Weeds season 1
| Weeds | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 DVD cover | |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Showtime |
| Original release | August 8 – October 10, 2005 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of the dark comedy-drama series Weeds premiered on August 8, 2005, and consisted of 10 episodes.
Plot
Nancy Botwin and her children, Silas and Shane, live in Agrestic, a fictional suburb of Los Angeles. Her husband, Judah Botwin, dies of a heart attack while jogging with Shane a few weeks previously. During season one, Silas is fifteen years old and Shane is ten.
To support her upper middle class lifestyle, Nancy begins dealing marijuana to her affluent neighbors and friends. Her supplier is Heylia James, a major distributor in Los Angeles' West Adams district, whom she met through Judah's younger brother, Andy Botwin. Andy moves into the house after Judah's death to help Nancy out, though he also seems to be there to freeload, and often disrupts her life. After losing customers to a medical marijuana store, Nancy begins baking and selling pot-laced foods, with the help of Heylia's nephew, Conrad. On the advice of her accountant, city councilman Doug Wilson, she opens a retail bakery as a front for her drug sales. Silas begins dating Megan, an attractive deaf girl at his school, and starts to bond with Megan's father, who gives him boxing lessons and teaches him how to drive. Shane, troubled by his father's death, acts out, earning him the nickname "Strange Botwin" from his classmates. Shane's violent and strange behavior worries Nancy, who considers putting him on anti-depressants.
Nancy's chief antagonist is her neighbor, Celia Hodes, who is manic, image-obsessed, and manipulative. She is president of the Agrestic PTA, and does not get along with her cheating husband Dean, nor with her sexually active teenage daughter, Quinn, who she sends off to boarding school in Mexico. Her younger daughter, 11-year-old Isabelle, is overweight and the target of Celia's passive-aggressive comments, although Isabelle seems mature and confident for her age. Isabelle reveals late in the season that she is a lesbian, to her mother's chagrin. In the middle of the season, Celia gets diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. The brush with her own mortality softens Celia's personality and leads her to treat Isabelle with more courtesy and respect. She quickly returns to form after her recovery. However, before her surgery, she meets Conrad and has sex with him. After Andy is notified to report immediately for his military service (where he will be trained and then sent to Iraq) or be sentenced to a military prison, he announces that he is studying to become a rabbi because he believes it will provide grounds for him to be discharged.
Drug dealing turns out to be more difficult than Nancy thought, as she discovers when she expands her customer base to Valley State College and hires Sanjay, a student at the college, to be her on-campus dealer. She is soon threatened by a rival drug dealer – Alejandro – who considers it his territory. She has a brief sexual encounter with him. At Valley College, Nancy's entire stash of product is stolen by a campus security guard during a fake arrest, threatening the survival of her lifestyle. Unbeknownst to her, Conrad and his friends attack and severely beat the security guard. As a result, the guard returns the marijuana to a puzzled Nancy, apologizes, and offers to help her business in any way he can. Meanwhile, Nancy develops a mutual attraction with Peter Scottson, a single father, and they end up sleeping together. Conrad, who has been growing a special strain of marijuana, approaches Nancy and convinces her to expand by becoming a grower as well as a dealer. The season closes with Nancy and Conrad forming a team, including Doug, Dean, Sanjay and Andy, to work their operation. However, Nancy then encounters a complication: she learns that her new boyfriend Peter is a DEA agent.
