Well, we were pleasantly surprised by last night's ep of Weeds. (More so with Secret Diary of a Call Girl, but more about that some other time.) The Nancy stuff wasn't so great -- you could see the setup behind her plot coming from a mile away, so much so that frankly we don't really consider this to be a spoiler if you haven't seen it yet. No, it's Albert Brooks who was blowing our minds; his cranky, mournful spin on the stock zeyde character is practically a revelation. And oh, how we were loving on Elizabeth Perkins, who suffered the indiginites of prison (and homegirl hair care) with a stunned, uncharacteristic minimalism -- and in her final scene, a silence -- that we found deeply affecting.
More importantly, though: how'd y'all feel about the opening credit sequence getting cut? We liked what they had in place -- a highway and traffic signage, imprinted with the title and creator -- but not so much that it made up for a kind of lacking in the first few minutes. We are firm believers that opening credits can make or break a series -- Enterprise, anyone? -- and can't help but wonder if this, more than any of the plot changes, bodes ill for the show. "Little Boxes" set a tone for each episode that justified, maybe even required, all the craziness that followed; can the show really work without something like that to rebel against?
Maybe Romany Malco, aka Conrad, has similar concerns? His people sure did. When he was told that Conrad would be written out of the show this season, according to New York Magazine, he didn't seem too concerned, even though it meant no more making out with you-know-who.
Let’s just say, I did enjoy my camera time with [Mary-Louise Parker]. But by the time I was getting situated for what Showtime had in store, they were like, no, we’re not bringing you back. And I’ve gotta be real: My managers thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
Of course, when you've maybe got a spinoff in the works, it's not always a bad idea to get scarce for a while, since you may find your value rising more in your absence than in your presence. (Yes, we're probably talking about the opening credits here too.)
[img via New York Magazine]