Monday, August 13, 2007
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Our Long National Nightmare is Over
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Posted by:
Dean Barnett at
9:14 AM
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HBO’s “John From Cincinnati”, the show that was supposed to make us forget “The Sopranos”, “Deadwood”, and “Rome”, or at least forgive the fact that they’re gone, concluded its disastrous ten week run last night. Because it was on HBO and I’m a loyal man, I suffered through every episode.
Series creator David Milch, the man who gave us the excellent but derivative “NYPD Blue” and the far excellenter and completely original “Deadwood” described “John From Cincinnati” this way:
“If God were trying to reach out to us, and if he felt a certain urgency about it . . . that’s what it’s about. The wave . . . is the only visible embodiment of what physicists tell us all matter is composed of, which is particles held together by some kind of magnetic or molecular force. And that’s what makes the waves move. And if God were trying to reach out to us, and teach us something about the deepest nature of matter, he might use some drugged-out surfers.”
Sounds great, no? Believe it or not, the show was even worse than Milch’s description. Maybe this was an exercise on HBO’s part to prove that they can put any piece of pretentious drivel on at Sunday at 9:00, the slot “The Sopranos” revolutionized TV from, and their subscribers will still watch it.
Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com
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Just so I'm sure I get this across, was the overwrought grammar: It was like the writers were trying to be Shakespearian with the Old West. People back then just didn't talk like that at all.
As for the cursing, I'll use the observation of a good friend of mine who is an old time lawman and former Sheriff of one of the largest counties in the US - as well as a scholar of Old West history: "You cursed like that back then, there was a fight coming: Deadwood would have had a fistfight every minute if the talked like that." He didn't like it either.
Rome was masterful. I ordered the first season on DVD and have watched it twice already. I'm about to order season 2. |
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Heaven turns out to be located in Ohio! :-) |
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"Yawn from Cincinnati?"
"Driftwood?" |
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I've lived in Imperial Beach almost all of my life, so I guess you could call me a expert. I saw every single episode and I have the folowing observations:
1. Those are movie sets, Imperial Beach does not look like that -- there are no tattoo parlors, only 2 bars...uh, we have no gangs, have not had any in like 30 years, they all migrated to San Diego...the "sluze" they refer to is a very beautiful wild life sanctuary full of rare birds...there are no ilegal alien crossings (thanks to Duncan Hunter and Brian Bilbray (Brian was our Mayor and Congressman at one time, County Supervisor -- my mother planned his wedding in fact, I've known Brian all my life). We do not have drug needles laying around for people to step on. Those pollution scene they show were filmed in Mexico. My realestate holdings there have made me a millionaire...and the same is true for my neighbors. It is a beautiful little community, a sleepy beach front suburb...that frankly we'd LOVE for people not to move to. But with the housing shortage in San Diego the genie is out of the bottle now and all kinds of people are moving there. Alas.
2. And speaking of my neighbors, they are not these drugged out, washed out losers -- they are about 33% retired and active military (I have 4 Navy Seals who live on my street and a Master Chief, and right next door retired military). Another 33% are upwardly mobile professionals, engineers like myself and other similar professions.The remaining 33% are infrastructure people, law enforcement, teachers, life guards, et cetera.
3. And FINALLY...I haven't a clue about this crazy show; the rampant profanity is a major turn off, and these people speak a FOREIGN LANGUAGE! I would love for Hugh to just "explain the show" to me, I tried...really really tried...to keep an open mind about it, but it's been a major turn-off especially to locals.
...so, there you go.
My 2 cents. |
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I admit, I liked the show and didn't feel like I was suffering at all through them.
The thing I didn't like about the show is the plot, whatever that might have been.
I had the same problem with Deadwood. There really didn't seem to be a cohesive plot.
However, the characters were so interesting that they dragged me into the show. Watching Ed O'Neil was fun, watching all the characters accept for Rebecca de'Morney's character was fun. Intersting. Unique. And a little strange. |
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You didn't like the cursing on Deadwood, but the sopranos was okay? Sure, the number of instances of cussing may have been higher on Deadwood, but once you hear a curse once, does it really matter how many times it's repeated?
I loved Deadwood, and I was very dissappointed that it went off. I cancelled my HBO the next morning.
I won't pay for a channel that lets Bill Maher have a full hour while cancelling Dennis Miller, then caps it off by canning Deadwood. |
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I am liking Showtime's current lineup a lot more than HBO's.
Oz, Deadwood and Rome were great (I thought the Soprano's was very disappointing). Entourage and The Wire are still going, but everything else has been a bust or just looks horrible.
