In HBO’s season-two trailer for Silicon Valley, a hulking, Birkenstock-wearing computer programmer grabs an enormous bong and fires it up to the relentless strains of Danny Brown’s “Smokin’ & Drinkin.’”

The series, which returned April 12, is but one of many premium, basic-cable and broadcast shows in which weed plays into the story line in one form or another. In Comedy Central’s Broad City and Workaholics; Showtime’s Episodes; IFC’s Maron; and even A&E’s Bates Motel, where the local town is run by a weed cartel, getting high is just something people do. On a fairly regular basis. And the act is not just implied or covered by a jump-cut to the after-effects; characters are casually toking away on screen.

Download the 4/20 timeline.

With 23 states and Washington, D.C., having legalized marijuana in one form or another, TV programming has gone to pot as well. Since the earliest references to weed in scripted TV shows to today, pot-related story lines have evolved from “Protagonist smokes weed — with disastrous results” to “with nostalgic results” to “with comic results” to, essentially, just “Protagonist smokes pot.” It’s tangential to the results.

Is TV merely reflecting the nation’s changing attitudes about pot or are we a nation under TV’s influence? In an effort to answer this 4:20-inspired question — that being the legendary time of day stoners would gather after school to get high, making the date April 20 a totem on the stoner calendar — Multichannel News presents this “4/20 Timeline” looking at the concurrent evolution of pot and plot.

truTV has ordered a pilot for a new reality series that focuses on a marijuana dispensary in Colorado.

Medicine Man (working title) follows the Williams family dynasty behind the Medicine Man company, one of the leaders in the state’s new legal marijuana industry, said network officials. The series chronicles the struggle to build a marijuana dynasty as well as the unexpected and surprising trials of their very unique family life, said the network.

"Medicine Man demonstrates truTV's commitment to create shows that provide a fun take on the unique subcultures and characters that will resonate with our target audience of young adults," said Chris Linn, president, head of programming for truTV in a statement. "We're very excited to be the first network to put the new legal marijuana business front and center in a brand new television series."