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Amazon.co.uk
With its fantastic comedy series Weeds, cable network Showtime finally gave up its also-ran status to HBO and found itself with a controversial, buzz-worthy show that was as hilarious as it was dark, one about a truly desperate housewife. A recent widow with two growing sons, Nancy Botwin (Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker) looks like a typical resident of the affluent Southern California suburb of Agrestic. She keeps a clean, upscale house (with the help of a live-in maid), attends PTA meetings, goes to her kids' soccer games, makes frequent stops at the local coffee franchise.... and sells marijuana in order to make it all possible. Left with no way to support herself after her beloved husband's fatal heart attack, Nancy turns herself into the "suburban baroness of bud," dealing to her neighbors in the area, with the help of her supplier Heylia (Tonye Patano) and point man Conrad (Romany Malco). Nancy's clients run from the local councilman (Kevin Nealon) to the just-barely-legal students at the local community college, but many in Agrestic are still in the dark as to how she keeps her family afloat, including her best friend, the sardonic Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), a wife and mother whose blistering, withering put-downs could make Dorothy Parker cringe in fear. But like many small-business owners, Nancy yearns for more success and cash, and like her workaholic neighbors, finds keeping a balance between work life and home life to be extremely precarious at best.
While Desperate Housewives yearned to be a suburban satire with bite, Weeds was the real deal, skewering upper-middle class mores with a sharp eye, a keen wit, and a mostly forgiving heart. In episode after episode, the show's creative team (led by creator Jenji Kohan) pulled back the layers of Agrestic's superficiality to show what lies beneath the squeaky-clean exteriors and smiling faces; it turns out that hunger, fear, desire, and, yes, desperation aren't that far down. However, Weeds forsakes pulpiness and florid drama for biting yet affectionate humor - its heroine is a woman with sliding morals, but one you'll root for to the very end. The effervescent Parker, the only actress who can mix perkiness with morbidity in just the right amounts, anchored the show with her amazing turn as Nancy, who by the end of the first season had become a kind of soccer-mom version of Michael Corleone, entering a corrupt world with both trepidation and fascination - and totally enamoured of the power it brought her. Also perfectly cast, Perkins found the role of a lifetime as the bitterly hilarious Celia, and entering the show in its fourth episode, Justin Kirk (Parker's co-star in Angels in America) proved to be a potent secret weapon as Nancy's brother-in-law Andy, a slacker who wasn't above peddling t-shirts to elementary school kids. As icky as these characters might appear on the surface, Weeds made them all immensely appealing and great company to be around. Don't say we didn't warn you: one hit and you'll be hooked on this show. The DVDs feature six episode commentaries with cast and crew, out-takes, original featurettes, a music video, and most enjoyably, Agrestic Herbal Recipes (for entertainment value only, we assume) and the "Smoke and Mirrors" marijuana mockumentary. --Mark Englehart
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This gem of a show from US cable should be high on your 'must see' list. If it's not, is it because it's (ostensibly) about an all-American mom surviving her bereavement by selling pot, perchance? Tish and pish!
Mary Louise Parker (surely one of the sexiest women on the planet... oh, and also one of the best actors on US TV) gives a superb performance, elevating already brilliantly written scripts to a level of black comedy rarely seen on British TV. Each half hour episode runs the gamut from phone sex with a deaf girl, through setting up a fake bakery (a 'fakery' if you will) to shooting marauding mountain lions in the face. Oh, and you'll laugh too.
To complement this, Elizabeth Pekins's performance as the sexually-frustrated, bitchy, PTA president mom-from-hell almost steals the show.
Bring on series 2 right now.
Mary Louise Parker (surely one of the sexiest women on the planet... oh, and also one of the best actors on US TV) gives a superb performance, elevating already brilliantly written scripts to a level of black comedy rarely seen on British TV. Each half hour episode runs the gamut from phone sex with a deaf girl, through setting up a fake bakery (a 'fakery' if you will) to shooting marauding mountain lions in the face. Oh, and you'll laugh too.
To complement this, Elizabeth Pekins's performance as the sexually-frustrated, bitchy, PTA president mom-from-hell almost steals the show.
Bring on series 2 right now.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Really one of the best TV series about at this moment - with plenty of real humour, some gritty scenes, tongue in cheek dialogue, and more spliffs in hand than one thought possible.
I couldn't stop watching it, so sat up one night through all the episodes, and promptly recommended it to friends the next morning, who are now equally hooked on it..
The series benefits from some really good and observant writing, lifting the lid on our suburban foibles and facades, to reveal what one never expected.
The story of the housewife who is forced to make a living somehow, to keep up with the rest of the neighbourhood. Nailbiting when you think her entire business enterprise could go up in smoke around her with a few false moves. Strong support from all the characters, who really seem to be enjoying playing their characters. And, the quirky music helps too.
Praises galore...
I couldn't stop watching it, so sat up one night through all the episodes, and promptly recommended it to friends the next morning, who are now equally hooked on it..
The series benefits from some really good and observant writing, lifting the lid on our suburban foibles and facades, to reveal what one never expected.
The story of the housewife who is forced to make a living somehow, to keep up with the rest of the neighbourhood. Nailbiting when you think her entire business enterprise could go up in smoke around her with a few false moves. Strong support from all the characters, who really seem to be enjoying playing their characters. And, the quirky music helps too.
Praises galore...
Format:DVD
If you loved Entourage, Californication and The Sopranos you will love this series. It is great easy viewing, has a good story line and is very funny. I enjoyed this so much I have just ordered series 3 and 4.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Drug free high
I had never heard of "Weeds" and just took a chance that i might enjoy it.
The best way to sum up my view of this show is that after 3 episodes i bought series 2,3,&4. Read more
The best way to sum up my view of this show is that after 3 episodes i bought series 2,3,&4. Read more
Published 10 months ago by S. Broadbent
It had the potential to be better.
This TV series is amusing and there is one or two funny bits that made me openly laugh, but in my humble opinion it was ruined a little by the occasional but casual anti-white... Read more
Published 16 months ago by ST George
Catchy Like A Pop Song, You Can't It Out Of Your Head
I watched Weeds with my ex girlfriend thinking it was going to be awful. I had no interest in it what-so-ever. However upon watching the first episode, I had to watch the second... Read more
Published on 24 May 2009 by Mr. Daniel P. Smith
Crackling, darkly humourous expose of American suburbs
The basic premise, widowed suburban housewife turns pot dealer to make ends, may not sound like comedy gold, but in the hands of these particular writers - and given licence to... Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2009 by WJ Davidson
Dark US Comedy
I bought Weeds not knowing anything about it other than the basic premise - suburban wife and mother takes to weed dealing after husband dies. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2008 by J. Bloss
The story of an irresponsible mother...
If you can handle the story of a totally naive and irresponsible mother (not to say stupid...) and lough about it then Weeds is a nice comedy series. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2008 by Gregory Kontidis
Production issues or faulty player?
Okay - so I imported this as it interested me. I had never seen Weeds before and was looking to add something different to my Blu-Ray collection. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2008 by S. Fleming
HIGH on your must buy list!
I purchased this DVD not knowing alot about the show, as I do with most American TV shows. I had heard about this show on TV, yet never actually watched it. Read more
Published on 3 May 2008 by Jacob Sanders
BEWARE: you will get addicted to Weeds!!!
Her husband dies of a heart attack while jogging and Nancy is left as a stay-at-home mom with two sons, a huge house, leased car, and no income. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2008 by Louise Amkaer
best series ever
weeds one of the best series that i've ever watched. it is clever ,funny and very very pleasant to watch. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2007 by DIMI PARKER
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