The last three shows I have tried on Showtime have all been very good. Dexter is amazing, Brotherhood is everything that the Soporano's should have been, and Weeds is funny (the girlfriend makes me watch it- bonus it is only a half hour).
I have not tried The Tudors or The Meadowlands yet, but I may give them a shot. |
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My gawd, you must have not any life whawtsoeva.
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From Hugh's comments on radio, he seems to have loved the show. To me it was yet another surfer who was trying to make a worthy little activity into something bigger than it is, great fun. And that's about it. Too many more weeks and I was afraid Hugh would start doing PSAs for the Surfrider Foundation, stopping any/all development within 20 miles of the coast in case it had an adverse affect on the south break.
I'd go along with the commentator saying make Entourage one hour long; except I'm reminded of Rod Serling's prescient words that he'd just "ruined" the Twilight Zone by agreeing to make it one hour. Show off the air in a year. I don't know if I could take Vincent Chase and the crew for an hour, but 30 minutes is just right. Although I would like to see a spinoff where Arliss joins Ari Gold in a sports-entertainment talent agency. |
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And am glad it is over. Hopefully it will be over for ever.
That said, THIS has been the funniest season of Entourage by far. How often does a show get better every season for 4 seasons?
Now, we just have to pray that those 2 Deadwood movies we were promised come out. |
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And am glad it is over. Hopefully it will be over for ever.
That said, THIS has been the funniest season of Entourage by far. How often does a show get better every season for 4 seasons?
Now, we just have to pray that those 2 Deadwood movies we were promised come out. |
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John from Cincinatti - one viewing of one half hour. Just wasn't interested. |
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that irked me wasn't the cursing so much as the words that were used. It was so inauthentic that it bugged me. The wife hated it (the language) altogether but I believe that rough people should be portrayed as they are/were. As I say, its just that it was so inauthentic. Other than that, it was a great show.
Rome, as I understand was just too expensively produced for too many seasons. Still, I would have loved for them to follow Pullo and the XIII through to Octavian's eventual victory; that would have been the deal. |
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Dean, thanks for suffering through all ten episodes and confirming what I thought during the first 15 minutes of episode one - that it was a boring show.
I, too, am a loyal HBO viewer and will give new shows and concepts a chance, but if a brand new show cannot present anything interesting during the first 15 minutes, it is an omen of things to come. (Same for the free movies I watch via on-demand cable).
On the other hand, I could tell immediately tell (in mid-episode no less) that Mad Men was something worth watching. Though, I concur that the show's 1960's stereotypes are amusingly excessive: all the men live like they are Hugh Hefner; all of the housewives are Stepford Wives; etc. |
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Metaphysical surfers? The Wave? This one looked lame from the previews.
DOA from the start just like that wretched Lisa Kudrow thing a few years ago that HBO axed Carnivale for. |
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Mad Man at least has the style of 1960 well done (if anything they overstylized it). On AMC and well worth a few viewings, even if it is Sopranos influenced.
For HBO junkies, Curb Your Enthusiam is coming back. |
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I agree with you on Rome and Deadwood. I liked Deadwood (especially the first season with Wild Bill), but when my wife and I counted 91 curses and we were not even halfway through. . . well I could no longer take the Glen Gerry Glen Ross wild west anymore.
But your comments about the Sopranos. . . blasphemy! If those are your comments, go back to Safari!
Only kidding. |
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Make Entourage 1 hour vs the current 30 minutes. |
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I could never comment here with Safari, for some reason - it gave me a solid red screen - but Firefox works fine. Anyway...
I liked John From Cincinnati, but I knew the ending was going to disappoint: The spiritual vacuousness of TV writers is a legendary truism. Still, it made me laugh a lot, even during the flailing finale.
I'm still ticked off that Rome didn't get another season or two, but I never liked Deadwood all that much - being a student of the old west and living out here made it impossibly wrong to me (Especially the overwrought grammar and cursing) - and I absolutely hated the Sopranos... so I guess I'm in a vanishingly small minority. |
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Sometime I would put it on, listen to that Hawaiian influenced riff, lament the effects of aging on us all (as demonstrated by the beautiful Rebecca DeMornay) and then wait for Entourage.
I did not find John from Cincinati horrible, just boring. Which is of course the worse thing any form of entertainment can be. It had a few good moments and managed to capture seedy Imperial Beach well. Still, the better film of this genera was Lords of Dogtown.
I am also having a hard time getting into Flight of the Conchords. But those guys manage to occasionally do really funny songs. Anyone who has seen or listened to Business Time has a new reason to love Wednesdays!
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I thought this post was going to be about Tommy Thompson dropping out of the race... |
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