Before we get started, let’s take a few minutes to revisit the photos of Mary-Louise Parker that Dorothy Snarker shared several weeks ago. Take your time; I’ll wait.
I don’t know about you, but those pictures pretty much guarantee I don’t inhale. (Come on, I had to say it.) But Parker is just one of the reasons I’m looking forward to the third season premiere of Weeds (tonight at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime).
Weeds has a rare combination of great acting – besides Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon and Justin Kirk star – and superb writing. I care about these characters and I can’t wait to see what happens. (My aging Mac won’t let me watch online.) And even though the premise of a widowed soccer mom selling pot to make ends meet is outside my realm of experience (honest), I relate to these people.
In fact, I can tell you the scene that hooked me on Weeds. In the second episode, Nancy (Parker) pulls up to a stoplight beside a car with the radio blasting hip-hop and the occupants rocking to the beat. In turn, Nancy turns up the volume of her radio and starts bobbing her head – to the theme music from Public Radio International’s The World. That’s my kind of dorkiness.
In an interview with USA Today last week, Weeds creator and executive producer Jenji Kohan discussed the show’s many layers of satire and why its appeal “crosses all social, ethnic, political and economic lines.” One reason is that, according to government estimates, 96 million Americans have smoked pot. 96 million? Whoa. Dude. No wonder Jack-in-the-Box keeps tacos on the menu.
If you have Showtime OnDemand, be sure to check out the short videos of “Good Morning Agrestic” with various characters as guests. Only the first segment is online at the moment (and is embedded below), but be on the lookout for No. 3, an interview with Celia (Perkins) and daughter Isabel (Allie Grant), who announced last season that she is a lesbian. Isabel wears an “I [heart] Shane” T-shirt and discusses her love for The L Word, Ellen and Dykes on Bikes, while frustrated Celia insists that 13 is too young to have a sexual identity and explains why she blocks One Tree Hill (“lesbians on the WB”). Great stuff.
Let us know what you think of the premiere (with spoiler alerts, please!). Meanwhile, here’s a completely gratuitous shot of Mary-Louise. Don’t forget to breathe.
