cannabisnews.com: New Showtime Series Weeds Out 'Housewives'





New Showtime Series Weeds Out 'Housewives'
Posted by CN Staff on July 28, 2005 at 08:29:56 PT
By Michael Cidoni, Associated Press Writer
Source: Associated Press
Los Angeles -- Desperation? The housewives on Wisteria Lane should take a day trip to the equally picturesque but even more problematic TV town of Agrestic, California. That's the setting of the new Showtime series "Weeds," which had its premiere Tuesday night on the Paramount Pictures lot.The weekly half-hour dramedy debuting Aug. 7 revolves around Nancy, a newly widowed suburban mother (played by Mary Louise Parker), who ends up selling marijuana to her neighbors — all to maintain the upper-middle class lifestyle to which she and her children have become accustomed.
"Oh, it's about pot!" the Tony-winning Parker joked with AP Television News, before getting serious. "It's about suburbia and the myth of suburbia ... and how it seems like normalcy and perfection and what is actually behind that, how that actually doesn't exist."Elizabeth Perkins portrays the sad-funny-infuriating Celia, a ruthless mother, tortured wife and alcoholic, pill-popping mess. Think Lady Macbeth meets Sue Ellen Ewing of "Dallas" fame."Well, Celia is politically correct but only in her own mind," explained Perkins, sexy in a Richard Tyler couture vintage leather dress. "She's sort of the keeper of the moral fortitude of the town of Agrestic, but underneath it all, she's probably the most screwed up of anybody in town, and is definitively the most politically incorrect.""Weeds" marks a rare dramatic turn for Kevin Nealon, following his nine-year run on "Saturday Night Live." Romany Malco and Tonye Patano provide, respectively, the heart and soul of the story — surprising when you consider they play Nancy's drug suppliers.Patano insisted that the pot is not the show's focal point."It's about much more than that," noted the screen and Broadway veteran, glamorous in an ensemble she said was purchased from the QVC home shopping network. "The big questions (the show) raises are so much more interesting: 'Why do people do it?''What do people really need in their lives?'"All the "Weeds" principals said they were prepared for controversy to come. Noted Perkins, a mother of four: "I find it interesting that the show is going to be controversial just because there is marijuana featured in it ... There are so many more important issues in the world right now."Added Parker, "I think it'll push a lot of buttons in a lot of people and I think some people will be really shocked by it and turned off by it, and I think other people will find it really perverse and interesting, and I don't know where the middle ground will be."Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Michael Cidoni, Associated Press WriterPublished: Wednesday, July 27, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press Showtime's Weedshttp://www.sho.com/site/weeds/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by Christen-Mitchell on July 29, 2005 at 13:59:03 PT:
There is no issue more important : Reutilization
Let's see, there's reestablishing our rights, eliminating the police state. Ending hunger. Replacing petroleum and greenhouse gases.and ending the fedguvmint's fascism, read: corporate control. Oh, yeah, and there can't be any overestimating when discussing the medicinal potential for Cannabis.
Hemptopia.org-under construction
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on July 28, 2005 at 14:07:12 PT
Here is the key sentence IMO
"Romany Malco and Tonye Patano provide, respectively, the heart and soul of the story — surprising when you consider they play Nancy's drug suppliers."The growers are the heart and soul of the show.As I've discovered, people who grow weed do have a lot of heart and soul, so this sounds promising, it sounds like the community is going to be represented.
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Comment #3 posted by Max Flowers on July 28, 2005 at 13:16:49 PT
Sam
My thinking was, if they "normalize" pot use on the show, meaning they show it realistically and not demonize or over-theatricize it, that will result in greater acceptance of cannabis in socity. This is all based on my assumption though that Showtime is watched by very large numbers of people and has influence in the same league as network TV (I don't know, because I never see it).On the whole, these comments from me meant to imply a big subtext about how American society in general is, unfortunately, influenced by what they see/hear on TV.I have a friend like this. He is a good friend in fact, and a very smart guy in many other ways, but to my astonishment, when it comes to TV, his critical thinking evaporates and he buys it all hook line and sinker. He regards what comes from Fox, CNN, MSNBC and pretty much any major news channel as gospel. He has the TV on all day and night long whenver he's home, turned up really loud. It is like an anchor to "reality" for him, his reality anyway, which is comprised to a large degree of propaganda the way I see it. He likes using the internet, yet he thinks all liberal news blogs and anything on the net with left-leaning thought is totally illegitimate and isn't "real information".Needless to say, it's very frustrating to watch. He's also a Republican, a Bush supporter, and a Christian. It's a wonder we can hang out together! I doubt we could, in fact, if it weren't for a common love that bonds us: the cannabis plant.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on July 28, 2005 at 10:09:12 PT
Max
Good point - the only problem is, are they normalizing cannabis use, or are they normalizing prohibition?
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Comment #1 posted by Max Flowers on July 28, 2005 at 10:03:45 PT
"Normalized by TV"
It won't be long now, folks. Once something is normalized by TV, it is in a sense accepted into our mainstream culture. Some of it will also depend on how it is portrayed though; we'll see if it (weed) is demonized or normalized.I don't get Showtime however, so I will count on someone else here letting me know how it is.
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