A couple of years ago Showtime passed HBO as the home of good TV.
HBO still has a few decent shows that I watch, like the brilliant “Boardwalk Empire,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” but Showtime has vastly surpassed its more famous rival in terms of quality stuff.
So because I don’t think enough people know this, I’d like to toot the horn of a couple of my favorites who are off to great summer seasons.
The first show I love is “Weeds,” which you’ve probably heard of since it’s been around for seven years. It started off great seven years ago with Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban mom/pot dealer. Seriously, it was as darkly funny the first few years as any show I’ve ever seen.
Then it kind of got crazy and off track the last two years, but this season it’s been fantastic. Nancy Botwin (Parker) and her family have moved to New York after she spent time in prison and they were in the Netherlands (don’t ask). Kevin Nealon is back to being funny on the show after just being annoying the last two years, and the rest of the supporting cast rules. Watch this show; it’s on Monday at 10 p.m.
The other awesome Showtime show is one you probably haven’t heard of. It’s called “The Green Room,” and it’s basically this: Comedian Paul Provenza gets four other famous comics in a room, and they all sit around riffing and cracking each other up.
It’s been brilliant in its first two seasons so far; last week’s episode, with Kathy Griffin, Dana Gould (who had me spitting up food he was so funny) and Greg Proops.
Here’s a clip, not the best one of the last episode (truly, the best lines on the show are unprintable), but still pretty funny:
**Gentlemen, I’m sorry to inform you that there’s a new standard-bearer when it comes to devoted boyfriends who want their beloved to accept their marriage proposal.
Meet my new hero, Liu Piewen of China. His girlfriend, Ling Hsueh joked with him that the only way she’d marry him is if he walked 1,000 miles. She said she wanted him to live out the old Proclaimers song, “I would walk 500 miles”, (the next lyric is “and I would walk 500 more”), and then she’d agree.
Our man Piewen thought she was serious, and has started on a hike of 1,000 miles. Should take him about six weeks.
I love this quote from Ling: “‘He’s such a fruitcake. I would have married him anyway and was only joking when I said he had to walk a 1,000 miles.”
Ah, true love. I would hope, at the very least, she’d have some tea and cake waiting for him when he was finished.
