I am – Hercules!!




The fifth season of “Weeds” launches on Showtime tonight!

Notes:

* It’s the first season to launch without the ticky-tacky song about little boxes. The title sequence for 5.1 is Nanci Botwin removing her foot from a stirrup pad with the words “Weeds Created by Jenji Kohan” printed on it.

* The fifth season picks up precisely where season four left off, with Nancy’s Mexican crimelord boyfriend Esteban holding the sonogram photo of her unborn baby.

* Esteban’s deadly henchman Cesar gets the episode’s first, best and most memorable laugh right after the line, “Well, this can’t get out.” It’s a gag that brilliantly sets the tone for the season’s first three episodes.

* Mary Louise Parker: still hilarious and gorgeous.

* The subplot with daughter Quinn ransoming mother Celia continues much as a similar ransoming did in the big-screen 1986 Dale Launer comedy “Ruthless People,” but with zippier pacing.

* Though only hours have supposedly passed since we last saw the season-four Strange Botwin, nine months and puberty have conspired to dramatically transform Alexander Gould, the kid who plays him.

* 5.1 ends with a musical number I prefer to anything in the "Glee" pilot!

* Jennifer Jason Leigh does not join the cast as Nancy’s frustrated sister Jill until next week.

10 p.m. Monday. Showtime.

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Galactica: The Complete Series

Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)