Weeds' Kevin Nealon on the Biggest Surprise About Playing Doug

Six years after suburban housewife-turned-widow-turned-pot dealer Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) first surfaced on Showtime on the series Weeds, the Botwin family is finally breaking out of pay cable and moving to TV Guide Network. And star Kevin Nealon couldn't be happier.
"It's fantastic that more people will be able to see it because I know a lot of people have not seen it," star Kevin Nealon tells TVGuide.com. "It's going to be so much more accessible."

"Weeds Awareness Week" welcomes Weeds to TV Guide Network

Since debuting in 2004, Weeds has garnered a Golden Globe award and an Emmy, and has already been renewed by Showtime for next year. But Nealon almost wasn't involved with the project, he says. "When I first heard about the script, I thought, 'Oh I don't know if I want to be involved in a stoner kind of a show.' I had done that before," he says. "But then I read the script and it had great writing and great characters."

Check out videos from Weeds

Beyond the show's title and many references to marijuana, Nealon says the series is about family and survival. "The fans can relate to a lot of these characters," he says. "They know people like this and I think people wonder, 'How would I survive if I lost my husband? What would I do or what wouldn't I do?' That draws people into watching it."Luckily for Nancy, she has many friends to turn to in her time of desperation. And one of her best assets is Nealon's Doug Wilson, a city councilman, accountant and, well, giant stoner.

Check out photos from Weeds

"Doug Wilson is readily available for Nancy to help out. He becomes like a pawn for her," he says. "The biggest surprise about Doug is how dense he is. He never learns. He tries to get what he wants and always chooses what's best for him."After six seasons, Nealon is still surprised about the fan recognition the series receives. It's even surpassed the attention he gets for his nine-year stint on Saturday Night Live, he says."I always wondered if there would be a show that I would do that would take the place of Saturday Night Live and it's become Weeds," he says. "It's just been a real fun ride from the get-go and just so exciting that it's been picked up every year and more and more people are watching it. ... It's a great escape."TV Guide Network is launching Weeds Awareness Week to launch the series starting Sunday, Oct. 17. A six-day marathon of episodes will run Sunday through Friday from 9 p.m.-2 a.m.