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.

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West Leaders Reload Before the Deadline

Well we talked earlier about how the San Francisco Giants went out and got Brad Penny for their rotation. Well the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers couldn't allow the buck to stop there. The deadline was tonight to add players who would be eligible for the postseason and like Weeds tonight, there needed to be a little fireworks before a season finale.

According to MLBTradeRumors:

Dodgers got: Jim Thome from the Chicago White Sox, Ronnie Belliard from the Washington Nationals, and John Garland from the Arizona Diamondbacks

Rockies got: Jose Contreras from the Chicago White Sox (who lost out on Garland and Penny)

I like the Dodgers moves a lot more, but I wonder how exactly they're going to use Thome in the National League. That is SOME bat bench there (all 564 HRs).

The Yankees and Red Sox both got some speed insurance for the stretch run as well: Joey Gathright for the Red Sox and Freddy Guzman for the Yankees. Both of these teams just got pinch runners to use in September.

The weather is getting cool but the race is heating up!

Who's On Drugs Now? D-Wade, Albert/Joey Belle, NASCAR Driver and the Stripper Kisser

Athletes as role models? PLEASE. Give me a break. They're all on drugs. We've talked about it a lot on this blog: Michael Phelps (pot), Geovany Soto (marijuana), Sidney Ponson (stimulant/maybe-diet pills), Donte Stallworth (weed), Manny Ramirez (PEDs/women's drugs), Lenny Dykstra (probably a lot of shit), and, of course A-Rod (steroids).

Now we got some more to add to this list (all alleged of course...):

• Dwayne Wade thinks he's a rapper: he supposedly organizes sex parties and smokes weed. Awesome life, dude! This report is accoring to SportsByBrooks, who also talk about the accuser: "[Richard] Van Houtman said he twice saw Wade smoking a joint in the house but wasn’t in attendance for the orgies that Wade allegedly helped arrange." What an IDIOT! He knew that there were orgies going on but left? He watched someone smoke weed? Doesn't he know he's never going to be a professional athlete or rapper acting like that? And Dwayne Wade is just ripping up the competition: his divorce is so much weirder and messier than Kobe Bryant's!
• And then there's Albert Belle. This man HAS to be on something. Has to be. Had to be on something while he was playing (ie - steroids) and now is definitely on something (I go with crack). Because according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Belle called and wanted to talk about how frustrated he was with the Indians season so far and how he feels it's unfair that Manny Ramirez is singled out for steroids. When asked if Belle himself had done steroids, he said no, and attributed his anger not to steroids, but to being "an angry black man". This is the same man who once used a corked bat and had a teammate crawl through the ventilation system to retreive it. Oh yeah...and he also, according to the LA Times: threw a baseball at a fan, chased trick-or-treating children with his car, threw a baseball at a photographer, Belle screamed at a woman from NBC and was ordered to undergo counseling.
  So remember what Dan Patrick said about you, Albert (or shall we call you Joey)? You're no Kirby Puckett! I mean this is the Kirby Puckett, who, as Sports Illustrated revealed "tried to strangle [his ex-wife] with an electrical cord, locked her in the basement and used a power saw to cut through a door after she had locked herself in a room. Once...he even put a cocked gun to her head while she was holding their young daughter." Yeah Albert/Joey, Dan Patrick thinks you're worse than that.
  
• Meanwhile, racecar driver, Jeremy Mayfield, is a big meth user, according to ESPN. He just was suspended again for meth use. "Again?" you might ask. Well, yes...because as Deadspin points out, he was suspended for the first time in May. I'm telling you, this is the type of shit that gets America intrigued. At least Fake America (where I live).
• Lastly, Richard Gasquet was a tennis player suspended from the ATP Tour for cocaine use. The ruling was just reversed by the International Tennis Federation according to the New York Times. Thank goodness, too...you never want to be falsely accused of that. His defense? "Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban Wednesday when the International Tennis Federation ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who was cleared to resume playing after completing a 2 1/2-month ban on Wednesday, convinced an independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine from kissing the woman he had just met at the club in Miami." He even said the woman was named Pamela but didn't know her last name. What idiots! I use that excuse all the time. I can't BELIEVE they fell for that. I always tell them I'm a foreigner who didn't know you weren't supposed to kiss strippers in Miami because of fear of being drug tested afterward.
  

That, my friends, is amazing. Kids, don't do drugs.

Uncle Lou Comes To the Rescue, May Be Watching Weeds

You have got to love Lou Pinella. After Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto admitted smoking pot, Sweet Lou came to his defense. Via ESPN Chicago:

"Look, I have smoked dope one time in my life," Piniella said before the Cubs faced the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. "And it didn't do a damn thing for me, and I never tried it again. I'm fortunate because of that. A lot of people do. You can even buy it in California from a pharmacy."

Yes, you can, Lou, sort of. Have you been watching this season of Weeds? Because Silas and Doug are opening up their own "pharmacy" now (or is it a farm-acy if you're selling weed?). It's a really good show if you don't watch it.

Anyways, this is not the only World Baseball Classic violation it seems. Sidney Ponson was caught taking what he says are diet pills, but are being described as a "stimulant". I've seen Sir Sidney before and I'm pretty sure that he's not on diet pills. Not positive. But pretty sure. They're certainly not helping his pitching with the Royals (1-5, 7.27 ERA).

So diet pills and pot? Sounds like a college campus to me.

Dead Sports Night

Tonight is what I call a dead sports night in New York:

-The Stanley Cup Finals are over

-The NBA Finals are over

-The Yankees and Mets are off

-The ESPN Monday Night baseball game is Brewers vs. Indians

-One channel is showing high school lacrosse

-The most exciting sporting event on television is the College World Series

I think I'm going to skip sports for the night. Anyways, Weeds is on TV tonight. Back to the Stadium tomorrow.