Fans of Weeds are in for a few surprises when the series launches its second season on Showtime next month.I attended the Weeds Season Two premiere last night at the Egyptian in Hollywood and the audience -- a mix of celebrities, cast members, and execs from Showtime and studio Lionsgate Television -- was able to catch a sneak peek at the first two episodes of next season. And let me just say, if you thought that season finale cliffhanger ending with Nancy (Mary Louise Parker) discovering that her newest beau Peter (Martin Donovan) was a DEA agent after sleeping with him was a doozy, you're in for a real treat.
Before the main event, Showtime president Bob Greenblatt screened the trailer for Showtime's upcoming series The Tudors, a revisionist take on the Tudor dynasty starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sam Neill, and Jeremy Northam, among others. It's sort of a soap operatic version of history but without any of the flair or panache of HBO's Rome. The first half of the trailer, with its red background, ominous music, and on-screen text talking about how Henry VIII took six wives and forever changed church and state began to make my eyelids flutter. (It had been a long day.) Rhys Meyers looks to turn in another virtuoso performance, but isn't he a little, um, thin to tackle the notoriously overweight and murderous king? (Even Weeds' Celia couldn't make a fat comment about the lean Rhys Meyers.) The Tudors will premiere on Showtime in 2007.
But back to Weeds. In the second season, life in Agrestic is still the messed-up farce it's always been. Look for Nancy and Peter's "relationship" to take a rather intriguing turn at the end of episode two; say buh-bye to the bakery, a convenient front for Nancy's ever-expanding pot business, when Sanjay (Maulik Pancholy) lights up; Nancy's brother-in-law Andy (the hilariously roguish Justin Kirk) inches closer to becoming a rabbi in order to escape military service in Iraq (his Torah-like admission essay to a rabbinical school is a treat); Nancy and Conrad (Romany Malco) split up as business partners after he finds out about Nancy sleeping with DEA agent Peter; a wigging-out Celia (Emmy nominee Elizabeth Perkins) runs for city council just to spite pothead Doug (Kevin Nealon), who refuses to install a traffic light after Celia and daughter Isabelle (Allie Grant) are involved in a hit-and-run accident; and the relationship between Silas (Hunter Parrish) and his deaf girlfriend hits a speed bump when she's admitted to Princeton. (I have an especially bad feeling about that last one; Silas is bound to do something completely idiotic to get her back.)
No sign, though, of Zooey Deschanel in the first two episodes. She joins the cast of Weeds this season and was name-checked by Bob Greenblatt when he introduced the show.
After the screening, attendees gathered on Weeds' Hollywood set for a fantastically fun party, sponsored by Showtime, Lionsgate, Lexus, and Advanced Nutrients. And let me just tell you, if you've never been served food by caterers from a fake kitchen on a television set, you haven't lived. Afterwards, I went out onto the (fake) verandah and had one too many Tanqueray-and- tonics and checked out the celebs, who included Weeds cast members Mary Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Romany Malco, Justin Kirk, Alexander Gould, Hunter Parrish, and "special guest star" Martin Donovan. Also spotted: Luke Perry, Victor Webster, Touching Evil's Jeffrey Donovan, and the ubiquitous Andy Dick. And I believe, Daveigh Chase, who plays Harry Dean Stanton's child bride Rhonda on HBO's Big Love. I think.
It was, in the words of one Clueless character, "a pretty random party." And considering the wacky tobacky show that it was feting, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Weeds returns to Showtime with its second season premiere on August 14th at 10 pm ET/PT.
What's On Tonight
8 pm: Big Brother 7: All-Stars (CBS); My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC); Smallville (WB); Master of Champions (ABC); That '70s Show/That '70s Show (FOX); Everybody Hates Chris/Love, Inc. (UPN)
9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC); Supernatural (WB); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX); Eve/Cuts (UPN)
10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); Windfall (NBC); Primetime (ABC)
What I'll Be Watching
8 pm: My Name is Earl.
On tonight's repeat episode ("White Lie Christmas"), Earl tries to make up for all of the awful presents he gave Joy when they were married by winning her a car in a radio contest, but Randy and Catalina have designs of their own on the auto.
8:30 pm: The Office.
On a repeat of The Office ("The Carpet"), Michael begins to question his popularity at Dunder-Mifflin when someone, um, "stains" the carpet in his office. Is an office prank or a karmic sign? (Earl would probably know.)
Comments
You might just be on to something. ;)
It was great to see the first two on a big screen. I only wish that a certain scene from ep 3 was in one of the first two. I would have LOVED to have heard the audience reaction. In fact, I spoke w/Justin Kirk later in the evening and he said the exact same thing (he is in the scene in question).
Much fun the party was!