David Milch's second series after Deadwood doesn't surpass his previous outing (which Milch and his aficionados consider to be his masterpiece) but it is a peculiar creation that deserves a second look when it was abruptly cancelled and panned.
After Deadwood got the axe, Milch was asked to make a series about surfing, even though he despises the sand and the ocean, but he obeyed HBO's recommendation once again (Deadwood wasn't supposed to be a Western, it would've been in Rome but another show already did this). He came up with a family odyssey in the world of surfing intertwined with levitating men and strangers who can instantly heal.
John From Cincinnati is Milch's best-written work since Deadwood. Although Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue are hailed as some of TV's finest outings, neither was written in the Shakespearean prose used in Deadwood but this showed a continuation in Milch's iambic pentameter dialogue. Unlike with Deadwood, it seems like the subject material Milch was tasked with using as the basis for his series didn't fit in tune with Milch's style. And this doesn't mean JFC is terrible, rather that we get a Shakespearean/surrealist tale stuck in the world of surfing (which must've been hip in 2007 since HBO thought it would be a hit).
Milch's one-season wonder is a misunderstood show, being bullied for being its dreamlike turns that won't satisfy its viewers (those viewers possibly indicating frustration towards this not being a Deadwood finale). But like Milch's magnum opus, this series also focuses on a community, bringing together multiple characters who have no reason to be with one another but they're all held by the mysterious John Nomad, a Rain Man/Jesus figure who turns the world of these Imperial Beach residents upside down.
Perhaps this was more of a personal piece for Milch, who may have put biographical elements into the Yost family. Seeing Butchie Yost go through the same setback as Milch of heroin, while also depicting how Butchie is the child of a famous family that failed to provide him with a proper childhood.
We do receive a collection of colourful characters like Deadwood alums Dayton Callie, in a terrific supporting turn as Steady Freddie Lopez, and Garrett Dillahunt, as the passionate Dr Smith. And not to mention the posse of the Snug Harbor Motel: Matt Winston, Willie Garson, and Luis Guzman. Rebecca DeMornay shines as the matriarch of the Yost clan and Milch's addition of Ed O'Neill as a retired cop is the cherry on top (fun fact O'Neill was Milch's choice to play Al Swearengen on Deadwood but HBO didn't approve).
What is John From Cincinnati about? I can't say and after concluding it, I'm still scratching my head over it. But those in love with the craft in Deadwood's writing and layered meanings of how an individual is meaningless without a community, this will satisfy. But Milch ventures into bring poetry onto a screen, something that seems impossible but done by Milch's world of the supernatural and surfing.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2020-06-06T03:04:11Z
David Milch's second series after Deadwood doesn't surpass his previous outing (which Milch and his aficionados consider to be his masterpiece) but it is a peculiar creation that deserves a second look when it was abruptly cancelled and panned.
After Deadwood got the axe, Milch was asked to make a series about surfing, even though he despises the sand and the ocean, but he obeyed HBO's recommendation once again (Deadwood wasn't supposed to be a Western, it would've been in Rome but another show already did this). He came up with a family odyssey in the world of surfing intertwined with levitating men and strangers who can instantly heal.
John From Cincinnati is Milch's best-written work since Deadwood. Although Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue are hailed as some of TV's finest outings, neither was written in the Shakespearean prose used in Deadwood but this showed a continuation in Milch's iambic pentameter dialogue. Unlike with Deadwood, it seems like the subject material Milch was tasked with using as the basis for his series didn't fit in tune with Milch's style. And this doesn't mean JFC is terrible, rather that we get a Shakespearean/surrealist tale stuck in the world of surfing (which must've been hip in 2007 since HBO thought it would be a hit).
Milch's one-season wonder is a misunderstood show, being bullied for being its dreamlike turns that won't satisfy its viewers (those viewers possibly indicating frustration towards this not being a Deadwood finale). But like Milch's magnum opus, this series also focuses on a community, bringing together multiple characters who have no reason to be with one another but they're all held by the mysterious John Nomad, a Rain Man/Jesus figure who turns the world of these Imperial Beach residents upside down.
Perhaps this was more of a personal piece for Milch, who may have put biographical elements into the Yost family. Seeing Butchie Yost go through the same setback as Milch of heroin, while also depicting how Butchie is the child of a famous family that failed to provide him with a proper childhood.
We do receive a collection of colourful characters like Deadwood alums Dayton Callie, in a terrific supporting turn as Steady Freddie Lopez, and Garrett Dillahunt, as the passionate Dr Smith. And not to mention the posse of the Snug Harbor Motel: Matt Winston, Willie Garson, and Luis Guzman. Rebecca DeMornay shines as the matriarch of the Yost clan and Milch's addition of Ed O'Neill as a retired cop is the cherry on top (fun fact O'Neill was Milch's choice to play Al Swearengen on Deadwood but HBO didn't approve).
What is John From Cincinnati about? I can't say and after concluding it, I'm still scratching my head over it. But those in love with the craft in Deadwood's writing and layered meanings of how an individual is meaningless without a community, this will satisfy. But Milch ventures into bring poetry onto a screen, something that seems impossible but done by Milch's world of the supernatural and surfing.