‘Weeds,’ 11 p.m. Sunday Showtime

Grass has long been a topic of concern in the suburbs.

In this new Showtime series, the focus isn’t on lawns. This isn’t HGTV. Instead, marijuana is the currency of the realm.

Multiple-award winner Mary-Louise Parker (“Angels in America”) stars in “Weeds.” She plays Nancy Botwin, a housewife in suburban Agrestic, Calif., who turns to selling pot to support her family after her husband unexpectedly dies.

Nancy, the mother of 8-year-old Shane (played by Alexander Gould) and 15-year-old Silas (Hunter Parrish), sells to her neighbors, including her accountant Doug (Kevin Nealon), who is also a city councilman, and Dean, the husband of her uptight best friend Celia (Elizabeth Perkins).

Surprisingly, the closest thing Nancy finds to an actual family is her suppliers, a black household ruled over by sarcastic matriarch Heylia (Tony Patano). Visits to the inner city also bring reality to Nancy when bullets fly or she has to leave items precious to her in order to score her weed.

Soon complicating Nancy’s secret life is the arrival of her drifter brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk, “Angels in America”). The lay-about discovers his sister-in-law’s income stream, and seeks to insinuate himself into it.

This well-written comedy, by Emmy Award winner Jenji Kohan (“Tracey Takes On”), doesn’t moralize, but does point out that life isn’t as easy as it seems inside those cookie-cutter homes with the manicured lawns. It targets snootiness, and none of its characters get off easy.

“Weeds” operates in the gray areas of life where so many people live. (Dale McGarrigle, NEWS Staff)