Summer TV Review: Sorting Through the (6th Season of) Weeds

It's been a long while since I did a TV review, and after watching last night's third episode of Season 6 of Weeds, "A Yippity Sippity", I felt it was time to start back on this road once again. Weeds is a show that I've been considering dropping from the rotation from a while and so far Season 6 hasn't really done much to sway my opinion. It seems that every since Weeds and the Botwins left Agrestic at the end of Season 3--and they did away with the amazingly entertaining "Little Boxes" intros sung by everyone from Elvis Costello, Regina Spektor and Randy Newman (which happens to be Andy's name this season) to The Shins, The Decemberists and Linkin Park--the show's plot has been moving in no apparent direction as the Botwin's do the same.

Even Nancy Botwin seems bored by Weeds (Showtime)

The best part of the show used to be Mary-Louise Parker  but the Nancy Botwin character has been so static and unchanged for so long, she isn't all that fun anymore (though it's still worth a read of the odd Variety interview Parker just did). Her total disregard for her parental responsibilities and her unwavering attitude against leading a straight life have moved her from an intriguing character to downright frustrating. This is a dark show, but this season has been especially dark and unnecessarily so at times (like Silas being paid to read choose-your-own-adventures to the dad on Clarissa Explains It All sans clothes on). And in the end, despite everything that made their lives a living hell, Nancy and the Botwins still return to dealing pot. In some ways, Nancy as the dealer is the biggest addict of them all. She is willing to put her family at risk so many times to get her dealing "fix" and to satisfy her own personal needs that she went from an extremely sympathetic character looking to get her family through the loss of their father to a selfish woman incapable of seeing how she is ruining her children. Even her rant in the past episode of how her kids would have had to go to a worse school and live in a worse house if she didn't deal drugs (and instead worked at the Gap) was so shallow and materialistic that it made me question whether any of the past 5 seasons were even necessary.

The real problem here is that the show has lost its funny. Andy Botwin was the chief funnyman but Doug and Celia certainly carried their load. But this season we are sans Celia (and we miss you, Elizabeth Perkins) and Doug just showed up at the very end of last episode. The show also has had its kids grow up so fast that it takes away from the sometimes jarring juxtoposition of the "adults" and the "kids" from seasons past. I miss storylines like Andy teaching Shane about masterbation (probably the funniest scene in the show) and Silas weighing his girlfriend's happiness with keeping her close (one of the darkest threads in the show after he popped a hole in the condom). It's fine for a dark show to take a little funny away, but it has to be replaced with actual seriousness. And the fact that the Botwins lasted as the Newmans for about an episode and a half shows that seriousness is truly lacking. The show is neither funny nor capable of taking a serious look at itself. That's a horrible state of limbo to be in. Even "weed dating" or Piranha 3D (75% on Rotten Tomatoes?!?!?) seem more entertaining than the direction Weeds has taken. They have me for a few more episodes, but after that, I think I'm done with the Botwins and Weeds unless something greatly shifts in their Season 6 dynamic (or if Nancy becomes a lesbian as she suggested might be a good turn for her character in her very off-color Variety interview).

So what do you think? Are you still watching the show? Like the direction it's going in? Or have you given up? Let us know in the comments below.