Showtime TCA: 'Weeds' Mary-Louise Parker and Jenji Kohan dish

By April MacIntyre Jul 19, 2008, 5:16 GMT

12/09/2007 - Mary-Louise Parker - "P.S. I Love You" World Premiere - Arrivals - Grauman\'s Chinese Theater - Hollywood, CA, USA © David Gabber / PR Photos

The little boxes went away in a tidal wave of flames.  Agrestic is no longer the location for Mary Louise Parker's pot-dealing widowed mom character, Nancy Botwin. She has moved down south to "Ren Mar" where the border beckons ever so seductively. 

Showrunner Jenji Kohan revealed her plans at the TCA (Television Critics' Association) press tour today in Beverly Hills:  “A year ago at the TCA’s at a snack table, I whispered to Mary-Louise, ‘How would you feel if we burned it all down?’  And she was psyched. The truth is the writers’ room was getting restless…and I didn’t want them to get tired and leave.”

Actress Mary-Louise Parker echoed the sentiment:  I think it was a brilliant and really brave idea. I love it."

I grabbed my turn at the mike and asked Mary-Louise which one of her co-stars on "Weeds" fueled her own performance.  

"Well, I don't get to work with Elizabeth (Perkins) that much, but pretty much everything she does I'm kind of enthralled by. 

Whenever I do get to work with her, it's pretty -- she's pretty intoxicating to work with.  I find -- I just think she's kind of peerless.  Especially in terms of comedy, I think she's kind of extraordinary. 

And Justin, the same thing.  I work with him probably a little bit more than Elizabeth, so I feel like I have a certain chemistry with him that I really love working with him. 

Hunter too.  I think Hunter is pretty awesome, and he just gets better all the time.  He's a lot younger than some of the rest of us, and I think he's just getting better every day. So I think we've got an amazing cast," shared Parker.

Kohan went on to say that HBO passed on "Weeds," like "Mad Men" which was snapped up by AMC.

Kohan revealed, "Yeah.  HBO passed.  They didn't want to do a show with kids.  That was their reason.  I don't know.  And so next up was Showtime. 

I think their mandate at the time early on was to make some noise, and this was a noisy subject matter.  And they jumped in with both feet.  It was terrific."

And what about love? Look to Esteban, (Demian Bichir) the kingpin drug lord who Nancy fancies.  The possible Andy (Judah's brother) romance is lurking out there too.

Showtime president Robert Greenblatt announced earlier that "Weeds" will go on for two more seasons.