Jerry Garcia’s marijuana pipe takes a long, strange trip and ends up in a Marin County antique shop
In the mid-1990s, former comedian Bob Saget was hired to create a television show for the Food Network, “The Chew,” which at the time was called “The Cooking Channel.” When the show didn’t pan out, Saget took the concept into an entirely new realm: a television show about the world’s strangest people.
His show was called “The Boondocks,” and it followed the exploits of a group of people, most notable of whom was drug runner known as Jerry Garcia, who seemed to have no problem mixing his up in the marijuana trade.
“[A]nd so you can imagine it got really weird,” Saget told CBS Radio in 2002.
The show became so popular it became a summer staple on the Food Network. That fall, CBS sold “The Boondocks” to a company who would use Garcia as a spokesman. In the years since, the show has become one of the most recognizable shows on the channel, and it’s been picked up for syndication by more than 30 cable stations.
The show’s co-creator, Saget, however, has left the show entirely. He went to work on a new project he was calling “The Book of Jerry Garcia,” in which he is currently seeking to make the Garcia character, as is custom at the time, a full-length feature film.
The show is getting ready to run its six-episode final season, which just hit a new milestone this week. It is now the longest running show on the Food Network in total viewers, having been on the network since its launch in June 1996.
“It’s a testament to how passionate the fans are for this show and the fact that they keep watching and tuning in,” said Michael Cusano, president of CBS Television Distribution, which works with the Food Network.
If the show was good enough for a Food Network, then it’s good enough for a movie, too. The Food Network has been approached by several