Disparate Housewives

Having just watched the first 5 episodes of the 3rd season of WEEDS, I can safely say that even on her BEST day, Bree VanDeKamp Hodge wouldn't last 3 minutes in a lady-fight against Nancy Botwin. WEEDS' occasionally reluctant drug dealing queenpin, Nancy Botwin, would bite off Bree's extended pinky and spit it out onto Bree's ecru carpet. WEEDS packs more real human drama into 27 minutes than DESPERATE HOUSEFRAUS wrings out of a soggy 42 minutes. Though Mary Louise Parker is a revelation as Nancy, Elizabeth Perkins makes WEEDS' town lush Celia Hodes a force to be reckoned with on the level of an Alexis Carrington or Carmela Soprano. Nancy, Celia, and even Celia's kick-ass daughter, Isabelle, could MOP THE FLOOR with the desperate housewives (and make it look like an accident). In some scenes of WEEDS, I can't help being reminded of Lucille Ball at her zany best shoving chocolates in her mouth and into her shirt. Only, Nancy is skimming 20 pounds of marijuana out of her pool and drying it in the dryer. But she's all Lucy, and the best one since the original.