On the box

Something’s growing on GEM

If watching horses with their tails tied up in little buns while they gallivant over brightly-coloured jumps that appear to have been inspired by the creators of Lego doesn’t interest you, then the world of free-to-air television doesn’t have much to offer you for the moment.

So instead, like me, you’ll be looking towards the exciting time of the post-Olympics period.

One of the Nine Network’s Digital only stations GEM – a network usually burdened with the task of airing re-runs of the Celebrity Apprentice (and currently airing and re-airing every glorious last second of European Handball) will once again be showing long-running US Comedy/Drama Weeds after the Olympics.

Weeds follows the unusual journey of a middle-aged suburban Mother, who after her husband’s untimely death, becomes a drug dealer to support her two sons. Weeds sees Nancy (played by Mary-Louise Parker) and her family pitted against a cast of hardened enemies, from Armenian drug pushers and Federal Agents, to concerned parents and council groups.

The unlikely comedy has developed something of a cult status since its debut in 2005 and is currently in its eighth and final season after multiple Golden Globe nominations and critical acclaim.

Critics and fans alike have reacted fairly negatively to the last few seasons (which began screening on GO! and GEM in 2010) which saw many regular characters written out of the show, and the setting changed from suburban middle America to beautiful but dangerous Mexico, but fears of the final season continuing as poorly as its last are all but allayed.

The eighth Season picks up straight away with the answer to the almost clichéd Season 7 cliffhanger: who shot Nancy?

And this twist in the story telling has also been cited as the cause for many fans to switch off along with more farfetched and almost cartoonish plots; however it is pleasing to note that fans can expect a return to more of the quirky character humour that made the initial few seasons so much fun to watch.

The writing so far (the Season is half-finished in the US) has been much closer to that of the original few series, returning to themes of parenthood, family and the ‘family business’ – as the story moves to its close.

For Australian fans, it will be some time before the final season will be shown on free-to-air television, and will then most likely not stay anchored in the one time slot, but pushed around to accommodate repeats of the upcoming Big Brother revamp.

Even so, expect more twists for this unconventional family and the return of a few key character’s from much earlier on in the show’s history. The identity of the shooter is revealed in the first episode and draws on the rich history of the program.

Weeds is accessible to new viewers as well, with many of the great lines still being reserved for Andy (Justin Kirk) and Doug (Kevin Nealon) who dominate their limited screen time. Despite incorporating the past in its presentation, oddly enough Season 8 is also a good jumping on point for new viewers.

Weeds is very addictive and definitely worth a look.