The Straight-Edge Guy Loves Weed(s)...

So yesterday I ditched HBO for Showtime. Why you ask? HBO is done with original programming until March 2006 and when it returns it�s with "The Soprano�s" which I stopped watching in Season 2.

Showtime has �Masters of Horror� which I�ve been dying to see. If you don�t know what it is, it�s a 12 segment mini-series with 12 different horror directors each week (Tobe Hopper, Wes Craven, Dario Argento, etc.); �Huff� which I really liked when I saw two episodes last year; �The L Word� which returns in January with a new season � those lesbians are so much fun to watch!

That brings us to �Weeds� starring the always amazing Mary-Louise Parker as a widowed mother of two that�s taken to marijuana dealing to sustain her family�s financial needs. As a straight-edge guy I didn�t know if I would like this show. There are things in movies that I just don�t like to see and people smoking pot makes me cringe a little when I watch it on television. I don�t know why, it just does� Its kind of like when people chew on ice or when they pour liquid into a glass with ice, that noise just bothers me so everytime someone does that in a movie I cringe� it�s a similar sensation.

But, after all the hype and acclaim the show received, I felt I had to give it a try and I�m surprisingly happy to announce that it�s hands down incredible television! Mary-Louise Parker is a shoo-in for an Emmy nomination if not a win for her pushed to the limits performance. She�s just a struggling mother trying to provide for her kids and shelter them from the horrors of reality after her husband drops dead.

It�s a darkly funny show (watch Elizabeth Perkins as she says this about her teenage daughter after watching a video of her daughter flipping her off after exposing her father�s infidelity: �You little cunt� I should have had an abortion� it looks and sounds harsh but in context its quite brilliant!) that on occasion becomes almost unbearably painful in its portrayal of desperation and grief. This is a must-see!