Weeds is an American dark comedy-drama television series created by Jenji Kohan, which aired on Showtime from August 8, 2005, to September 16, 2012. The series tells of Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), a widowed mother of two boys (Hunter Parrish and Alexander Gould) who begins selling marijuana to support her family. Other main characters include Nancy's lax brother-in-law (Justin Kirk); foolish accountant Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon); narcissistic neighbor Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins) living with her husband (Andy Milder) and their daughter (Allie Grant); as well as Nancy's wholesalers Heylia James (Tonye Patano) and Conrad Shepard (Romany Malco). Over the course of the series, the Botwin family becomes increasingly entangled in illegal activity.
Kohan serves as showrunner and is executive producer, under her Tilted Productions label. The first three seasons are set primarily in the fictional town of Agrestic, located in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. During seasons four and five, the Botwins reside in the also fictional San Diego suburb of Ren Mar. In season six, the family relocates to Seattle, Washington and Dearborn, Michigan. In season seven, the family resides in New York City, living in Manhattan for the duration of the season, but relocates to Connecticut in the season seven finale and throughout season eight.
When the show debuted on the Showtime cable network, it earned the channel's highest ratings. In 2012, TV Guide Network bought the airing rights and provided an edited version of the show. The show has received numerous awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Satellite Awards, one Golden Globe Award, a Writers Guild Award, and a Young Artist Award.
Production
Produced by Tilted Productions, in association with Lionsgate Television, the show is inspired by crime series, such as The Shield and The Sopranos, in the sense of an antihero serving as the protagonist while retaining an individual moral code, which usually goes against the norms of society. The title, according to Kohan, refers "to a lot of things", including marijuana and widow's weeds; however, it mainly alludes to "hardy plants struggling to survive". The basic premise, as illustrated by the lyrics of the opening song from seasons one to three, and eight, satirizes off-color characters struggling with faux suburban reality, in which everything is "all style, no substance". According to Kohan, she first pitched the series to HBO, which dismissed it. Robert Greenblatt invested in the show before it was commissioned by Showtime.
Showrunner and head writer Jenji Kohan, whose credits include Tracey Takes On..., Mad About You, and Sex and the City, is the executive producer of the series, alongside Roberto Benabib, of Little City fame. Kohan also explains how she and Benabib "tag team[ed]" in running the writers room. Senior writer Matthew Salsberg and director Craig Zisk also joined as executive producers in later seasons. Following Zisk's departure from the series after five seasons, Mark Burley, director Scott Ellis, and Lisa Vinnecour were added on as executive producers. During seasons seven and eight, senior writers Victoria Morrow and Stephen Falk became co-executive producers.
Exterior scenes for the first two seasons were shot almost exclusively in Stevenson Ranch, a suburban area of Santa Clarita Valley, California. The large fountain and Agrestic sign in the opening credits of the first three seasons was shot at the corner of Stevenson Ranch Parkway and Holmes Place. The name "Stevenson Ranch" was digitally replaced with "Agrestic" (and with "Majestic" and "Regrestic" in later episodes). The overhead satellite view in the beginning of the credits in the first three seasons is of Calabasas Hills, a gated community in Calabasas, California. The shot of the It's A Grind coffee shop in the introduction (seasons one to three) is of an It's A Grind in Castaic, California.Calabasas Hill location: Exterior scense for the seasons including Ren-Mar show shots of Manhattan Beach, CA including its pier and streets as well as Hermosa Beach, CA. The show was originally filmed at Red Studios, previously known as Ren-Mar studios.Red Studios: History. Link at Internet Archive. Accessed 6 June 2014. The show moved to Universal Studios in Los Angeles for season seven, where it is noted on the studio tour. A version of this Wikipedia page served as the introduction for the season five episode titled "Where the Sidewalk Ends".
Synopsis
Series opening Nancy Botwin is a single mother who lives in Agrestic—a fictional suburb of Los Angeles—with her two children, 15-year-old Silas and 10-year-old Shane, when the series begins. The pilot opens a few months after the untimely death of Nancy's husband Judah, who had a heart attack while jogging with their younger son. Nancy begins selling marijuana to maintain the upper middle-class lifestyle originally provided by her late husband's salary. References to conspicuous consumption are evident from the show's beginning episodes. The opening credits are set to Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes" song, which speaks of suburbanites from the same mold, all living the consumerist American dream. Visual and auditory references to designer labels, luxury homes, SUVs, plastic surgery, and expensive sugary drinks point to the consumption habits of the Agrestic characters. Nancy's desire to maintain her comfortable suburban lifestyle is the impetus for her decision to enter the illegal drug business and is another example of extreme consumerism in suburbia. The series follows Nancy's life as she gets drawn into the criminal system, develops a client base, starts a front to hide her selling, creates her own strain of weed called MILF, and relocates her family to stay out of jail and protect her children. Featured in the ensemble cast are her lazy, wisecracking brother-in-law Andy Botwin; foolish acquaintance Doug Wilson; and narcissistic neighbor and PTA mother Celia Hodes.
