In the build-up to the 2006 Golden Globes, it seemed as though it was the Year of the Desperate Housewife. Not only was the show nominated for best comedy series (which it won) but all four of the leads were competing for the best actress in a comedy award. Few gave the fifth name on the list - Mary-Louise Parker, star of dark, suburban cannabis-dealing comedy-drama Weeds - much of a chance. Presenter Chris Rock joked: 'You gotta feel sorry for Mary-Louise Parker. Desperate Housewives is one of the biggest shows on the planet and Weeds is only watched by [rapper] Snoop Dogg.' Surprisingly, Parker walked away with the award. Many in the entertainment media attributed Parker's success to the Desperate Housewives quartet scuppering each other's chances by splitting the vote - which was at least partly true - but this shouldn't detract from the fact the award was thoroughly merited. To add irony to injury, of all the actresses up for the Globe, Parker played the character that most accurately embodied the description 'desperate housewife'. In Weeds, which starts on HBO Signature tomorrow at 10pm, Parker plays Nancy Botwin, a mother-of-two whose world crumbles when her husband drops dead of a heart attack. Suddenly faced with the financial strain of bringing up her sons in the affluent fictional Los Angeles suburb of Agrestic, she resorts to dealing marijuana to her friends and neighbours. The premise, however, is merely the hook that draws the viewer into a canny exploration of the myriad dirty little secrets of suburban America. Establishing a darkly comic tone that is a mix of Six Feet Under and Desperate Housewives, Weeds introduces a believably idiosyncratic cast of characters: Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins, probably best known for playing Wilma in the live-action version of The Flintstones) is a suburban mother weighed down by her husband's infidelity and the behaviour of her wayward daughter; Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon; Saturday Night Live), Nancy's accountant, helps her hide her illegal income while being one of her biggest customers; and Heylia James (Tonye Patano) is the motherly, large-scale dealer who supplies Nancy with her cannabis. The writing is of the standard we have come to expect from HBO series (although Weeds is actually made by rival channel Showtime) and the plots and dialogue push the envelope to a satisfying degree. Celia, for example, is graphically made aware - with a racquet as a prop - of the extent of her husband's affair with his tennis coach, while Nancy comments to a rival, teenage dealer that getting stoned before watching The Passion of the Christ is disturbing, to which he replies: 'It's not as disturbing as watching it not stoned. Religion my ass, that's a straight-up snuff film.' Crucially for a successful comedy-drama, Weeds balances both sides of the equation, imbuing its characters with a sense of psychological realism that most series can only dream of while exploring the moral quandaries posed by drugs in a prosperous society. Most of all, though, it is Parker's performance that makes this show essential viewing for TV connoisseurs; she plays the grieving but resourceful Nancy with such style and class, it is impossible to imagine another actress in the role - or winning the Golden Globe for that matter. That, Desperate Housewives, you can stick in your pipe and smoke. Excitingly for impatient viewers such as me, HBO Signature is showing seasons one and two in their entirety this week, with three episodes a night until Saturday and the concluding four next Sunday. Also worth a watch this week is Tribe 2 (Discovery Channel, tomorrow to Wednesday at 9pm). Following on from the first series, in which former British Royal Marine Bruce Parry (above) went to live with the ancient Suri tribe in Ethiopia, these three programmes see him return to the country's Omo Valley to spend a month with each of three other tribes. Parry begins his adventure by calling in on the Suri for a brief, emotional reunion, before shocking them with the news he intends to live with their sworn enemy, the Nyangatom. Notoriously fearsome and violent, the Nyangatom prove to be surprisingly welcoming hosts and Parry is soon milking goats and practising stick fighting with the best of them. He also begins to comprehend why the Suri were so hostile towards his new tribe while he gains an understanding of why the Nyangatom have become so warlike. Perhaps the strangest thing about this fascinating show is that tribe members live in mud huts and herd goats but carry the Kalashnikov assault rifles that have become a necessary tool of their trade - a sobering reminder of the knock-on effects of civil war in the region.