The excerpt shown in US-1 from the 'Showtime' cable TV series Weeds [this link is to the series' DVD edition, as the Showtime website is not available outside the U.S.] is from Season One, Episode Two, titled "Free Goat," first shown in the U.S. in August 2005]. It shows Nancy Botwin in the kitchen of Heylia James' home, together with Heylia, her unwed-mother daughter Vaneeta, her son Keeyon and her nephew, Conrad Shepard. Reference is made to Keeyon's wife Reisha and daughter Shae [both unseen]. Nancy has come to purchase more marijuana, but does not have any money to pay for it, so must give her Range Rover car as collateral.

In addition to the stereotypical situation where an 'outsider' white cannot follow the 'insider' conversations of black Americans, the following might be noted:

• Card game references to 'boat,' 'three switchin' bitches,' and 'tennis shoe pimp'
• Mild vulgarities used by the black speakers, e.g. 'suck ass' and 'kiss my ass,'
• Vulgarities combined with 'nonstandard' grammar, as in 'shoes ain't gonna cover that shit'
• The use of 'big' for 'pregnant' (cf. The Color Purple) in "since Reisha got big with Shae."
• The reference 'all bun' [no 'hot dog'=penis] as to what could have happened to the Keeyon (by Reisha's father) if he had not married Reisha.
• The name contrast of 'Conrad' vs Heylia, Vaneeta, Keeyon, and Reisha
• Use of the Yiddish loan-word schmuck by Heylia
• Conrad is bidding on Ebay for [wheel] rims for his 'hooptie' (see also the Wikipedia entry for the Buick Electra; the car is also referred to as Conrad's 'bucket') (cf. the subtitle's equivalent to 'hooptie' as kosla)
• Helia's use of 'girl' when addressing Nancy, e.g. "girl, you'd better get out of here before ..."
• Brand/trade names: Range Rover (which Nancy drives), Macy's (used by Heylia when speaking to Nancy), vs. Conrad's car, the 'hookie'

Brief Background on 'Weeds'

Weeds is the story of life in the peacefully perfect California suburb of Agrestic, where morality is absolutely anything but absolute. 'Agrestic' is based on the 'Stevenson Ranch' community, northwest of Los Angeles near the Santa Susana Mountains, where outdoor footage of the community was filmed. In contrast, the presumed location of Heylia James' home is in "inner-city" Compton, in southeastern Los Angeles.

Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) is a recently widowed 'soccer mom' [in Episode One her youngest son is even shown playing soccer], who makes ends meet by secretly dealing pot, while the other moms in Agrestic whisper behind her back and wonder how she can afford her expensive accessories and tastefully decorated house.

Ambiguity is at the comic and intellectual heart of Weeds. Nancy is a loving mom who is devoted to her kids, believes soft drinks should be replaced by bottled water and fruit juices in the school cafeteria, and will not sell her baggy-packaged product to kids. Her best friend, Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins), may seem unforgivable when she calls her plump younger daughter Isabella "Isa-belly" and replaces her chocolates with laxatives, and ships her older daughter off to a Mexican reform school which she refers to as "casa reforma," but she is a woman whose entire life has been a disappointment. Over drinks with the young tennis pro her husband has been screwing, she confesses she married Dean because she thought he would be rich and powerful. Instead, she says, he's just a "midlevel asshole, and that makes me Mrs. Midlevel Asshole."

The other side of Nancy's life involves her relationship with an African American family of dope dealers, headed by Heylia James (Tonye Patano), who live in an edgy part of Los Angeles [see above]. Nancy becomes a different person as soon as she walks into Heylia's overpopulated kitchen. Whereas her demeanor in Agrestic is always somewhat guarded, not just because of her vocation but because of the subtle treachery of suburban life, in Heylia's kitchen she can be herself. Nancy's kitchen meetings with Heylia and her family play on common African American stereotyping, chief of which here is that Nancy buys her supply from African American dealers.

Part of the 'Brief Background' was abstracted from a review by David Wigand in the San Francisco Chronicle on 05 August 2005.