TV is high on pot-centric shows as weed hits the mainstream
Casual references are also lighting up the dialogue on more established shows
TV’s reefer madness is at an all-time high.
This month, two new cannabis comedies are lighting up the small screen: HBO’s High Main
tenance (premiering Friday, 11 ET/PT), about a weed dealer (Ben Sinclair) and his New York clientele; and MTV’s Mary + Jane (Mondays, 10 ET/PT), which follows a pair of chummy roommates (Jessica Rothe and Scout Durwood) running a pot-delivery service in Los Angeles.
Netflix, too, is blazing ahead with its own stoner series Dis
jointed, which goes into production later this year. Co-created by The Big Bang
Theory’s Chuck Lorre, the workplace comedy stars Kathy Bates as a lifelong advocate who realizes her dream of owning a marijuana dispensary in L.A. And Margaret Cho is developing an hour-long dispensary dramedy for Amazon. Unlike past pot depictions on
Roseanne, That ’70s Show and Weeds, this latest strain of chronic comedy arrives at a time when marijuana has gone mainstream, thanks to recent laws that have made medical or recreational use legal in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
“We’re entering this exciting post-Prohibition era where we see a lot more humanity to the characters” who use marijuana, says David Bienenstock, head of content at High Times magazine. “It’s being shown the way a glass of wine might be. There’s shows like (Comedy Central’s) Broad
City, where they really focus on it and it’s a part of the identity of the characters.”
But casual portrayals have multiplied on series such as Ama- zon’s Transparent and Netflix’s The Get Down, “where it’s just somebody casually passing a joint to another person,” Bienenstock adds. “In a way, that’s a huge sign of progress. It shows that increasing social acceptance.”
Real-world resonance is precisely what appealed to rapper Snoop Dogg about Mary + Jane, for which he’s an executive producer and guest star.
“Being a real consumer, I have a couple dealers who remind me” of the show’s female protagonists, Snoop says. “It was a perfect depiction of who they are. It also gives empowerment to women, and I love that: to see women get their hustle on.”
Mary was created by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, who were inspired to write the series as they started seeing more pot dispensaries crop up around L.A.
“It felt like every other block, there was a new dispensary opening up,” Elfont says. “As we started doing research, we found that it is actually a field that women do very well in. There’s not a lot of discrimination, especially in the delivery space, and it makes sense. You’d rather have an attractive woman coming to your door than some shady dude if you order some weed.”
The sitcom follows buds Paige (Rothe) and Jordan (Durwood) as they make deliveries and face challenges such as manning a booth at a marijuana convention or buying too much and struggling to unload it. Though Snoop’s role was more or less to look at finished episodes, he offered insight into 420 culture throughout production and even wrote Mary’s theme song.
“I was watching the trailer and smoking a little bit, and there you have it,” Snoop says. “Magic.”