John From Cincinatti or I Gave Up Deadwood for THIS?

Well, maybe I was the only guy in the country to stick with it after the first silent end-credits roll in Sopranos history, but I must admit that I am pretty intrigued so far. It's undoubtedly a really weird show, what with the title character's pockets that will give up anything asked and his inability to communicate except by mimicry. I couldn't help but connect him to the Lazarus Parrot that the young kid brought back to life. I don't have a good angle on the levitation yet, though.

the "search function is, if such a thing is possible, WORSE than useless hence I couldn't bump the old thread" shit is really starting to piss me off

anyway, I anticipated eagerly and am not disappointed

search function is, if such a thing is possible, WORSE than useless

Hmm. But maybe this should be kept on the mod board.

that was interesting. i wish it were funnier though. it reminded me of Johnny Suede

Because it TEASES you Ned - like oh, hm, nope, you cannot has your old thread, but here are these random ones. But agreed.

jesus
fucking
christ

gee, it might be too subtle.

also it's funny to read old milch articles quoting henry james & the inrush of the oceanic stuff., etc., and see it literalized so, err, literally.

also everybody on the show is too pretty. i wish there were more brokenfaces like franz. even guzman's sorta pretty in a persistent pugdog way.

The barful of Sopranos watchers in a Wrigleyville bar tonight lit up at the start and said "It's Dylan!" but mostly stopped watching after 10 or so minutes.

Hasn't it been established that ending Deadwood was not Milch's choice?

everybody on the show is too pretty quirky.

fixed

my understanding morbs is that hbo was was all eh yr show isnt that highly watched how abt just 6 more episodes and milch goes fu fine ill just make this surfing show instead then but the fans were all noooooo so hbo says ok jeez make a whole season plz but milch was all nomaybe just 2 2 hour movies

but i have my doubt that thosell ever be made

so i watched this surfing show but not too closely - v funny i think im gonna like it but maybe too quirky

i hope john was right and little sean dies soon, what a horrible actor that kid is

yeah totally - apparently the family is based on a real life family and the kid is actually the kid so...

ha, well i really liked the john character, and the guy with the gun was pretty hilar

Ed O'Neil saying "fruit" = awesome

however, i did not care for butchie yost's junkie apartment set design, the lighting, or the opening melodrama

but it did get good in the second half

i mean smearing crap on a fridge does not a junkie apartment make

Also, Bruce Greenwood = awesome

Also, Rebecca DeMornay getting typecast as a surfer mom (cf. Lords of Dogtown) = awesome

However, junkie crap smear = not so awesome (because it reminds me of my apt)

more like dehornay amirite

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/demornay.jsrpages/pics2/rdlrb.jpg

NEVAR FORGET

ha, gary the diabetic

i wasn't so sure at first, but at about 30 minutes in i was hooked. can see myself losing patience if it doesn't get more comprehensible at some point soon, though.

Ellsworth's back! What's not to love?

First episode is streaming on the HBO site. (First episode of Flight of the Conchords, too.)

this was vaguely cheap and half assed

wtf is this... SHOWTIME?

David Milch sure does like killing them kids.

lmao @ John in public bathroom

bump for greatness

Rebecca DeMornay is ruling

I'm not familiar with the guy who plays John, but he is also ruling.

and welcome back Francis Wolcott, please don't cut up any more hoors with that scalpel

John does rule. i like this show

His name is Austin Nichols, has mostly done a lot of TV bit parts looks like, was Morgan Earp on Deadwood.

I like that Mescaleros theme song, and I've never even been much of a Clash fan. Is that album (Global a Go-Go) any good?

His name is Austin Nichols

!!!!!!!!!

http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/kawachi/cabinet/products2/wildturkey12yo.jpg

i really am loving this show

My name is whatever and I have a lot of love to give, and I hope to give some of it to this show, but the 1st episode played a little too hard-to-get, so I hope the 2nd episode (which I haven't watched yet) is ready for the lovin' I have to give.

i would say the second is even harder to get

nah my mom even told me she liked the second episode better

I didn't dump out this morning. :(

Incomprehensible? Second is harder to get? All the dots are in pairs, and the second ep totally points you in the right direction, and the end is near.

I.e. now that we've gotten a second episode, all the threads are progressing more or less linearly. The first episode, let me amend, was much the same, but quite a lot denser, which made following it more difficult.

