I’m not sure if it’s on account of my residual anger over the cancellation of Dead Like Me or something deeper, but I have the hardest time connecting with Showtime’s original series. After spending the first two seasons of Weeds hoping to be charmed like the critics and pretty much everyone I know, I remain uninspired. Whether I continue to watch it out of obligation or peer pressure, I do not know, but I forge on with hopes of it becoming a more deserving venue for Mary-Louise Parker.

The last season ended with a quadruple threat cliffhanger of ludicrous proportions. Between all of the new questions and the bizarre introduction of Mary Kate Olsen to the show’s cast, tonight’s premiere finds Weedsy buzz at a fever pitch. So does it come through or completely disappoint? Keeping with my dedicated ambivalence, I think it falls somewhere in the middle. Mary Kate’s cameos come later in the season and 30 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to tie a bow on all of the finale’s dramatics, but it does set the stage for Nancy finally embracing her criminal life this year. It’s funny, it’s smart, and there’s always something about it that tries too hard. They want you to want them, and, for viewers who don’t love the chase, Weeds is above average programming.

Elsewhere on Showtime, the “what’s the point of all this?” torch won’t be laying around unmanned for long after last night’s beautifully stylized and supremely pointless John From Cincinnati finale (everyone is still clueless except Dylan McKay, right?). David Duchovny’s new TV vehicle, Californication, premieres right after Weeds, and while not nearly as vague of a look at life in southern California as JFC, the pilot does suffer from a similar lack of trajectory. Duchovny plays “Hank Moody” – an oversexed, creatively bankrupt writer and recent New York transplant – and he does so quite well. There’s too much sex, but that’s how it goes with premium cable – they know their bread and butter. Californication is at its most interesting when addressing what an earnest but bumbling father Hank is to his prematurely mature daughter (who looks like a living incarnation “Emily the Strange”). The reliance on sex makes the opportunities for exploring the familial issues unfortunately few and far between.

Californication provides an interesting enough character, a more than capable actor and potential for a lot of compelling comedy, but something seems lost in the execution. It leaves you wanting more from the show than of it. And just like with Mary-Louise Parker and Weeds, Duchovny is reason enough to watch Californication – I just wish there were others.