With Weeds returning to Showtime on August 13, I thought I'd give myself a treat and watch the first two seasons On-Demand. I'm still close to bursting out laughing over some of the scenes and characters. I would say the series is right up there with Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development as fall-down, laughing-out-loud comedy. But Weeds also has a darker side, which really kept me on the edge of my seat by the end of the second season (nice accompaniment to falling down laughing).

For anyone who's been living on Alpha Centauri or thereabouts the past few years: Mary Louise Parker plays Nancy Botwin, a suburban single mom who deals weed. Her husband Judah dropped dead unexpectedly while jogging, leaving Nancy no insurance and a load of bills. She has two sons - Silas (Hunter Parish) a high-school student and Shane (Alexander Gould) just breaking into puberty. Her brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) moves in to help. Lupita (Renee Victor) the housekeeper doesn't do any work, because she discovered Nancy's stash and that's her price for keeping quiet.

There's hilarity in almost every family scene, but Andy is in a class by himself. He explains the ins-and-outs of masturbating to Shane, who's been gumming up the plumbing with his used socks. He provides sage counsel to both boys about girls and women. He gets involved with a sexy wacko himself as he goes to rabbinical school to avoid going to Iraq - until a dog bites off two of his toes, giving him grounds for a medical deferment if needed.

The first season is mostly laughs, as Nancy struggles to get her business going and make ends meet. But it ends with a startling scene - the first guy she has let herself romantically sleep with after her husband's death is DEA, a drug enforcement agent.

This sets up the considerably more sinister but even funnier second season. Nancy secretly marries DEA agent Peter (Martin Donovan), who says he loves her. The idea is that Peter, as her husband, can't be compelled to testify against her, and nor would he want to, since public disclosure of being married to a drug dealer would ruin his career. It's not that Nancy loves him - she certainly likes him, at this point - it's that she's willing to do anything to protect her business and her family. She's not above using sex and whatever is necessary. I actually think this makes her more admirable.