Written by: Samuel K. Sloan (Farpoint Media Exec. News Dir.)
“John From Cincinnati,” the new HBO series that was to be the next big wave on the premium cable channel to replace “The Sopranos,” has been brought to an end after the conclusion of its first season. HBO said it has no new plans for future episodes.
The show came out of the tube already surreal and bordered on the purely mystical as it followed the Yost surfing family — legends at the Imperial Beach coastal community.
The problem with the show, if you want to see it as a problem, was the series was purposefully designed so that a section of the audience that were so used to tuning in to HBO on Sunday night at 9PM after watching nine years of “The Sopranos,” would almost immediately be confused or turned-off by this new outing. The program was defintely geared for a niche’ audience, so putting it on in the venerable mob’s old timeslot, in retrospect, could have been a mistake.
The show starred Rebecca De Mornay, in what I felt to be an Emmy-worthy performance, Bruce Greenwood as the Yost patriarch that levitated uncontrollably and Austin Nichols as the bizarre simpleton and almost heavenly John Monad (from Cincinnatti). The supporting cast was extremely strong and was filled with very talented actors such as Ed O’Neil, Luis Guzmán, Brian Van Holt, and Keala Kennelly as Kai, a character who many believed would have become pivotal if the show had continued (see below for an explanation). Also on hand were Willie Garson, Luke Perry, Paul Ben-Victor, Chandra West, Garret Dillahunt, “Star Trek: Enterprise” actor Matt Winston, and “Deadwood” alums Dayton Callie, Jim Beaver and Paula Malcomson.
The show’s season finale left a lot of unanswered questions. For instance — Exactly who was John? Was he an angel, a messmerizing con-man, or just insane? The biggest mystery is how the season finale ended with a shot of Kai hanging ten and you hear John speaking in a voice-over saying, “Mother of God, Cass-Kai.” For those who have followed the show religiously, that last pronouncement by John will be driving them crazy until series creator David Milch explains it — if he ever does.
Genre fans will be in for a treat however, as HBO will be bringing “True Blood,” based on the Charlaine Harris “Southern Vampire†novels and brought to the small screen from creator Alan Ball (“Six Feet Under”). Be sure to listen to our next Slice of SciFi Show #122 on Saturday, August 18th for details.
I have created an online petition to bring this show back for a second season. Please take the time to sign it. Thank you.
This is, I think, the *only* positive review I’ve seen about this show anywhere. I’ve never seen it myself, seeing as how I don’t get HBO, but everyone I’ve heard from said it was bizarre, pretentions, thoroughly unentertaining and smug about how bizarre and pretentios it was. The people I’ve heard, however, are not geeks, so maybe they just didn’t “get it”.
One of the problems with “John” is that it it is a throw back to the 50’s when television was more than just another form of mindless entertainment. For those who remember “Playhouse 90”, it offered works by O’Neil, Albee, and Miller just to name a few. Television has fallen a long way since then. An opiate of mindless prattle to block the maelstrom of daily cacophony.
HBO has been on the fore front of a new wave of thought provoking series. John, being one of them. It is a sad commentary indeed when the american viewing public doesn’t have the where with all to understand what is shown to them with out the use of a libretto. I realize most of america can’t spell erudite, but at least try to understand it’s meaning. And to the critics, I would hazard a guess that haven’t a clue to the derivation of “Stinkweed”. It might be your first step to understanding the true depth of this savvy but all too short suite.
I loved the show and will miss it. If you wanted to see the Sopranos this was not it. I guess it was more like Lost.
I absolutely loved the show. It had a fantastic sense of fantasy and spirituality, with tons of allegory. I didn’t find it even slightly pretentious, just fascinating.
Creator David Milch says there will still be more videos (“shot” by one of the characters, Cass) released out onto the web in the coming months, to tell more about the story.
It’s disappointing that so few people liked it. There’s no question that it required a lot of thinking to enjoy it, and that you had to have a real sense of wonder to appreciate it, but those are hardly bad things.
Truly great television.
This show was overdue to be cancelled. Who runs the network? Who thought this like so many other bad shows up? This was the perfect example of not giving the viewer what they want. A surfing scifi show set on the West Coast? Niche no more than that this was fetish. When I saw this show advertised it made no sense and it immediately repulsed me and any other number of people who could not relate to the idea. How narrow does your mind have to be to think that this would be a good idea?
I do not know anyone who watched it. I do not know anyone who liked the commercial. I do not know anyone if I explained it to them would be able to tell me that this would be a good idea. The actors were short changed as they deserved better. The paying/viewing public deserved better. Clearly this was something thought up by narrow minded, self indulgent persons who have no ability to relate to others in the real world viewing audience or otherwise.
When the show first debuted I did a Slice of SciFi review on it and generally thought it was a good show. Since the initial pilot I watched every episode and totally fell in love with the concept, the characters and the deep layers of human-character exploration that Milch was willing to examine, especially withing the framework of Cissy’s character and her interactions with those around her, particulary her husband Mitch, son Butchie, his ex-wife and her grandson Shaun.
I found it to be gripping television at its finest, but because of the very surreal and deep spiritualistic content and innuendo I knew the show was distined for cancellation. I am very happy HBO allowed it to at least finish out its entire first season of episode runs before pulling the plug. At least they didn’t pull a FOX.
In my opinion, “John From Cincinnati” was just one more indication that American audiences, in general, are still not quite refined are mature enough to appreciate subtle, but impacting and enriching entertainment that requires one to set aside their black and white view of the world to be able to take in and bask in the richness of diversity and color that encompasses the universe.
I am very upset that this show has been cancelled. I’ve been watching it every week and have really been intrigued by it.
What a shame, I was really looking forward to season 2.
Well put, Sam, in your comment. I’m pleased that HBO took the risk with it, and hope they and other networks will continue to take such risks. Given time, I think things will shift, and shows like this will receive greater appreciation.
I tried very hard to understand what was happening. I tried to be open-minded. I really wanted it to continue so I could see what happened. Any chance of another network picking it up? Lots of money down the drain. Great acting but really weird story-line. It was fun while it lasted.
I’m gonna miss this show. It flexed parts of my brain that had long been slumbering. I saw each episode at least twice just to relish the Milch dialog and try to decipher what was happening. I’m definitely getting the DVD set of this when it comes out.