Following a screening of the pilot episode of her Showtime series "Weeds" at the University of Pittsburgh last night, creator Jenji Kohan explained why the second season finale was titled "Pittsburgh" and featured pot dealer Nancy Botwin's son, Shane, advocating for the family to move from Southern California to our fair city.

"In a lot of ways it was an homage to Carl," Kohan said. She's referring to Carl Kurlander, her longtime friend, screenwriter ("St. Elmo's Fire") and University of Pittsburgh professor who brought her to town as part of his Pitt in Hollywood speaker's series. "Carl returned to Pittsburgh and Shane was looking for his Pittsburgh."

But when "Weeds" returns for its third season next year (most likely in August), don't expect the family to pick up stakes and move to Pittsburgh even though the show is produced by Lionsgate, which is filming Spike TV's "The Kill Pit" here starting in March.

"Probably not. I don't think we will ever get Mary-Louise to Pittsburgh," Kohan said, referring to "Weeds" star Mary-Louise Parker. "We're pretty entrenched" at the Ren-Mar Studios in Los Angeles.

Oh well. The good news is that "Weeds" will return, though Kohan gave no hint how she intends to resolve the second season finale that found Nancy (Parker) surrounded by men pointing guns at her.

"We were gonna wrap up season two and then [one of the writers] reminded us all our contracts were up and if we were renegotiating it would be nice if they couldn't replace us," Kohan said. "So we came up with a cliffhanger."

The "Weeds" pilot may offer a few hints: Nancy refers to a sister viewers have yet to see and Kohan said that sister may finally surface. Additionally, the ex-wife of Nancy's dead DEA agent husband (Martin Donovan) may show up. And Josh, the drug-dealing son of former councilman Doug (Kevin Nealon), may return. The role was played by Justin Chatwin in the first season, but he went off to do movies like "War of the Worlds."

"We've been getting phone calls," Kohan said. "Justin wants to come back and play."

Celia's daughter, Quinn, might also make a return, though she'd likely be played by a different actress.

This much Kohan would say: The breakneck pace of season two, with a cliffhanger at the end of every episode, will likely slow down.

"We raced in season two," she said. "We wanted to shake it up every season."

Kohan said the concept of "Weeds" -- widowed suburban mom begins selling pot to make ends meet after her husband dies of a heart attack -- came about after another show went "terribly awry" (I'm pretty sure that would be a reference to her failed CBS sitcom, "The Stones").

"I wanted to do a show where the characters were not black or white," she said. A medical marijuana initiative had just been on the ballot in California and she saw the backdrop as similar to her brother David Kohan's "Will & Grace." "It's like the gay thing: There's a pot smoker in every family."

She said she pitched it to HBO, but they weren't interested because "Weeds" includes children. Once she sold it, she was terrified because she knew little about marijuana.

"Pot is not really my drug. I'm more of an amphetamine girl," she said, joking. She did acknowledge taking one drag on a joint when she met Snoop Dogg, who guest starred in a "Weeds" episode this past season. "I took one hit and could not function the rest of the day."

By Hollywood standards, Kohan has been unusually honest in interviews about her relationship with star Parker: They are not best buds. Why is that a known fact when usually star-producer disagreements are kept hidden?

"Because I have a big, stupid mouth," Kohan said. "I should just shut up."

She compared her relationship with Parker to a couple who "have a child in common after a divorce. We both care about Nancy, but we may not always agree. She definitely has a point of view and I think our differences make for a more interesting character in the end. I respect that what she does is luminous and a joy to watch."

Trivia: Kohan is married to journalist/author Chris Noxon, the "Weeds" music supervisor in season one who also played a bear hunter in the pilot. His sister is Marti Noxon, one of the writers on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Kohan's talk was enjoyably candid, and most of the questions from students were smart and showed an understanding or thirst for knowledge about how the TV business works. There were a few clunkers, including a filibuster from a head-in-the-clouds non-student who declared of "Weeds," "Finally there's something in television with connections to the real world. It's really like the recent election: There are signs of life."

Can you hear my eyes rolling?

Then there was this statement from a blond, dreadlocked young woman who loves "Weeds" but declared, "I haven't watched TV in two years. I really hate TV because I come from the theater."

I snorted at that one and then rolled my eyes, only realizing the snorting sound actually came out after it was too late.

Thankfully, Kohan showed you can write a smart show for TV and watch a lot of other smart shows. She knows, as the media literate do, that there's a lot of good television that's worth watching. Among her favorites: "Heroes," "Grey's Anatomy," "Project Runway," "Top Chef," "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," "Ugly Betty," "Entourage" and "The Shield."

"Who is the evil Sylar on "Heroes"? The character, first fully seen in last night's episode, is played by Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto, a graduate of Central Catholic High School in Oakland and co-star on Tori Spelling's now-canceled VH1 series "So Notorious." I talked to him for the Spelling series earlier this year . I'll have more on him in an upcoming Post-Gazette story.

'Galactica' moving to Sunday: In an effort to boost the show's flagging ratings, Sci Fi Channel will move "Battlestar Galactica" to 10 p.m. Sunday in January. The show is on break this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but returns Dec. 1 for three weeks. Then it takes another break for Christmas before returning Jan. 21 to air the balance of its third season.