Cast
Main cast
- Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin (10 episodes)
- Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes (10 episodes)
- Tonye Patano as Heylia James (8 episodes)
- Romany Malco as Conrad Shepard (9 episodes)
- Justin Kirk as Andy Botwin (7 episodes)
- Hunter Parrish as Silas Botwin (10 episodes)
- Alexander Gould as Shane Botwin (10 episodes)
- Kevin Nealon as Doug Wilson (10 episodes)
Recurring cast
- Andy Milder as Dean Hodes (10 episodes)
- Renée Victor as Lupita (9 episodes)
- Indigo as Vaneeta James (6 episodes)
- Shoshannah Stern as Megan Graves (6 episodes)
- Tressa DiFiglia as Maggie (6 episodes)
- Allie Grant as Isabelle Hodes (5 episodes)
- Becky Thyre as Pam Gruber (5 episodes)
- Shawn Schepps as Alison (5 episodes)
- Maulik Pancholy as Sanjay Patel (3 episodes)
- Vincent Laresca as Alejandro (3 episodes)
- Martin Donovan as Peter Scottson (2 episodes)
- David Doty as Principal Dodge (2 episodes)
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Judah Botwin (2 episodes)
- Tyrone Mitchell as Keeyon James (2 episodes)
- Haley Hudson as Quinn Hodes (1 episode)
- Daryl Sabara as Tim Scottson (1 episode)
- Justin Chatwin as Josh Wilson (1 episode)
- Craig X. Rubin as Craig X (1 episode)
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "You Can't Miss the Bear" | Brian Dannelly | Jenji Kohan | August 8, 2005 |
| 2 | 2 | "Free Goat" | Brian Dannelly | Jenji Kohan | August 15, 2005 |
| 3 | 3 | "Good Shit Lollipop" | Craig Zisk | Roberto Benabib | August 22, 2005 |
| 4 | 4 | "Fashion of the Christ" | Burr Steers | Jenji Kohan | August 29, 2005 |
| 5 | 5 | "Lude Awakening" | Lee Rose | Devon K. Shepard | September 5, 2005 |
| 6 | 6 | "Dead in the Nethers" | Arlene Sanford | Michael Platt & Barry Safchik | September 12, 2005 |
| 7 | 7 | "Higher Education" | Tucker Gates | Shawn Schepps | September 19, 2005 |
| 8 | 8 | "The Punishment Light" | Robert Berlinger | Rolin Jones | September 26, 2005 |
| 9 | 9 | "The Punishment Lighter" | Paul Feig | Matthew Salsberg | October 3, 2005 |
| 10 | 10 | "The Godmother" | Lev L. Spiro | Jenji Kohan | October 10, 2005 |
Reception
Reviews
The season received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of Weeds received 79%. The site's critics consensus reads: “Weeds is a cheeky comedy with dark, humorous, and sometimes outrageous moments centered around a talented female-led cast including Emmy winner Mary-Louise Parker.”[1] On Metacritic, the first season received a 70 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews.[2] Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly spoke highly of Parker and Nealon's performances, and praised the acting of Perkins as Celia Hodes, writing “Perkins is so perfectly, nastily desperate that she gets away with it.”[3] David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle also praised the acting of Parker and Perkins, and stated “Weeds may indeed be the best written new show of the year.”[4] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote "Weeds is well written and engrossing, and has a slick balance of satire and soap opera."[5] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine gave a mixed review of the season, praising the performances of Perkins and Gould, but criticizing the characterization of Nancy, commenting: “There’s a sense that the writers of Weeds are as lazy as their main character, that they understand her as little as she seems to understand herself.” However, Gonzalez spoke highly of Parker's acting, writing “Parker brings a great performance to a less than one-dimensional part.”[6]
Some critics criticized the depiction of Heylia and her family, believing that the characters perpetuated harmful black stereotypes. Dana Stevens of Slate Magazine gave a positive review, but commented “the black characters, led by a sassy matriarch named Heylia [...] seemed to embody the most egregious of African-American stereotypes.”[7] In an NPR interview, commentator Betty Bayé stated “[Weeds is] the latest chapter in a long history of negative black stereotypes in the media.”[8] In response to the criticism, series creator Jenji Kohan commented that the characters of Heylia, Conrad and Vaneeta were inspired by her friends in Venice Beach, stating: “Heylia and her family are kind of [a] homage to that time in my life and those guys,” further commenting “I knew them, and this is my experience of how they spoke and how they related.”[9]
Accolades
The first season received numerous awards and nominations, including three Golden Globe Awards nominations with one win. Mary-Louise Parker won for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. The series was nominated for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy, and Elizabeth Perkins was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film. The show also received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. It was nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, Elizabeth Perkins was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and Craig Zisk was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. Parker won a Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series, and Perkins was nominated for the same category.
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | Mary-Louise Parker | Won | [10] |
| Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Elizabeth Perkins | Nominated | |||
| Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy | Weeds | Nominated | |||
| 2006 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series | Weeds | Nominated | [11] |
| Outstanding Main Title Design | Nominated | ||||
| Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||||
| Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series | Craig Zisk (for ‘’Good Shit Lollipop’’) | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Elizabeth Perkins | Nominated |
References
- ^ "Weeds". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ "Weeds: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Flynn, Gillian (August 5, 2005). "Weeds". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Wiegand, David (August 5, 2005). "Smoldering frustrations in suburbs spark up in Showtime's superb 'Weeds'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Stanley, Alessandra (August 5, 2005). "Mom Brakes for Drug Deals". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Gonzalez, Ed (August 30, 2005). "Review: Weeds: Season One". Slant Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Stevens, Dana (August 5, 2005). "Chronic Condition". Slate Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ "'Weeds' Continues to Grow Negative Stereotypes". NPR. August 16, 2005. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ Bolonik, Kera (August 7, 2007). In the Weeds: The Official Companion Book to the Hit Showtime Series. Simon Spotlight Entertainment. p. 5. ISBN 978-1416938781.
- ^ "Weeds". goldenglobes.com. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- ^ "Weeds". emmys.com. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
External links
- Weeds at IMDb
- Weeds at epguides.com