Another classic, this time from 2006. Parenthetical amendments.
Ok, so it's not like I haven't been watching TV for a long time. {I didn't have a high speed connection so I was still relying on actual TV that year}. And though I haven't seen every show out there, I've been aware of most. And there's an ass-groove in my couch that will be visible centuries from now. But my life has been lacking that certain something... that little weekly fix, the access to a nice mental oasis that only television can supply. {This is also pre Netflix binge era that's now returned to weekly episodes because that model is no longer sustainable.}
No series has come up and grabbed me by the throat and compelled me to turn to the tv at the same bat time and channel for quite some time. Not that there hasn't been a few that weren't brilliant. Sadly I couldn't dedicate myself to Veronica Mars or Six Feet due to their allotments to ridiculous timeslots and what have you... {I still haven't watched Veronica Mars and don't think I can stomach Six Feet Under remembering how garbage the characters are}.
But I am prepared dedicate myself to one show: Weeds. Thank CHRIST for this show or I'd probably have given up on TV all together. Weeds is so close to flawless on all levels it's putting me in a state of paranoia. Oh to have been a fly on the wall when this was pitched to the network: suburban widow becomes local pot dealer to support her children. And it's not like that's it, folks, that's the only thing going for it. Add to the zip-lock bag the near perfect casting, fantastic story lines and beautiful locations and you have probably one of the best shows I've seen since... god knows what. and thank you Christ yet again that those losers responsible for the Emmys (who should be executed for crimes against humanity for never awarding Joss for Buffy {Wrong, they were right not to give this guy too many props}) bestowed their award 4 times upon Weeds.(because god knows they have A LOT of making up to do.) The dichotomy between the lower-class black crime ridden neighbourhood and the white upper-middle carbon copy ticky-tacky house one is so slight it's hilarious. There's obviously a sinister current running through both, one's just more visible than the other. The characterisation is spot on. You hate some of the regulars one minute, and can't help rootin for them the next. This is a show gen Yers have been gagging for. We're not gonna be sold on the reefer-madnessesque propaganda our governments are trying to spoon-feed us through the media. Weeds puts it all in perspective, and it's educational without being a total "how-to" for setting up shop. The main character isn't a smoker, hell she even states she's not a dealer. But she is a mother, and Mary Louise Parker has rammed the nail through the board with her portrayal of the widow just trying to get by. These aspects and the gorgeous and infectious theme tune, an old ditty from the 30s that sums up the show so well I applauded the first time I heard it (It's stuck in my head as I write this), make this show a hard habit to break. I can't find much wrong with Weeds. I'm hooked. I'll need to go to rehab to help with the withdrawal I'll suffer when the series is over... and I'll be back on it as soon as Season 2 starts up here. It's official, ladies and gentlemen, Weeds really is good shit.
Real shame it fell in so many toilets it wasn't even worth watching all the way through again. Much like Dexter and Sons of Anarchy, (And yes, Game of Thrones- I always maintained I'd buy all the seasons to make up for my stealing them but we never bothered with the final season), I can't go back to the start knowing the endings are awful. Six Feet Under finished strong but I'm not the same person I was when that was airing and it's depressing to watch characters behave so badly because they hate themselves. There's even a new season of Dexter coming that doesn't look bad, but there's no telling if it'll be good, it seems to just be a compensation for its horrendous final episodes. All these shows suffered from coming out of the gate too strong. Breaking Bad was at least relatively consistent, El Camino was enjoyable but I didn't need it to exist. Better Call Saul just gets better, I've already rewatched it once, and I think it'll finish strong. Weeds really did let itself down by having too kooky a premise that by the time it wandered into the realms of ridiculous it was a frustrating watch that had a weird, existential ending, I can't say the lead characters were invested in continuing. It's hard to say what direction it began with but again the characters all became bad, made awful decisions that were hard to related to or support and then you didn't care what happened. Sons of Anarchy was infuriating, poor Jimmy Smits falls for Gemma, gets involved with the club and Jax at the cost of his own business that was fine until Gemma and Jax showed up, then he gets lumped with the kids so Jax can make a messiah-level sacrifice and bail on the situation rather than go to jail where he belongs. But then Jimmy Smits' character in Dexter kinda ruined that season. I could probably watch Weeds up until she gets into bed with the Mexican cartel. She goes to jail but as soon as she's out she's looking to deal again which is annoying. Ben Folds did some episodes. Apparently it might have a sequel but meh, who cares? I didn't think Mary-Louise Parker was down to keep going.
Addendum 2025: I was just about sick of the same YouTube videos in my feed since people I sub to don’t upload a lot, and I was in a bad mood, so I decided to watch Weeds on Netflix. As I said, I lost track of the show since I stopped watching TV and I was kinda not into streaming illegally, so now I can see it legally and I’ve gotten through five seasons, I was a bit unfair about everything up to season 6. Season 8 was the worst rated, I think they could’ve wrapped it up sooner. I thought Shane was awful and Silas was so unsympathetic for getting Megan pregnant but they were both really solid and weirdly loyal, Shane’s psychopathy is developed really well, he sees his dad die, it makes sense he scones someone with a mallet. Silas is dedicated to protecting him from Nancy despite it being far too late for him, Silas stays due to his conscience, even when Nancy gives him multiple outs, he’s a good kid and it’s heartbreaking what she does to him. Andy isn’t a total simp but Nancy’s manipulations are insane and egomaniacal in a way even though he’s clearly supposed to be her conscience, he’s a schmuck as well. He nearly marries Alanis until he fails her and he tries to stand his ground. You think he’s deadweight but he’s loveable and devoted. Nancy abandons many houses and chances to start over, which again made her less sympathetic the more often it happened, like Jax in Sons. I guess the obscene lack of longterm consequences for Nancy makes it worse. I know she actually does time but it’s the whole going back to it that’s ridiculous. Nancy hates not being herself but she despises missing out, she can’t live a normal life, she refuses to erase herself even when she’s in need of new identities.
