http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/08/14/WEEDS-Season-Opener-Doing-the-Backstroke.aspx Showtime has always been the Avis of premium cable networks, so it’s had to try harder.  But you don’t always succeed just by trying.  For the longest time, no matter what Showtime did, HBO was the place where creatives went with programming that were cutting edge and/or quirky.   But that seems to be changing.  It started I think with the decision to air THE L WORD, a drama that was in many ways as conventional as it was hot. And it was – is – hot.  People fell in love, fell out of love, tried to have families, feuded and died.  It just happened in this case they were all women.  Very attractive women. More recently it signed X-FILE star David Duchovny to star in CALIFORNICATION, a program that serves as a counterpoint to THE L WORD and might just as easily be called The Y Chromosome File.  (See review of first episode here.) But I think if one series turned things around it is WEEDS (Showtime Mondays at 10 p.m.), which just started its third season.  The show is so brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed it is worth whatever exorbitant fee your cable company charges for the network. At its center is the exquisite Mary-Louise Parker who demonstrates comic chops and sensibilities I never knew she had.  Parker plays Nancy Botwin, who, in order to maintain her lifestyle in the ritzy development called Agresta, turns to growing pot.  At first she approaches the job as a dilettante, but she has embraced her role in crime with middle class fervor. en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/08/14/WEEDS-Season-Opener-Doing-the-Backstroke.aspx 77 60 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/08/14/WEEDS-Season-Opener-Doing-the-Backstroke.aspx#1169 YAY!!! i cant wait for tonight. I love this show SOOO much. for those of you who dont have showtime, you can download the episodes at Itunes..trust me , if you've got a weekend to kill you WONT regret it.... JB http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/08/14/WEEDS-Season-Opener-Doing-the-Backstroke.aspx#1169 Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:22:07 GMT http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/08/14/WEEDS-Season-Opener-Doing-the-Backstroke.aspx#1194 This is showtimes best running show right now. I hope to see more from showtime in the new season coming up. Jamestown Bands http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/08/14/WEEDS-Season-Opener-Doing-the-Backstroke.aspx#1194 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:27:10 GMT