I think that the show saves itself from itself because it keeps most of its characters from being freaked by John and his "I don't know Butchie instead"s. No "STOP COPYING MEEEEEE"s from anyone except Al Bundy -- key and urgent you could say.

good use of al bundy and tv on the radio

bad use of parrot

HAWT FILMMAKER:

HAWT FILMMAKER: I like vintage.

HAWT SURFBABE: I'm outta here.

very quotable show, this

So is the parrot Jesus?

Shaun is Jesus, for Christ's sake.

I think that Sean and the Parrot are halves of a whole, and neither one is ever completely dead unless the other is too, because they share life-force essence or some goofy shit like that.

Seriously, I dunno. John seems to be the miracle figure - doesn't eat drink shit or piss, he can get anything from his pockets, he gives Mitch the levitations, he gives Butchie the cold-turkeys, he can perfectly imitate any action he sees, maybe more that I'm missing.

He could have given some magic to Sean at the beach, but the lazarus parrot deal was before either Sean or Bill had met him, right?

Man, that scene in the hospital waiting room with Mitch and his wife was just heartbreaking, even though I knew that some magic shit was going to happen.

I really love this show so far. I guess it isn't for everyone, but I've genuinely loved both episodes. Granted that I grew up 5 minutes from Imperial Beach and will watch anything with surfing in it, but beyond that it's just fun to watch.

Some of the critical attacks against it have been fair enough, but a lot of them have read like "THIS IS TOO WEIRD". Fuck that, I like weird.

And it's not that weird. It's just QUIRKY characters inna realist setting.

Leee, you'll have to defend that. I mean, I like it, but it's definitely weird. See my summary of John's magical abilities upthread.

Also - the earthquake was possibly the result of Freddie slugging John.

Apart from John and the lotto guy, none of the characters seem very weird to me. They actually seem a lot like people I grew up with/near.

Also - the earthquake was possibly the result of Freddie slugging John.

possibly? they hit us in the head w a brick on that one

lottery guy may be my favorite character, good dialog for that guy

and i liked how butchie is seriously puzzled by john and knows something weird is up--not just accepting him at face value

Lotto's long speech in episode 2 was just outstanding. Also, I loved him surfing with his stuffed bear in his apartment.

He seems to be a good candidate to be the EB Farnum of this particular show.

Why do you think I needed that fatty?

xpost

My only negatives are that Luke Perry and the the kid seem like they either can't act, or have been given bad source material.

the kid can't act for shit, i was hoping he would die

Sorry should've capitalized that RRRR.

Being a junkie = shorthand for Realist alienation.
Dysfunctional families = shorthand for Realist ennui.

All boils down to the show's narrative being linear so far (linear (or not) narrative for me being the fundamental measure of weirdness), and when I think of genuinely bizarro getups like all the Black Lodge eps of Twin Peaks, the whackness of the set design of Mary Reilly (still w/ me?), "Room 24 will reveal its dead and the dead shall be forgiven" and "Mitch Yost should get back in the game" come off as relatively quotidian.

How did Milch or his partner describe the show? Something about the intrusion of something or other on reality? Yeah, maybe I watch too much scifi/read too many spandex comic books.

xpost you guys are cold. Shaunie is beeeyottiful. Golden boy. But a question: was he scoping out the other guys in the tent because he didn't know how to prepare for a competitive meet?

Actually, the kid reminded me a lot of about twelve different monotone kids that I went to school with.

Evil Luke Perry and the Evil Blonde are the worst thing about the show for me so far.

See, I was wondering about that. Maybe he's being directed to appear so flat and uninflected, so that when we see him after his near-death experience he'll behave differently. But who knows?

xpost again, to cutty this time.

<i>But a question: was he scoping out the other guys in the tent because he didn't know how to prepare for a competitive meet?</i>

I thought that scene was <i>incredible</i>. I assumed he was scoping them out but also realizing that from now on, everyone is going to want to either fuck him or beat him up.

my mother could have sworn he was blind in the waxing scene cause he's so awkward

Luke Perry's speech about surfing to Shaunie was sub-Point Break hogwash.

i did not think that scene was incredible, i thought it was poorly directed and i really couldn't understand the gist of it--

girls looking into tent--surfers looking at shauny--shauny looking retarded--kid tripping and cutting himself?

I agree completely about the heroin and the family squabbles being familiar TV-drama shorthand (even if they're well done here).

