From the "How'd I Miss This?" File: Weeds

Sometimes, friends, this blog really is just about tv.

This weekend's new discovery: Weeds. This show is fantastic. It is sharp, witty, and biting. Mary Louise Parker is masterful (but, then again, she always has been). And the show is both dark and hilarious. On the surface, it is a satire about life in suburbia. But it is not mere farce. It is also a family drama with well developed characters that are worth caring about. Think American Beauty meets Brothers & Sisters with a little of the irreverent silliness of Ugly Betty thrown in for good measure.

The answer to the question "how'd I miss this?" is actually fairly obvious. Weeds is on Showtime. I do not subscribe to Showtime (although I'm thinking I may need to start!). But the beauty of watching tv made for a premium movie channel is immediately obvious from the first episode of season 1 of Weeds. There is no concern for the FCC here. The language is raunchy (and, therefore, sounds real), the sex is graphic, and the drugs are on full display. But the show also tackles every other sacred cow left on TV -- from teenagers having abortions to fifth graders wacking off and uncles finding ways to avoid being sent to Iraq by enrolling in religious seminary. (Not to mention the drugs themselves... could you really have a show where the hero is a pot-dealing-soccer-mom on NBC? Um... no.) And it works. It just works.

It's late and I've watched two seasons of Weeds on DVD in the past three days, so I can't explain it any better than that.

Simply put, you need to drive to the video store, or put this show on your Netflix cue, or download it from Itunes. Now.

Next week (June 3) you can add season 3 to your list. And in the middle of June, season 4 premieres on Showtime.