Read the 2017 Oregon Cannabis Guide!
The Mercury's Annual Mini-Magazine of All Things Weed Is Here
Two Promising New Cannabis Products Disappeared from Oregon Shelves. What Happened?
Drip Ice Cream and Luminous Botanicals Discuss the Speed Bumps in Oregon’s Maturing Market
Weed on the Teevee!
The Depiction of Cannabis on Television Has Matured in a Lot of Ways—But in Others, It Really Hasnât
Please Shut Up About Indica Versus Sativa
Youâre Starting to Sound Like You Donât Know What Youâre Talking About
Decarb Your Weed the Easy Way with the Nova Decarboxylator
(Don’t Worry, We’ll Explain What Decarboxylating Is)
The Wonders of Working Out with Weed
What Do Fitness Experts Say? What Does the Science Say?
One Personâs Junk Is Another Personâs Treasure
A New Line of Edibles Offers a Backlash to the Backlash
Donât LaughâDabs Are as Artisanal as Any Wine or Beer
High-End Dabs Made in Oregon and Washington Will Blow You Away
Blunt Language
A Stoner Crossword Puzzle
Blunt Language Crossword Answers
(No Cheating.)
Itâs a timely and potentially worthwhile premise for a TV show in the year 2017: a workplace sitcom set at a weed dispensary. But from its very first frames, Netflixâs Disjointed announces itself as a dudâa lame, unfunny trot through every stoner stereotype thatâs been around since Cheech and Chong (both of whom make guest appearances in the showâs first season). The 30-minute multi-camera sitcom, complete with in-studio laugh track, shows how much cannabis has become integrated into mainstream culture. Thatâs a hopeful development, but Disjointed signals something more disheartening: how a seemingly topical, even edgy idea for a sitcom can be flattened and defanged into something flavorless and unimaginative.
It shouldnât be a giant surprise that Disjointed is so disappointing. One of its co-creators is Chuck Lorre, whoâs been inflicting televised tripe on network audiences for decades; heâs responsible for Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, those maddeningly enduring programs that have signaled the creative bankruptcy of the multi-camera sitcom format. And Lorreâs trademarks are all over Disjointed, in the form of light racism (one of the showâs budtender characters introduces herself as the âtokinâ Asian,â as if this is her most salient characteristic) and vaguely sexist stereotypes (like Nicole Sullivan as a stressed-out soccer mom who needs vast amounts of weed to chill out). Itâs also telling that the characters casually toss around the word âmarijuana,â a term thatâs been outmoded in contemporary cannabis circles due to its racist and imperialist implicationsâfurther evidence that the show makers neither understand nor care about the world theyâre depicting.

There are some relative bright spots: Kathy Bates stars as Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, and while her character is yet another stereotypeâthe turquoise-jewelry-wearing hippie earth motherâBates manages to wring a few laughs from obvious punchlines with her wryly offhanded delivery. And the action is intercut with fake, cannabis-themed commercials, such as a spoof of Coorsâ ultra-American beer ads, and a lawyer-for-hire whoâll get you your pizza delivered on time. These interstitials donât really make senseâand they arenât necessarily funnyâbut their presence busts the format in a novel way and provides short respites from the monotony of the show. Perhaps theyâre evidence of how heavily Lorreâs humor relies on frequent interruptions in order to chop up the monotony, positioning his laborious jokes in starker relief. More likely, itâs an illustration of the showâs makersâ cynical attitude toward their target audienceâcouch-potato stoners with woefully short attention spans.
Itâs all the more depressing when you consider that another recent show, High Maintenance, is a superb demonstration of how our attitudes toward cannabis have evolved in the 21st century. First a web series and then a half-hour program on HBO, High Maintenance is masterfully made, threading together insightful, emotional vignettes of New York City dwellers by way of the weed dealer who comes in and out of their lives. The makers, Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, are careful to show cannabis use with realism and humor, and without lapsing into idiot-stoner clichĂ©s that have persisted for decades. High Maintenance has been renewed for another season on HBO, and its reappearance later this year should clear out the bad vibes left by Disjointed.

I suppose we should be grateful that Disjointed can be so frank about its central topic. Ten short years ago, the characters on How I Met Your Mother were required to make veiled references to smoking cannabis as âeating a sandwich,â while That â70s Show regularly put its teenagers in a smoke-filled circle but never showed actual weed. Other programs, like FXâs Justified and Showtimeâs Weeds, paved the way for mainstream television acceptance, although from todayâs vantage point, the latter showâs suburban milieu and farfetched plotâMary-Louise Parkerâs suburban pot dealer rises through the ranks of a cartel and marries an unsuspecting DEA agent, among other crazy escapadesâplay more like fantasy than anything resembling reality.
For better or worse, cannabis can be found all over television nowadays, albeit often in a comic setting, like Broad Cityâs refreshing depiction of two weed-smoking women (Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson) or Silicon Valleyâs less progressive but still funny bong-huffer, Erlich Bachman (T.J. Miller, who recently left the show under contentious circumstances). It can also be seen in reality programs like Vicelandâs Weediquette, National Geographicâs American Weed, and the Discovery Channelâs Weed Country. And cannabis is on the slate for a few projects in the works, such as Humboldt, a crime thriller based on Emily Bradyâs nonfiction book and provisionally starring John Malkovich; and Adam Scottâs Buds, a sitcom set in a Colorado dispensary (although due to Budsâ similarity to Disjointed and a long period of inactivity on the project, it seems less and less likely itâll see the light of day).
If TV is a reflection of our current society, thereâs much to be hopeful for in the developing depiction of cannabisâDisjointed notwithstanding, things seem to be moving in a promising direction. Perhaps future writers and creators will take their cues from High Maintenance and not from Disjointedâs baja-wearing, goofily addled stereotypes.