One Toke Over the Line: <i>Mary+Jane</i> Aims to Kick Off the Age of the Weed Sitcom

Snoop Dogg producing MTV's Mary+Jane, a show about marijuana, is about as surprising as Bill Gates producing a show about bundling software.

But where Bill has been getting uber-rich selling us computers for several decades, Snoop probably figures he's getting in on the dawn of a potentially hot-and-hip new television subject: weed.

Mary+Jane, which debuts at 10 p.m. ET Monday, is a female buddy comedy about two L.A. millennials who run a marijuana delivery service.

Except when that sounds sketchy, in which case they assure people they deliver "mostly legal prescription drugs."

Jordan (Scout Durwood) (above right) is the whatever gal of the pair. She put the phrase "goes the extra mile" into their promos, which tells every client they are also available for sex.

Paige (Jessica Rothe) (above left) doesn't think that's such a good idea, maybe because she just had a harsh breakup with her boyfriend. She then promptly sleeps with the next client. You see the comic sensibility here.

Jordan, conversely, will apparently sleep with almost anybody, and her random small talk often includes her sexual needs and preferences.

Mary+Jane is also saturated with contemporary cultural references, like the intense if transient appeal of hot blogs and celebrities.

So the show is sort of about marijuana, but it really spends more of its time in the familiar and comfortable television arena of neurotic 20somethings.

While the real-life national conversation about marijuana has changed as it has become legal in some states and a medical tool in others, Mary+Jane seems less inclined to explore the marijuana culture than Jordan's sex life.

So while the show nominally heads for relatively fresh fields, it hedges its bets with a heavy dose of tried-and-true sex and relationship gags.

But Mary+Jane soon won't be the only marijuana comedy option on television.

Margaret Cho is developing a dramedy for Amazon called Highland, which will revolve around a dysfunctional family in the marijuana business.

Cho has been an activist for marijuana legalization, and this show envisions a world where that is beginning to happen.

HBO is taking a difference tack with High Maintenance, a six-episode series that will debut Sept. 16 on the pay-cable channel.

High Maintenance has been around since 2012 as a web series, with 19 episodes running between six and 12 minutes each. The web shows were produced for less than $1,000 an episode, a budget that presumably will grow for the HBO edition.

Ben Sinclair, who created the series with his wife Katja Blichfeld, stars as The Guy, a nameless marijuana delivery man operating in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

High Maintenance has built a cult following that includes actor Dan Stevens, who played Matthew on Downton Abbey. He appeared in one episode of High Maintenance as a cross-dressing screenwriter.

Web series have rarely translated well to television, so High Maintenance fans are holding their breath, as they say in the marijuana biz.

Closer to the mainstream, ultra-successful sitcom producer Chuck Lorre has said he's writing a marijuana comedy. It might be a natural for Charlie Sheen, who starred for years in Lorre's Two and a Half Men.

There have been marijuana reality shows already, and Showtime had a good run a couple of years ago with Weeds.

But Snoop and MTV are clearly hoping that viewers are now ready for a whole different kind of reefer madness.