Hollywood Report

SHOWTIME GOES TO POT

Will A Drug-Dealing Mom Attract Cable Subscribers?

Exploring The Gray Areas

As a teenager growing up in Beverly Hills, Jenji Kohan once rummaged
through the refrigerator at a girlfriend's house in search of a snack
and discovered something else: a drawer stuffed with marijuana.
Although not a pot smoker herself, she instantly knew what was inside
the plastic baggies. "It wasn't celery," she says.

The discovery by Ms. Kohan that a pair of seemingly conventional
parents smoked marijuana led her, decades later, to create "Weeds," a
series about a suburban soccer mom who, in order to make ends meet
after her husband dies of a heart attack while jogging, turns to dealing pot.

The show, which stars Mary-Louise Parker as the dealer and Elizabeth
Perkins as her best friend, is equal parts comedy and drama, with an
eye to exploring the chimerical moral codes of family life in a
sun-bleached Southern California suburb where everyone drives SUVs
and walks around with double lattes from the local cafe. The first of
10 half-hour episodes premieres Aug. 7.

For Showtime, this series is part of a continuing move to compete
more directly with longtime industry leader HBO by producing more of
its own original programming. Along with "Weeds," which was produced
by Lions Gate Television, Showtime will introduce the comedy
"Barbershop" in August, an adaptation of the two hit movies. The
network has begun production on two dramas -- "Sleeper Cell," about
terrorism, and "Brotherhood," about one brother who goes into
politics and the other who enters organized crime. In years past,
Showtime focused almost exclusively on airing made-for-cable and
feature films. The strategy is a nod to the success of pay-cable
shows that push creative boundaries, from the brutality on HBO's "The
Sopranos," to the social lives of lesbians on Showtime's "The L Word."

'Soft' On Pot?

Nevertheless, it's an awkward time to launch a TV series that takes a
casual view of pot smoking. Up to now, comic depictions of drug use
have been limited to lightweight teen gag movies like Cheech and
Chong's 1978 "Up In Smoke" or last summer's "Harold and Kumar Go to
White Castle." Moreover, "Weeds" makes its debut at a moment when
social conservatives are putting enormous pressure on Hollywood to
pay attention to "values" and practice a modicum of self-censorship.
The Bush administration doesn't view marijuana as a "soft" drug, and
in June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the federal government's
right to prosecute medical marijuana users. [Weeds] Mary-Louise
Parker, Tonye Patano and Romany Malco in "Weeds."

Bob Greenblatt, Showtime's president, is quick to assure that
"Weeds," which was picked up last December, isn't an attempt to
needle cultural conservatives. "We're not out to make a political
statement about drugs," he says. At first glance, Ms. Kohan, a
veteran comedy writer who has worked on such sitcoms as "Mad About
You," "Gilmore Girls" and "Sex and the City," seems like a creature
of libertine Hollywood. Her father, Buzz Kohan, is a longtime writer
for the Academy Awards who has won 13 Emmys. Her mother, Rhea, wrote
for Dolly Parton. And her older brother, David, is the creator and
executive producer of "Will & Grace."

But Ms. Kohan says she's anything but a cultural radical. Raised as a
conservative Jew, she sends her two kids to a religious school and
gathers with her extended family each Friday for a traditional
Shabbat dinner. "I lead an incredibly conventional life," she says.

Tense Topic

To Ms. Kohan, the central focus of "Weeds" is the tension that arises
when someone who has built a life along lines of conventional
morality decides to subvert it for practical purposes. In the early
episodes, Ms. Parker's character, Nancy Botwin, refuses to allow her
older son to have sex with his girlfriend in their house (he does
anyhow) and slams a teenager against a car after he is suspected of
selling marijuana to a 10-year-old -- all while serving as the
neighborhood pot peddler.

Ms. Parker's character's loyal and secret customers include a local
city councilman, as well as the husband of her best friend, who's the
otherwise uptight president of the PTA. She buys her supply from an
African-American family in a hardscrabble Los Angeles neighborhood,
where the leader is a crochet-knitting mother whose business skills
are just as sharp as her wisecracks and homespun wisdom. For Ms.
Parker's character, these dealers eventually become a parallel and
embracing family outside her suburban existence -- expressing Ms.
Kohan's idea that marijuana is a drug that "crosses all cultural,
racial, social and economic divisions."

Ms. Kohan describes the show as a combination of comedic and dramatic
elements -- a genre known as "dramedy" in Hollywood argot. As is the
custom on pay-cable shows, Ms. Kohan's characters liberally toss out
obscenities and make graphic references to sex. But far from a
typical network sitcom, "Weeds" has the unrushed pacing and
one-camera documentary style of an HBO series like "Curb Your
Enthusiasm" and the same unsentimental approach to characters seen in
another dramedy, "Six Feet Under." "I came out of network TV where
everyone has to be good or bad," Ms. Kohan says. "I wanted to invent
characters that are more complex as a vehicle to explore the gray areas."

This isn't the first time the theme of "mom and pot" has appeared on
film. in 2000, the British film "Saving Grace" touched on similar
themes. And HBO has optioned "Pot Mom," a 1994 comedy written by
Justin Tanner, about the mother of three teenage kids who sells the
drug to make money while unemployed. The two TV concepts were similar
enough that HBO passed on "Weeds" before Showtime picked it up. HBO
has no immediate plans to put "Pot Mom" into production.

Hard Sell

Showtime has planned a relatively aggressive marketing campaign,
erecting 50 billboards in New York and Los Angeles and airing
promotional spots in its own prime time. Ads for general audiences,
like spots on VH1 and E!, will leave the premise of "Weeds"
ambiguous. "We are positioning this show as a woman who has to make
ends meet and who will do anything to make ends meet," says Len
Fogge, president of marketing at Showtime. The show cost about $1.6
million per episode to produce-- about 60% more than a typical sitcom episode.

As to whether "Weeds" will become another piece of ammunition in the
cultural wars, Ms. Kohan says she'd be surprised. "It's
entertainment. It's a TV show," she says. "I don't find it that outrageous."

Write to John Lippman at john.lippman@wsj.com Coming to a TV Near You

Two new series have recently premiered on cable: "The Comeback," on
HBO, with ex-"Friend" Lisa Kudrow as a former sitcom star; and TNT's
"The Closer," which stars Kyra Sedgewick as a police officer. Here
are some other cable series set make their debuts soon:

SHOWTIME

Barbershop Based on the "Barbershop" movies, the comedy will continue
the story of Calvin, who runs a Chicago barbershop. None of the
movie's actors will appear in the series, but several characters have
been retained. The first of 10 episodes will premiere Aug 14.

Sleeper Cell This drama is about a Muslim FBI agent who infiltrates
an Islamic terrorist cell in Los Angeles. The first episode was
directed by Clark Johnson, who also directed the premieres of FX's
"The Shield," and HBO's "The Wire." Set to air this fall.

Brotherhood Set in an Irish neighborhood in Providence, R.I.,
"Brotherhood" is about two brothers -- a politician and a mobster.
The first episode was directed by Phillip Noyce, who also helmed the
movie "Clear and Present Danger." Scheduled to begin in early 2006.

HBO

Rome With a budget of about $100 million, HBO's historical drama is
the most expensive TV series of the season. It's about two soldiers,
and is set against the backdrop of the birth of the Roman Empire. The
first of 12 episodes premieres on Aug. 28.

FX

Over There TV veteran Steven Bochco ("L.A. Law," "Blind Justice") is
producing this war drama, which focuses on soldiers taking their
first tour of duty on the front lines of Iraq. Premieres July 27.