In news that will make you check your calendar to confirm that it is indeed 2016 and not 1999, Kevin Smith has put together a new TV comedy that is all about weed. It’s called Hollyweed, and while we probably won’t be seeing Jay and Silent Bob popping up for it, Smith is indeed playing the lead role himself, and Jason Mewes will be making an appearance. Somebody hand me a lighter, noonch.
The pilot for Hollyweed follows a pair of potheads attempting to make money and find success in the burgeoning world of marijuana dispensaries. Smith’s fellow toker will be played by the hilarious comedian and Chappelle’s Show co-star Donnell Rawlings, and the duo will take in a charismatic porn star played by Mr. Robot’s Frankie Shaw to help their cause. Making the trio’s goals a tad harder to reach will be the neighboring cookie magnate – one of pop culture’s most ruthless antagonists – that will be played by True Blood’s Kristin Bauer van Straten. And should the project move forward, we can also expect to see Adam Brody, Harley Quinn Smith, Chloe Dworkin, Ralph Garman, Hina Abdullah and Pete Pietrangeli. This is my face right now.
Interestingly, Smith has already wrapped production on the episode, according to Variety. It was shot on spec with FremantleMedia footing some of the bills alongside a group of firms with interests linked to the weed industry. (Those include Weedmaps.com, G-Pen, DNA Genetics, ACME Elixers and RAW.) The thought process here was that there are already a number of pot-based projects in development across the TV-scape, so why not create one with Kevin Smith, an icon of stoner cinema? They plan on shipping the episode around to different networks, and its future will depend on what kind of interest the pilot gets. I cannot imagine this will go anywhere but premium cable or streaming, although Smith does have ties to AMC through Comic Book Men and multiple appearances on Talking Dead.
Kevin Smith is definitely no stranger to TV, appearing on a huge assortment of different shows both as himself and as a fictional character. To me, his greatest contribution to the world was the shortlived Clerks series, which should absolutely be a part of the recent revival epidemic. He was supposed to be developing a show about a porn star, which is apparently a character type that he enjoys writing for, but it’s unclear where that’s at. He’s also got a huge slate of upcoming projects in the works, including Clerks III, Yoga Hosers, Holidays, MallBrats and possibly Helena Handbag. He’s also got an episode of The Flash to direct.
Dispensary-set comedies are all the rage, as Chuck Lorre, Margaret Cho and Adam Scott each have one in development. As well, there’s HBO’s High Maintenance and Comedy Central’s shortened series Time Traveling Bong. I guess we can expect a Weeds reunion to happen sometime soon. Let’s hope that Hollyweed is good enough to last longer than a buzz.