Cast and characters
ActorRoleSeasons12345678 Mary-Louise Parker Nancy Botwin colspan="8" Justin Kirk Andy Botwin colspan="8" Hunter Parrish Silas Botwin colspan="8" Alexander Gould Shane Botwin colspan="8" Kevin Nealon Doug Wilson colspan="8" Elizabeth Perkins Celia Hodes colspan="5" colspan="3" Romany Malco Conrad Shepard colspan="3" colspan="4" Tonye Patano Heylia James colspan="3" colspan="3" Indigo Vaneeta James colspan="3" colspan="5" Renée Victor Lupita colspan="2" colspan="4" Shoshannah Stern Megan Graves colspan="2" colspan="5" Martin Donovan Peter Scottson colspan="6" Allie Grant Isabelle Hodes colspan="2" colspan="3" colspan="3" Andy Milder Dean Hodes colspan="2" colspan="5" Fatso-Fasano Marvin colspan="3" Page Kennedy Louis "U-turn" Wardell colspan="5" Matthew Modine Sullivan Groff colspan="2" colspan="5" Jack Stehlin Captain Roy Till colspan="4" colspan="5" Enrique Castillo Cesar de la Cruz colspan="3" colspan="3" colspan="2" Hemky Madera Ignacio Morero Jr. colspan="3" colspan="3" colspan="2" Demián Bichir Esteban Reyes colspan="3" colspan="2" colspan="2" Guillermo Díaz Guillermo García Gómez colspan="2" colspan="2" Mateus WardEthan and Gavin Kent Stevie Ray Botwin colspan="4" colspan="4" Kate del Castillo Pilar Zuazo colspan="4" colspan="3" Jennifer Jason Leigh Jill Price-Grey colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="2" Rachel Pace Shayla Grey colspan="4" colspan="2" Amanda Pace Taylor Grey colspan="4" colspan="2"
The principal character is Nancy Price Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), a housewife from Southern California who becomes a marijuana dealer after her husband Judah (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) dies. Although her drug-dealing career achieves mixed success, she eventually rises to the highest levels of an international drug-smuggling cartel. Nancy remarries three times during the series. First, she has an under-the-radar wedding with Peter Scottson (Martin Donovan), a DEA agent, who is later killed. In season five, she marries Esteban Reyes (Demián Bichir), the fictional mayor of Tijuana and leader of a cartel, who is murdered by the seventh season. While in prison, Nancy also establishes a long-term relationship with Zoya (Olga Sosnovska), a woman convicted of murdering her own boyfriend. In the series finale, which leaps forward seven years, viewers come to know that Nancy marries Rabbi David Bloom (David Julian Hirsh), who later dies in a car accident.
Throughout most of the show, Nancy shares her house with her brother-in-law Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk). When Andy arrives in Agrestic, he is little more than a fun-loving slacker (albeit a handsome and charming one), and Nancy views him as a burden. Nonetheless, he emerges as the primary father figure in the household; her children adore him, and there is the suggestion that Nancy and her sons view Andy as their last link to Judah. Andy falls in love with Nancy during the fourth season but eventually realizes his feelings are unreciprocated. Nancy tries to balance their relationship to keep him "in the family." When he is not helping Nancy run her household, Andy engages in various educational and business ventures, from studying to be a rabbi in Hebrew school, to marijuana dealer, to entrepreneurial bicycle salesman. He also has a passion for cooking, and he became a professional chef by the sixth season.
Nancy begins the series with two sons, who, after Judah's death, are raised haphazardly. In the fifth season, she has a third son, Stevie Ray Botwin (portrayed by uncredited babies and later by Ethan and Gavin Kent), with Esteban Reyes. Her first son, Silas (Hunter Parrish), who has been sexually active since the show's debut, later follows in his mother's footsteps: he becomes a marijuana dealer, grower, and dispensary operator.
Nancy's younger son, Shane (Alexander Gould), is highly intelligent yet poorly socialized and vulgar; he is deeply affected by his father's death and yearns for more attention from his mother. In the first three seasons, Shane was also frequently bullied in school. After his peers harassed him in the bathroom for his sexual inexperience, his uncle pursues his request in taking him for a handjob at the local massage parlor. He is portrayed as having psychological issues. For instance, just before leaving Agrestic, Shane has conversations with his deceased father. Upon moving to Ren Mar, he loses his virginity and becomes a temporary alcoholic. Shane also engages in violence. Pilar, Esteban's boss and political consultant, arranged for Nancy to be shot—an awry attempt that inadvertently wounded Shane's arm instead. Later, when Shane overheard his mother's hostile conversation with Pilar, who threatened his and Silas' lives, he murdered Pilar by abruptly striking her over the head with a croquet mallet, causing her body to collapse into the pool. By the seventh season, he joins the police academy before receiving his criminal justice degree — working for the New York City Police Department in season eight.