Hunky actor Hunter Parrish has been hard at work rehearsing for his new gig in Broadway's Spring Awakening, the Duncan Sheik scored adaption of Frank Wedekind 1891 play.

Of course, the Weeds actor hasn't been too busy to embrace his local publications, like New York, with whom Parrish recently chatted about reclaiming his beloved stage, awkward sex scenes and the tribulations of being on a show about drugs:

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The cast of Weeds does not, as fans and James Franco might've hoped, smoke real weed during scenes where characters are filmed smoking weed. Says castmember Elizabeth Perkins: "It's a combination of herbs that don't get you stoned. If we smoked real weed, we wouldn't get anything done over here." But while she's on the subject: "I think it is crazy that it is illegal, and I think it is crazy that people are in jail once they get busted with small amounts of marijuana. I just don't see it as that dangerous of a narcotic."

Jenji Kohan, the brilliant creator of Weeds, whose first name conveniently happens to make us think of "ganja," delivered something quite remarkable for Showtime this week: Its highest rated show ever. The Season 4 premiere racked up 1.3 million total viewers, besting an episode of Dexter last year. So Kohan kinda gets to say, and do, as she pleases. And taking a cue from The Hills creator Adam Divello and, if rumors are to be believed, Gossip Girl's Josh Schwartz, she might use that capital to blossom something new: a spin-off.

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Showtime spent several hundred dollars to nominate Mary-Kate Olsen for a "best guest actress" Emmy, which means she could face off against Lindsay Lohan (for Ugly Betty) and Britney Spears (for How I Met Your Mother) if those networks shell out, as expected, fees to nominate their own celeb stars. Nevermind that our money's on Spears — watch a potential Emmy-award winner below:

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From a Showtime marketing blast: "It’s almost 4/20… and you know what that means: WEED…S! Showtime’s hit series WEEDS is back June 16th and it’s on fire. With the embers of Agrestic smoldering in her rear view mirror, Nancy Botwin is ready to exhale and start fresh. She’s packing up and moving the joint, but where?"

Mary-Louise Parker gets one of those trendy African babies. Just in time for Mary-Kate's debut on Weeds on Monday! [Stereohyped]

Mary-Kate is everywhere lately: on the cover of Bazaar, looking homeless while shopping at Barney’s, and last night on Conan O’Brien.

We get that Mary-Kate is promoting her role as a Christian pothead for The Weeds. But just because your sister has a reason to be in the press, doesn’t mean you need to stay out of the tabs.

We miss you! For old time’s sakes, can’t you up put on a pair of gigantic sunglasses and walk around with a venti coffee?

A first-look at what your career graduates to when you're best known for saying "You got it, dude." [Mollygood]

After having spent a good portion of our evening last night watching the first season of Showtime's underground-ish hit Weeds on DVD, today's burst of news regarding their new advertising campaign feels somehow especially relevant. (We haven't attempted to make one of their "use your fave herb" recipes yet, but we're pretty sure the folks at Rolling Stone have.)

Ad Age reports that, for the second season of Weeds, Showtime has taken out a scent-strip advertisements in the Aug. 24 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. We think even the biggest burn-out could put two and two together to determine the "scent strip" is intended to evoke a certain tree smell — and it's not Evergreen or Palm.

"There was a lot of back and forth about the scent," said George DeBolt, VP-media, Showtime. "We wanted to have the scent be as close as possible to marijuana. It's the buzz factor, if you will."

Ha ha. Ah ha ha ha. We're totally giggling. And we're not even stoned. The Bush administration, however, (huge shocker here) is not laughing. You think it was the "Weeds-themed brownies" that put 'em over the edge? The director of public affairs for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy chided the network for it's creative marketing scheme, as well with Rolling Stone for participating in the campaign.

"There are more teens in treatment for marijuana than for alcohol dependence–is that funny?" Riley chided the Rolling Stone promotion as all too retro…"Maybe some baby boomers still find this kind of thing edgy, but young people don't."

Whatever. Lindsay Lohan finds drugs edgy and she's young, so … we don't know what the government is talking about. Plus, we think the greater concern here should be the potential fire hazard. Just think about how many seventh graders are going to try to roll up this advertisement and smoke it! Not to mention this could totally gateway into something like "scratch and snort" ads to promote E! True Hollywood Story: Kate Moss.

Pass the Scent Strip [Nat Ives, Ad Age]
Government Not High On Stinky 'Weeds' Campaign [Defamer]