Weeds: Taking jumping the shark to a whole new level

I have been watching Weeds for a couple years now. I started around the third season and have been following ever since. When I started watching what pulled me in was the dichotomy between Nancy the housewife/drug dealer living in the picture perfect cookie cutter town. This juxtaposition is what held my attention. It is what drew in the initial audience.

So when Nancy and the rest of the Botwins moved to San Diego in the fifth season, I continued to watch because the core themes were carried over into the new setting. Then the season got out of control. Mexican drug lords, tunnels under pregnant women fashion stores, and coked up Cecilia.

When that season ended I had no idea where the series was going to go. Apparently a road trip was needed. So the Botwins took to the American roads on a Jesus mobile RV. More nonsense ensued. Nancy started growing hash in the washing machine in the RV. It was like my parents' forced motorhome roadtrips but on crack. Similar to my parents' roadtrips, their adventure ended in metro-Detroit.


I don't know if you could call what Weeds is doing "jumping the shark" but it sure is getting close. The season ended as expected, no spoiler alerts here, but the season finale didn't really open up much room for story development after the final scene.

Queue seventh season. Three years later, and now the Botwins are living in New York City, living the city life. I won't lie, I am enjoying the latest season, but much of it just seems contrived. Everything is working out way too well for the drug dealing family from Agrestic. With only a couple more episodes left, I expect shit to hit the fan real soon. There will probably be some kind of explosion, houses set on fire, something to get the Botwins so close to "jumping that inevitable shark" but hold back a little longer to make room for another ridiculous ninth season.

Zooey Deschanel does TV

"The New Girl" is a refreshing take on the female/male friendship. Especially in a current cultural obsession with "friends with benefits", The New Girl shows that males and females can still have genuine friends that don't include sleeping with each other.

Zooey Deschanel as the main character Jess is the obvious vehicle that moves the show. Most of the comedic parts are centered on her. The storyline is about her rebound from her cheating boyfriend. This isn't surprising seeing as she is the reason why most people, especially guys will tune in to the show. Although strong male characters would be nice.


Yes, it is just the pilot episode, but asking for atypical guy characters isn't asking for a lot. We have the recently dumped 'i don't care about the world' bartender. The 'I can't talk to women' personal trainer. And finally the corporate financial douchebag. It is like the writers were given a formula for what characters needed to be added to the series. A similar thing was done on the most recent take on the male/female friendship on "My Boys". I may have been the only person that watched that show, but the male characters brought something to the story. So far, these male characters are just props for Jess' story.


Jess is a strong character. She is quirky, nerdy, everything that any guy obsessed with Zooey Deschanel is going to want when choosing to watch the show. It works though. Jess can create her own theme song and it is believable. She can walk up to a stranger at the bar and say 'hey sailor' and no one thinks it is contrived. Jess is able to walk the fine line of pretty girl playing "ugly" but still leaving room for potential character growth. But do the male characters have the same potential?

By the end of the episode, the friendship between Jess and the boys starts to build. They start to care about her and want to help her get over her ex-boyfriend. The corny but still endearing "Time of Your Life" rendition at the restaurant shows that these secondary characters aren't the focus for character development; the friendship is.

That is what I expect from the coming episodes of "The New Girl". The only thing I can hope for is that the writers don't create a storyline where one of the guys falls for Jess. Although, this seems somewhat inevitable. Until then, I will just enjoy Jess' random singing outbursts because hey, I do it too... a lot.