Weeds: Season 1

Sure, mobsters and morticians have killed on premium cable, but none slay us as quirkily, with but a whimper and a dime bag, as Mary-Louise Parker's marijuana-dealing soccer mom. A depressed widow with two sons, Parker opens a bakery to facilitate a pot ring (a.k.a. a ''fakery''). Like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, Weeds caustically satirizes suburbia while peeking into a fringe family business. But unlike its predecessors, Showtime's series deals in a realism that's wincingly close to home.

While the barely-there presence of Golden Globe winner Parker on the extras is curious, the show's comic relief, Kevin Nealon (who plays an incessantly stoned CPA), picks up the slack — the package is best summed up, actually, by costar Justin Kirk during one of many frivolous cast chats: ''Who wouldn't wanna party with Kevin Nealon?''

On his commentary, Nealon playfully bemoans how ''light-headed'' he gets from smoking the herbal props, which creator (and Gilmore Girls alum) Jenji Kohan says are composed of ''creatively glued oregano and twigs.'' Kohan's tracks, a foil for Nealon's wisecracking, offer sober insight into the show; she claims that some of her snappy banter derives from ''conversations I had had down in Venice Beach with the people I played dominoes with.'' A cannabis doc is pretty predictable, but the recipes for laced Hash Browns, Hot Space Cakes, and I'm Baked Ziti are the set's highlight.

You Might Also Like

• DVD Review The Spiderwick Chronicles (Jun 24, 2008) | Ty Burr
• Book Commentary Books that inspired movies | Gregory Kirschling, Kate Ward
• Movie Commentary Who's up for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar (Dec 20, 2002) | Steve Daly
• All About Mary-Louise Parker
• Movie News Robert Downey Jr. takes on Iron Man, and more | Adam B. Vary
• DVD Review Slumdog Millionaire (Mar 31, 2009) | Chris Nashawaty