Showtime Fall Preview: Saying Goodbye to Weeds, and Celebrating the Return of Dexter and Homeland
It’s so hard to say goodbye to a great TV show! And this September 16, Showtime will bid farewell to its ground-breaking series Weeds. But while we’re sad, we still have shows like Dexter and Homeland to keep us glued to our boob tubes. Snakkle has all the latest scoop on Showtime’s fall programming from the Television Critics Association press tour. By Erin FoxWEEDS
After eight seasons, Showtime’s network-changing show Weeds is wrapping up its smoke-filled run later this fall. It’s strange to think of Showtime without Weeds—and Nancy Botwin, the antiheroine who launched a cable world full of antiheroines.
To celebrate the end of an era, cast members Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Kevin Nealon, Justin Kirk, and Mary-Louise Parker joined executive producer Jenji Kohan onstage to celebrate their favorite moments and to say goodbye.
But let’s be real. Saying goodbye is sweet and all, but what we all really want to know is how will it end? Nancy is such a complicated character, with as many horrible qualities as good ones. Without giving specifics away, Mary-Louise Parker said the end may not be the most wrapped-up, happy ending, but that it was satisfying. She explained, “I just cried when I read it. I think it’s beautiful. I don’t know. [Kohan] managed to bring things together in a way that was really satisfying for me, except for the fact that it was an end, because, you know, I think most of us are sad about that.… But there was hope in it, and there was some sort of benediction, I felt like. I think the finale is beautifully written, and I hope it lives up to what she wrote.”
In a lighter moment in the panel, Kohan apologized to the youngest cast member, Alexander Gould, who played Shane Botwin, for possibly warping his fragile young mind. Gould was only 11 when the unapologetically edgy show began shooting. Kohan said, “I just want to apologize if we’ve destroyed your childhood in any way.” And when Kohan was asked if she ever second-guessed the way his scenes were written, she said, “All the time. I was appalled. I’d sit onstage and say, ‘I can’t believe we’re making him do this,’ and I’m sorry. You’re the sacrificial lamb.”
Luckily, Gould seems to have turned out fine, despite his warped story lines. And Parker’s other on-screen son Hunter Parrish told the crowd that one of his favorite moments of the show “is the first season, and it’s when Mom is watching her and our father in, like, a sex tape, you know, that they had. And it’s sort of kinky and crazy, but then she has this emotional—this is her only way of remembering of being close to him, and I just thought it was spectacular. It’s always what I go back to when I think who Mom is.” Parker was visibly moved by his memory as Kohan said, “I love that he calls her Mom!” So do we. So do we.
DEXTER
Dexter’s season 6 finale left us breathless, with one of the biggest reveals of the series: Dexter’s loyal and loving sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) walked in on Dexter (Michael C. Hall) during one of his kills. And the sh*t hits the fan. We’ve seen the first episode of the season, and all we’ll say is that it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last frame.
Hall told reporters, “I think it is without a doubt the most fundamentally game‑changing a development as we’ve had since we started telling this story. One of the things that we’ve always been able to count on is that Dexter’s secret is his own, and it’s not anymore.”
But seriously, how the hell can Dexter and Deb move on from this gigantic moment in their relationship, considering there are still two more seasons left to go before the series will reportedly end? And how will this change Deb’s confused feelings about her foster brother and her dedication to her job as a homicide lieutenant? Carpenter explained that the way it unfolds is very organic and feels true to her character. “I didn’t want Debra to lose any sort of credibility with the audience. I wanted the things that we’ve claimed to be true about her remain so, and I think Scott Buck and the team of writers and the producers did a great job, where I don’t have to lie or shape-shift anything to make it fit for the sake of the show,” said Carpenter.
Executive producer Sara Colleton chimed in and defended their decision to have Deb walk in on Dexter at that exact moment by saying, “I think we handled it for our show perfectly in that she stumbles upon it in the middle of her emotional override on her discovery that not only is she—does she love her foster brother, but that she’s feeling that she’s in love with him. So it’s like this emotional reason why she goes there, and it’s the last thing she ever expects to find is Dexter in the process of one of his kills, so it felt very active and very much our show. “
Dexter has a great tradition of bringing in incredible guest stars who fold perfectly into their story arcs of the season. This year, we get to see Chuck’s Yvonne Strahovski play Hannah McKay, a woman with a dark past who joins forces with Miami Metro to help solve one of their ongoing cases. Strahovski told critics how she felt about being on the show: “Well, I mean, it’s a little intimidating, but it’s exhilarating. It’s really a privilege to be part of this show with amazing actors.… And now that I get to work with these guys… I’m honored to be part of it.” For more spoiler-y, juicy details, check out TVGuide.com’s interview with executive producer Sara Colleton.
Dexter premieres Sunday, September 30, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
HOMELAND
When we left off with Homeland, things were going downhill and fast. Brody (Damian Lewis) almost blew himself up as a sign of his allegiance to his POW captor Abu Nazir, and Carrie (Claire Danes) was out of the CIA and in for some painful electric shock therapy. Ouch on both fronts.
As we return to the show, time has moved forward: Brody has become a successful Congressman, and Carrie’s mental health, while fragile, has improved by living at home and teaching ESL classes. But, of course, there is no way Carrie can stay away from the CIA for long. They need her connections and mad skills! But executive producer Howard Gordon said it will not be an easy transition. Gordon explained, “We knew we had to wind Carrie up and get her back in the saddle… but it’s not that simple, because, if you remember, Estes reminds her… [and] she reminds them that she understands that this is by no means a permanent situation. So there’s more to come up on that story.”
As for Brody, he had decided not to use violence to convey his dedication to Abu Nazir’s cause but instead to influence policy through his position in Congress—but that is much easier said than done. Especially after more of his secret past is revealed to his family. The first episode alone shows how much pressure Brody is really dealing with and makes us wonder how much he can actually take. Damian Lewis told critics, “[Brody] would like to think he’s in control of his own destiny. He absolutely won’t be is my prediction for this season, and I think he will live in a state of heightened anxiety and paranoia and uncertainty.… He’s more, I think, knowingly juggling balls this season, but essentially he’s everybody’s bitch. He’s pretty f*cked.” Heh.
After watching Carrie go through electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat her bipolar condition, we were wondering how that would affect her return to the CIA and her character in general. After all, it’s not the typical hurdle a character must tackle. Danes told journalists, “I think she’s been exposed. She’s been outed as this person with this condition, and that has altered her in a pretty fundamental way, I think. She’s not hiding to the same extent, and she doesn’t have that same kind of panic and defensiveness. And when we find her at the beginning of the second season… she’s suffering from a real crisis of confidence, and she gets her mojo back, but it takes some time.”
And what is Homeland if Carrie doesn’t have some mojo? Well, by the end of the first episode, audiences will see some of that confidence return. Promise.
Homeland premieres on Sunday, September 30, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
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