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Reviews: 'Weeds,' 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'

Verne Gay | Off Camera

June 16, 2008

Reason to watch: Fans don't need a reason, but everyone else should know this is the fourth-season launch of TV's most caustic comedy (with a bleaker worldview than Hobbes'). It's also addictive. Meanwhile, Albert Brooks joins the cast.

Catching up: In the season 3 finale, Nancy Botwin ( Mary-Louise Parker) scored a protection deal with Mexican cartel boss Guillermo Garcia Gomez (Guillermo Diaz). He burns a rival gang's pot field, but the towns of Majestic and Agrestic go up in flames as well, while Nancy torches her "grow house." The DEA grills Doug (Kevin Nealon), who blames Celia (Elizabeth Perkins). Poor Celia.

What it's about: As the fourth season gets under way, there's a truly dramatic visual shift - Nancy, bro-in-law Andy ( Justin Kirk) and her boys are on the lam, leaving behind the cellophane-wrapped world of Agrestic, perhaps forever. They head south to "Bubbie's." Bubbie, the granny of Andy and Nancy's deceased husband Judah, lives in a faded beach community called Ren Mar. Bubbie's 95 and in bad shape, and the guy tending to her worldly needs is Lenny (Brooks), a bitter, broken boozer who spends most of his time at the track. He can't even bear to call Nancy by her real name, and instead refers to her as "Not-Francie." Francie (you see) was the perfect Jewish girl who should have married Judah. "She's beautiful, she married a cantor, has four children and is the No. 1 Lasik surgeon in the county." Meanwhile, Nancy is expanding her professional horizons now that U-Turn (Page Kennedy) is permanently out of the picture. Guillermo has her training for cross-border operations into Mexico; says he, "You've been thinking east/ west your whole life. You need to be thinking north/south."

Bottom line: "Weeds" ended its third season in November, and to fans the hiatus has been an eternity; everyone else, seven months. I think I comprise a third type - a wary "Weeds" fan who's happy it's back but hardly ecstatic. A fan because "Weeds" can be the most amusing show since "Arrested Development," and wary because it is only intermittently so. The shift from Agrestic, a great character in its own right, takes "Weeds" to a different place. But three episodes in, Ren Mar is just sad and dowdy. Parker? Great, as always. But Nealon is mostly MIA.

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WEEDS

Tonight at 10 on Showtime

Reason to watch: Billie Piper, well-known to "Doctor Who" fans.

What it's about: Based on the published diary of a London-based call girl, Belle de Jour, this was turned into a series that's already had ample exposure overseas. Belle's musings were initially blogs, explanatory ones at that, so Belle (Piper) often addresses the audience in a clinical, matter-of-fact way, much as any professional would. Yes, she's a whore, but she wasn't abused as a child and was never an addict. She just loves sex. That's about it. Or is it? "Diary" is less a comedy (certainly some elements of that) and much more of a character study. And, title aside, there's little nudity - at least in the first episode - but that doesn't mean the kids should watch.

Bottom line: A puzzle. Perhaps I expected a comedy. Perhaps I was expecting insights into Eliot Spitzer. Honestly, with a title like this, I didn't know what to expect. But "Call Girl" is a dreary London day. A pass.

SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL

Tonight at 10:30 on Showtime