Conservative US Braced for Drugs and The Suburbs

The Guardian Unlimited ^ | August 8, 2005

[Wolfie]

Conservative US Braced for Drugs and The Suburbs

United Kingsom -- A smartly-dressed young mother, the head of the healthy children's committee, stands before the parent-teacher association to demand that fizzy drinks be removed from the school vending machines. Moments later she is negotiating a deal to buy a large quantity of marijuana to sell to teenagers and their parents. Welcome to Weeds, the latest sitcom to delve into the dark side of American suburbia.

But where Desperate Housewives deals with the fantasy of life and death in a gated community, Weeds, set in the fictional Californian town of Agrestic, sticks closer to the real world - and is likely to make conservative America seethe.

The main character is Nancy Botwin, whose husband dropped dead while out jogging with their eight-year-old son. To keep herself in the manner to which she has become accustomed Nancy turns to one of the oldest professions in the world: drug dealing.

Weeds, which premiered in the US on the cable channel Showtime at the weekend and will be the centrepiece of Sky One's autumn season here, is the brainchild of Jenji Kohan.

"I pitched it as suburban widow, pot-dealing mom," she told critics in Los Angeles. For the writer, who has worked on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, and Sex and the City, it was an opportunity to deal with "grey areas, because I had been working in black and white for so long".

While Weeds obeys the conventions of the US sitcom, it is far edgier than the complacent high-gloss universe of Desperate Housewives. The tone is set with the opening credits, as suburban stereotypes go about their daily business - jogging, getting a latte, driving the SUV - to the strains of veteran folk singer Malvina Reynolds's tribute to suburban dystopia, Little Boxes.

"I just thought it was kind of unapologetically dark and the morality of it was skewed from the beginning, so you can't necessarily make judgments on the characters," said Mary-Louise Parker, who plays Nancy.

The show's title has already brought it to the attention of the cultural watchdogs. Noting that Weeds was one of several mainstream programmes to feature marijuana, Steve Dnistrian of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America told USA Today: "These are trendsetting shows ... When glamourisation of drugs has climbed, changes in teen attitudes followed."

But it is the banality and pervasiveness of marijuana smoking as depicted in Weeds that will surely cause conservative America the most headaches.

James Baker, controller of Sky One, suspects that Weeds is closer to the truth, and closer to home, than we may acknowledge. To accompany the programme, Sky is broadcasting a documentary on what it terms "marijuana mums" titled Stoned in Suburbia.

Weeds, he says, "feels like a pretty accurate satire on sterile suburban life, the shiny surface and the interesting things going on below.

"Marijuana is essentially decriminalised here. It will be interesting to see how people will pick up on it."

Although Kohan was given a free hand by the production company, Lions Gate TV, there was one taboo she could not break. "There was an earlier version where I had Shane shooting a cat, and that was the one thing. Someone said, 'You can't kill a cat."

[Tax-chick]

For the writer, who has worked on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, and Sex and the City, it was an opportunity to deal with "grey areas, because I had been working in black and white for so long".

Huh? Was that a (quite clever) joke, since "Fresh Prince" was about black people, and the others about white people? Or is she saying, about "Friends" and "Sex in the City," "Those people were trash, no gray areas about it!"?

[Logophile]

James Baker, controller of Sky One, suspects that Weeds is closer to the truth, and closer to home, than we may acknowledge. To accompany the programme, Sky is broadcasting a documentary on what it terms "marijuana mums" titled Stoned in Suburbia. . . . Weeds, he says, "feels like a pretty accurate satire on sterile suburban life, the shiny surface and the interesting things going on below.

I suspect that this program is closer to Mr. Baker's home and experience than it is to actual suburban life.

[hlmencken3]

In recent years, it has come to my attention that a lot of moms in the 40s and 50s smoke marijuana with their children! I would not have believed it until a few years ago!

I know of one mom whose young adult children have moved back in with her. One of the conditions of them being allowed to stay is that they supply their mom with all the pot she can smoke!

[hlmencken3]

moms in the 40s and 50s

That should be in 'their 40s and 50s', of course

[TKDietz]

This show should be taken off the air and replaced with a nice family oriented show like the Sopranos.

[ActionNewsBill]

Weeds, he says, "feels like a pretty accurate satire on sterile suburban life, the shiny surface and the interesting things going on below.

Kind of reminds me of "Respectable Street" by XTC.

Heard the neighbour slam his car door
don't he realise this is respectable street

What d'you think he bought that car for
'cos he realise this is respectable street

Now they talk about abortions
in cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters

as they speak of child prevention
And immaculate receptions on their portable
Sony entertainment centres.

Now she speak about diseases
and which sex position pleases best her old man