The federal government also just issued a report explaining how we can curb drug abuse through advertising. The vast majority of youth ages 12 to 17 are receiving drug and alcohol prevention messages from TV, radio, posters and pamphlets, and those who have been exposed to such messages are significantly less likely to abuse drugs. But isn't it somewhat perverse that our tax dollars need to go to drug-prevention messages on television, in part to counter our drug-glamorizing TV programs?

 Deep at the heart of "Weeds" (and the shows that it apes, from "Desperate Housewives" to "The Sopranos") is a very cynical notion that no one actually lives a conventionally moral life, especially in the suburbs. Star Mary-Louise Parker explained the show was about "the myth of suburbia ... and how it seems like normalcy and perfection and what is actually behind that, how that actually doesn't exist."

 You can almost feel the hate coming out of Kohan against suburban neighborhoods: "They all look pretty, but they're built like crap. It's the same house over and over, all style, no substance. Everything in their world is mass-marketed. There, homes are full of condo furniture, which looks perfect at first, but it's just trash." Left unspoken: unlike my home.

 How insulting. These Hollywood writers are entering the American household while condescendingly trashing its values, not because they're not grounded in sound moral principles, but because they are. Get over yourself, you pompous haters.

 But maybe I'm overreacting. It should be noted that Showtime did exercise some restraint in its pursuit of shock. At least, the drug dealer doesn't sell ... cigarettes.