Weed Lifestyle

High Maintenance is the kind of show that proves the Internet is responsible for so many great things that probably wouldn’t have happened any other way. Created by husband-and-wife team and broadcast TV production veterans Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, the first 10 episodes are currently streaming on their excellently-titled website. It’s the perfect show for Weedists because it’s about Weedists!

The show focuses on a nameless pot dealer (played by Sinclair, whose bio lists the many times he has appeared on television as “some incarnation of a wild-eyed man”) and the people he calls regular customers in New York City. The genius lies in the character studies of the many different kinds of customers; in many of the episodes, the dealer is just a minor character in a short story about hilariously neurotic New Yorkers that just want to smoke a little herb.

Because many of the episodes are less then 10 minutes long, it’s not hard to watch the entire first season in one sitting, which is pretty much exactly what I did while sitting back and enjoying some bud. Although High Maintenance is a web series, the show still fits well in our regular Weedist series “Great TV While High” because it’s great comedy in the vein of “Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia” or “Wilfred”; that awesome kind of quirky, offbeat comedy with great writing, acting, and execution. Stand-up comedian Hannibal Burress makes an appearance in one particularly serious episode, while others feature some seriously funny, drum-tight comedic writing.

Great TV to Watch While High: High Maintenance, a Great Online Pot Head Sitcom, Source: High Maintenance

Homeless Heidi, a great example of the hilarious short stories from High Maintenance

All Weedists who have waited 45 minutes to an hour for the dealer to show up can appreciate this show, but even those who haven’t had to learn to wait should find these episodes funny. Just like Weeds and a few other shows that have appeared on terrestrial television the last few years, High Maintenance is exciting because it uses smoking culture as the backdrop to a funny sitcom, bringing cannabis further into the mainstream.

Next, maybe someone will develop a show in the style of The Office about a medical marijuana dispensary, which could easily integrate many different kinds of color characters as staff or patients who come through a shop. In a year or so, the show could take place in Washington or Colorado in a legal store. For now, I’ll settle for High Maintenance, the closest that Weedists and cannabis fans have gotten to a “pothead sitcom”. 

Check out other posts from Weedist’s Great TV While High series!