Weeds: Showtime, Friday at 10
The Botwins, from Showtime's edgy new comedy Weeds, are the Bradys' hopped up on some reefer. The show features the smokin'-both literally and physically-Mary Louise Parker (The West Wing) as Nancy Botwin, widow and mother of two quirky sons, Silas and Shane. Coping with the loss of her husband, Nancy turns to selling marijuana to support her family. Somehow, the show manages to be hilarious, heart-warming and dramatic, all at the same time. Viewers hang on as Nancy deals with soccer mom gossip about her life and drug emporiums stealing her business. Parker infuses her character with more attitude and flavor than all of the Desperate Housewives combined and more sarcastic humor than Arrested Development's Michael Bluth. Saturday Night Live alum Kevin Nealon supports as the good-hearted but perpetually stoned Doug Wilson, Nancy's accountant/number one client. As Nancy struggles with teenagers and the PTA, can she prove that she has what it takes to be a dealer in suburban L.A.?
Varun Lella
Extras: HBO, Sunday at 10:30
After an Emmy nod and a Golden Globe win, do you rest on your laurels or try to strike gold twice? If you're Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the duo behind The Office, you do both. Yes, while basking in the critical acclaim that greeted their freshman effort, they've created the new BBC comedy Extras.
Now, since the series was picked up by co-producer HBO, American audiences will get to glimpse this new comic gem imported from Great Britain.
Gervais plays Andy Millman, a chubby 43-year-old actor who is still only able to get work as a background extra after five years in the biz. Merchant plays Andy's comically bad agent, and Ashley Jenson plays Maggie, Gervais' lovelorn friend and fellow extra.
Using the street cred they garnered from The Office, Gervais and Merchant have managed to nab some big-name guest stars to play themselves, including Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Stiller.
The latter actor plays a hilarious parody of himself, directing a war zone epic. At the first episode's end, Millman mocks Stiller's performance in Starsky and Hutch, and when Stiller angrily asks if that was supposed to be funny, Millman responds, "You tell me; you were in it."
Comparing the show to the brilliant Office would be unfair, but honestly, Extras is funnier than any show currently on TV not named Arrested Development.
Thaddeus Edwards
Nip/Tuck: FX, Tuesday at 10
recess' pick for the hottest show ever to grace the small screen-cable or otherwise-is this high/low brow dramatic series about a couple of plastic surgeons living it up in Miami. Here's a hint: it's not really about the surgery.
Mixing some of the most nuanced plots in the biz with a (slight) softcore porn sensibility and the trademark soap opera formula, the show's real strength is in developing compelling characters that transcend some of Nip/Tuck's more campy leanings.
Take, for example, last season's finale where Christian Troy (played by an oversexed Julian McMahon) is brutalized by a masked deviant named The Carver. In its two-season life, this isn't even the fifth time that one of the doctor's lives has been threatened. The other doctor, Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh), is dealing with family turmoil with an estranged wife and a son who was mistakenly bedding a transexual.
In the future, be prepared for plot twists, which may or may not include a bisexual love quadrangle, a reveal of the Carver as one of the main cast members, numerous cosmetic surgery mishaps, some drugrunning and perhaps a death or two.
Robert Winterode
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