Watching Weeds Television
There are many American comedy-dramas on television today but one that has become particularly popular is Weeds, a Showtime show made by Lionsgate television and created by Jenji Kohan.
The plot of Weeds mainly involves a housewife who has been widowed and thus must find a way to make money. She lives in an affluent California suburb and basically becomes the neighborhood drug dealer selling marijuana in order to earn her income.
Weeds, the tv series’ name, means both the plant that the protagonist sells (marijuana) as well as “widow’s weeds” which is the type of clothing one wears when one becomes a widow. Some also point out that Weeds is a good metaphor for the suburban community which grows quickly like a weed and which involves many houses and people who are indistinguishable like weeds.
The opening theme song for Weeds is “Little Boxes” further emphasizing the American suburban neighborhood lifestyle as well as the fact that all of the houses and people are very similar thus stressing more the “Weeds” type mentality.
Weeds currently has five seasons and began to play in 2005. It was the highest rated series for Showtime in its first year and has been considered a definite success for the channel. On average, the season has attracted 962,000 viewers.
A total of 1.7 million viewers which is made up of 1.2 million viewers for the beginning and an additional .5 million viewers later for the rerun later that night mean that Showtime was quite happy with the success bringing in 1.7 million people to watch Weeds.
The show’s exterior shots and many other shots are taken in places in California like Calabasa and Santa Clarita Valley.
Nancy Botwin is the protagonist who is the housewife whose husband dies. She lives the typical affluent suburban life style in a very nice neighborhood where one wouldn’t think much about drugs or other seedy type activity. However, after her husband’s quick death while out jogging, she must find a way to make ends meet which leads her to begin selling marijuana to her neighbors and friends. Later on, she must continue to expand her customer base which brings on more challenges and obstacles.
Celia is Nancy’s best enemy and friend. She is in a marriage that is particularly unhappy which may explain why she is so attracted to various vices like alcohol and trying to take others down in order to “teach them a lesson”. However, her friend/enemy status is interesting in contrast to Nancy.
Season 1 starts off with Nancy’s husband dying suddenly while he is out jogging thus leaving Nancy alone and in search of a trade to keep her suburban lifestyle afloat. This leads her to the marijuana trade.
Nancy’s children, both of them, attend public school but it is necessary for Nancy to earn money by selling marijuana to her friends and neighbors in order to earn enough to keep their upper middle class lifestyle going.
When some customers of Nancy’s begin to go to a marijuana dispensary, Nancy is forced to become innovative and thus uses her baking skills to make delicious baked goods in order to sell her inferior marijuana. She later goes on to open a bakery as a cover up. She buys baked goods from Costco and puts them on the shelves as her own in order to cover this up.
Weeds is a very good television program that has been doing quite well for some time now. If the characters and plot seem interesting to you, it would be worth checking out on the Showtime network. You may also view clips and other videos from the show online if you search around a bit for the “Weeds” television title.
