact that she is a gorgeous soccer mum in distress.

The small number of episodes in each series might be a little disappointing, but is easily forgiven in helping to maintain the high quality and originality of each episode. I can't wait for season 2.

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32 out of 44 people found the following comment useful :-
The best television has to offer, 26 March 2006
Author: nmoonka from New Jersey

What a clever, well written show. Immensely watchable and well acted. Mary Louise Parker is perfect in the role of a Yuppie, widowed woman making ends meet by selling Marijuana. The show highlights well the difficulties for single women not just at the upper end of the economic spectrum, but those not quite as well off. The language, although at times is strong, is realistic and appropriate.

All of the roles are interesting. Elizabeth Perkins plays the role of the acerbic friend who never quite realized her life ambitions. Her one daughter is overweight, the other just hates her, and her husband is sleeping with the Asian American tennis pro.

Every episode offers something new. I will definitely keep on looking for the next episode.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
No Stems, No Seeds, 26 July 2006

Author: fwomp from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

WEEDS is a complicated series currently airing on the cable network SHOWTIME, the same corp. that brought us DEAD LIKE ME and other controversial story lines. And WEEDS certainly is wonderfully bizarre.

Mary-Louise Parker (THE WEST WING) stars as Nancy Botwin, a recent widow with two children and a cash flow problem. She lives in the fictitious town of Agrestic in Anywhere Suburbia, America. In fact, the shows lead-in goes through great pains to show us how common an area she and her family live in. This is vital since most of today's drug culture tends to live right under our proverbial noses. And the drug, as the title intends, is marijuana, often considered shameful by some to be considered "illegal" while others throw tantrums about its gateway significance. But Nancy has to feed her family and she'll do whatever it takes to ensure their survival.

In the midst of this seemingly benign town we have a troop of old and new pot smokers. The older generation is exhibited by none other than Kevin Nealon (ANGER MANAGEMENT) whose character, Doug Wilson, is a bored and immature accountant. Self-centered and completely useless in terms of assisting his neighbors, his character is absolutely fantastic. You could easily picture him still in high school if it weren't for his extremely receding hairline and the family minivan he drives. The newer generation is brought to light by Nancy Botwin's brother-in-law, Andy, played by the excellent Justin Kirk (FLANNEL PAJAMAS, 2006). He has no direction in life and is now firmly entrenched in Nancy's home. His failings at life are mirrored through his careless attitudes toward women or growing in any meaningful way. But once in a while — just occasionally — he'll make a remark of wonderful profoundness that blows Nancy away. He also is a much needed father-figure (although a VERY screwed up one) for Nancy's two boys, Shane (Alexander Gould, FINDING NEMO) and Silas (Hunter Parrish, RV). It is Silas, the high schooler, whom we get to see experiment with the emerging drug culture that surrounds his household. Although initially unaware of his mother's "business", he quickly reveals to the viewer that he's "not stupid" about what's happening under his own roof.

Nancy's friends are a mixed bag. Celia (Elizabeth Perkins, BIG), is a member of the PTA, has a child who suffers with being overweight, and recently found out her husband had an affair with the local, and beautiful, Asian tennis instructor. As the series progresses, we learn that Celia has breast cancer and this comes as devastating news for someone so infatuated with one's appearance (as seen through the mother-daughter relationships). The Shepard's, a black family that live in a "bad part of town", act as Nancy's suppliers of the green leaf. They battle finances versus keeping their business strictly business whenever Nancy comes around (which fluctuates as her business expands and contracts).

The wonderful thing about this series is that it puts a mess of moral material in the viewer's lap. What is wrong with marijuana when Percocet and other heavy narcotics are readily available via a doctor's prescription? Is it wrong for a person to support their family by dealing in something as shady as drug trafficking? Can a woman be both a loving and compassionate mother while at the same time selling something potentially addicting? Is it hypocritical for someone to sell "the stuff" while at the same time punishing their kids when they catch them doing some of it? Quite a moral quagmire, I'd say.

The other thing that makes this series work is it's sexy. Mary-Louise Parker has that ...something about her that makes her both a respectable looking woman and just a tad slutty. She's a sexual being who struggles with life in the shadow of her husband's death and has to decide what's best for her, her kids, and her husband's memory; most times these things are in direct opposition of each other. Elizabeth Perkins mirrors much of Parker's character in that she too has that respectable/slutty look but also some uppityness ...until her cancer rears up. Then she becomes more introspective and the slut takes over, for a while.

The series producers also put in a deaf and sexually promiscuous girlfriend for Nancy's son, Silas. This added an entirely new dimension to Silas' character as he's forced to grow-up without a father to guide him through this teenage sexual minefield and he finds solace with the deaf girl's household more than with his own whenever internal family problems arise.

This first season took about two episodes to get rolling, but once it did there was no stopping it. You really need to open your mind to the possibilities surrounding this show. It's not JUST about drugs. It's about the people that are shoved into this niche group for the sake of survival, and it's captivating to watch how their flawed lives intermingle. Pot smoker or not, these characters are headed for interesting days. Season two has already been purchased by SHOWTIME, which would indicate WEED might be picking up speed and continue smokin' for some time.

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45 out of 85 people found the following comment useful :-
Weeded out, 20 August 2005
Author: dee.reid from United States

"Weeds"; where to begin with this one. Well, my connection with it began a couple months ago when I met up with a friend of mine who was home from college on spring break. My friend has become a complete pro-pot activist while away and funny, I don't ever recall him mentioning having a job, despite a fat pocket of cash, for which I believe he said was going towards a supplier, or something like that. I guess dealing has its perks when it's inked with an ounce (no pun intended) of legitimacy.

That's the dilemma with all-American white suburban mom Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), who's forced to have to sell the wacky tobaccy when her husband dies, leaving her a widow and the sole caretaker of her two sons Shane (Alexander Gould) and Silas (Hunter Parrish). Left with no other alternatives because of her husband's death and mounting financial woes, she embraces the lowly enterprise of becoming the neighborhood pot dealer, receiving bags of the stuff from stern supplier Heylia James (Tonye Patano) and her lackadaisical nephew Conrad (Romany Malco).

"Weeds," as envisioned by creator Jenji Kohan, is a show that neither endorses nor condemns marijuana usage; it's not making a political statement of its legalization either. It's just a portrait of a middle class mom forced to make a hasty decision in the heat of the moment.

Of course the things Nancy does can't be condoned (including her and other characters' bizarre habit of sex with strangers), but what is she to do? I personally think the pot-dealing angle of the plot only goes to suffice its true motives, which are to paint a funny, satirical view of suburban angst, boredom, and trouble. I haven't seen a suburban comedy as funny or as engaging as "Weeds." After the unwanted departure of "Dead Like Me," the channel has been left to pick up the pieces in its aftermath.

Pretty soon everyone wants a piece of the action, including the city's councilman Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon) and Nancy's slacker brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk). But between her pot-dealing, she must also contend with her lovelorn son Silas' blossoming relationship with the daughter of Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins), and Shane's unusual behavior at school and at home. Celia, by the way, overhears rumors her husband (Andy Milder) is having an affair with his Asian tennis instructor (I don't need to go into specifics about the details of THIS affair).

"Weeds" shows promise as first-class entertainment on Showtime, which is set to become my new FOX and TNT. And don't forget to check out "Barbershop" too.

"Weeds" – weed it out.

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