Shane’s actually entertainingly diabolical, you can kinda let the pervert stuff pass since he’s so traumatised they could’ve made him an emo little shitbag he’s more sardonically evil. Silas conversely tries to turn his life around he could be in Amsterdam and he could be on the road, he’s suffering with Nancy instead so he pretends to go to college.
I keep forgetting to save these posts since they’re already published. I said something about the ice lattes and how I always want one. Nancy’s kind of loved too much by the men in her life and overly despised by most women. Shane’s entertainingly diabolical, Silas is constantly conflicted about leaving, Andy refuses to give up on Nancy despite her manipulations. Doug is just always around. Nancy’s usually called on her bullshit eventually. But she’s over adored, either a huge saint or an absolute sinner and loathed. Now she’s done time and she’s back in the business but hindered by court appointed obligations, it feels more annoying people want to support her, I think it’s since she did time for Shane rather than drugs or anything else makes her more noble but choosing drug dealing over a normal life, it’s hit that point where sympathy is diminishing. It does feel like they had no idea what to do with the family, or Doug, they were just there and needed to be in the show so silly stuff happens to them from now on. I don’t know if the concept people can’t change or she’s desperate but smoking on top of it is pretty stupid. And me not having a job is making what she’s doing really annoying now. It’s because she’s above menial work and knows she’s having no qualifications, she’s only desperate because she wants out of the halfway house and her legal responsibilities, Andy literally says she’s learnt nothing, it’s all about getting back in the game. Sons got so annoying for the same reason. Jax gets an out that’ll save Tara and his kids and he fucks it all up and Gemma contributes by killing Tara. It’s annoying. I get Jax bites it but it’s not as noble or poetic as the show frames it as. He dumps his whole life onto poor Jimmy Smit and his first kid’s mother then sacrifices himself. Nancy’s being forced to send money for Stevie I hate her sister does the whole “auntifying” Nancy so he never knows she’s his mother, all these shows have a kid who’s passed around in the name of safety, so yeah, she is desperate for money and selling is all she knows and can do but her other actions like fucking around and getting high negate my sympathy. Plus Doug falls into an accounting job out of nowhere and he sucks more. Seeing characters fail upwards is as bad as seeing real politicians do it. And I’m sick of seeing despicable people rewarded for that behaviour and never punished. Then she ropes in Silas and Andy anyway. But Silas has more over on her and he looks absolutely weathered and done with her shit. She’s fucking awful but she’s always been that way. But I do feel bad she gets no sleep and peace.
Aidan Quinn also shows up and immediately hits on Nancy too so she has to be her new love interest. I think I missed a lot of this season. And I feel bad for the poor kid she squeezes out of Doug’s office, he was just doing his job, bitch. So at least she gets told off for doing it. If she’d just gotten a lay of the land and realised she was wrong she’d be boning Aidan Quinn. So the adversarial aspect of her horrid sister stealing her kid at least makes her bullshit somewhat desperate and justifiable. When you have a relatively awful main character you have to make their enemies absolute assholes so they set up Jill really well (and Jennifer Jason Leigh is always fun). Martin Short shows up too.
I’m not sure why I was so convinced Weeds went bad, it wasn’t by any means unwatchable or that annoying. Everyone around Nancy, especially Andy, evolves and finds themselves, Shane sadly succumbing to some of his traumas and developing a drinking habit. But he’s not a total loss. Andy is the one who cuts Nancy off even if you think he’s folded, Nancy’s the one who’s left on her own so to speak, she’s surrounded by her dearest in the end but it’s not permanent. She and Silas reconcile, she feels she has to save Shane but Stevie has to leave her entirely. Conrad and a bunch of others come back into the picture once Nancy figures out the best way to be her best, but the result is losing everyone close to her and winding up alone in her house. Doug still manages to reconcile with his son who Nancy was originally competing against in season one, and I completely forgot about his character and had to look them up, and it did not take me long to binge this as every episode was about 25 minutes since it was a TV show with ads etc. And I miss that model of short episodes, 13 per season. It’s a good show to binge and I’m glad I have it a second chance, the issue was more with me not wanting to watch normal TV beyond 2008, and I had to give up using certain sites, even though the creator didn’t give a shit episodes leaked online, it was usually a network problem, so you have to ask how easily were you making this shit available to people who could leak it. I’ve had fun watching early 2000s shows lately my only major issue is anything that happened to be around during a certain period will inevitably have at least one reference to it, so again, my shows that I really love were the ones that finished well before then. Plus it was kind of crass for people to go out of their goddamn way to have an applicable scene but with Weeds leaning on shock value, it fits, I guess. There’s a blackface moment that pays mind to Robert Downey’s blackface being a critical performance, not one of condoning. But it’s still offensive, I wouldn’t ask anyone younger than me to accept it. I personally find weed culture pretty cringe anyway, even now. I want it legalised of course, but I think the aesthetic is outdated and cringe and it’s cultural appropriation. Anyway, as an addendum, I don’t hate Weeds and I’ll defend it now I’ve seen it in full.
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