The kid's a believable actor to me, just a bit vacant.

bruce greenwood on the other hand kicks my ass

i thought it was poorly directed and i really couldn't understand the gist of it--

I guess I couldn't disagree more but I can't really verbalize what I liked so much about it. It was a nice little tone poem about Shaunie's first day in school, I guess.

the kid has got to know how to wax his fucking board, come on

unless the parrot has been waxing it for him

the kid has got to know how to wax his fucking board, come on

I think he was preoccupied with thoughts like "whoa, that kid is twice my size and ripped" and "all those girls want to fuck me, whoa."

so why did the kid trip at the end and stare at shauny yost? someone prease to essprain

Dylan McKay is no Major Dad, that's for sure. Not yet anyway.

"I took more acid than you ate f***ing Cheerios for breakfast"

"I'm not afraid of YOU."

Actually, the kid reminded me a lot of about twelve different monotone kids that I went to school with.

Yeah, some of the skater/surfer kids I knew in jr. high were pretty much exactly like this.

californians are weird

Well, yes.

Granted that I grew up 5 minutes from Imperial Beach

x-post -- Wait, so did I. Have we talked about this before?

At least "anyways" is back.

NEXT WEEK: PAUL BEN-VICTOR

x-post -- Wait, so did I. Have we talked about this before?

I don't know! I grew up in National City, and spent most of my time in Chula Vista. IB wasn't my main beach (I went to Coronado more often than not), but I certainly spent time there. You probably were even closer by than I was?

I rewatched the second episode last night and have come to the conclusion that the build up to Shaunie getting smushed by the Johnfromcincinnatiquake is the dramatic equal of the build up to William Bullock getting smushed by the horse. Also I'm really intrigued by the way the show uses voiceovers in POV shots and in crosscutting so you get one character saying something but it almost looks like it's coming from some other character.

ok this my favorite show now

so, was anyone else a fan of tapping the source? i thought it was kinda cool that kem nunn was helping to create this show. i haven't seen it yet though.

IB wasn't my main beach (I went to Coronado more often than not)

Crazy, Coronado is more or less home town for me. (Navy family so we moved to various spots but most of my youth was spent there.)

SEE GOD KAI (cut to Shaun surfing)

wow, that's subtle

sorry, skating.

dude from the wire was hilarious

Its too bad he's getting stereotyped as an organizational mastermind, though.

you are zero for two tonight

Milch interview.

the kid has got to know how to wax his fucking board, come on

-- cutty, Tuesday, June 19, 2007 7:39 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Link

shaun noticed kid A waxing his board a different way than he waxes his board. he was already feeling awkward, unsure and out of place so he decided to start waxing his board the way kis A is. kid B and kid C noticed how kid A is waxing his board "the gay way" and make fun of kid A (jerkoff handmotions). shaun sees this and stops waxing his board the gay way, even more unsure and awkward than before.

cut foot = DANGER, SHAUN. DANGER, VIEWER.

broken wrist guy (is that the guy from the wire?) through the window against shaun's deadpan mellow = best part.

john is still my favorite, but there is going to need to be a SEE GOD, KAI type thing each episode or two or he's going to get old.

Yeah, Freddie's dumb sidekick has a recurring role on the Wire as a drugs/whores smuggling kingpin.

broken wrist guy (is that the guy from the wire?) through the window against shaun's deadpan mellow = best part.

PAUL BEN VICTOR MOTHERFUCKERS

Duh:

John = John the Baptist
Shaun = Yeshaun Ben Butchie

Yankton cocksucker

This show sucks, right? I barely made it through episode 1 and can't imagine how they could ever make that right.

Ed O'Neill's pretty much speaking in iambic pentameter with the bird.

Tonight's episode seemed to last forever, for better or worse.

I read a bit upthread. So, it's good,then? The floating nonsense is not unbearable anymore? I'm sure everything is still a mindfuck mystery, yes?

The first episode definitely gave me the wrong idea.

(i.e. shite)

Cool, I'll watch it on-demand and catch up. I gave up on Deadwood and Carnivale and a lot of people gave me the impression that I fudged up there, so I don't want to miss the boat again.

I did the same thing with Deadwood, and when I tried to watch it again when people were all "no, it gets really good" I was lost. :(

first was bad, second and third were pretty good, tonight's seemed to be treading water.

remy otm re: ep 4

Episode 4 might have treaded water a bit, but it was really funny, I thought.

It just occurred to me that in this treading-water episode John got STABBED TO DEATH.

It's going to be brutal when someone actually for-real dies.

If they even can on a show like this.

I re-watched episode 1 the other day & all the crazy shit John was saying was.. slightly less crazy once you know what happens after.. it was better on second viewing

i really like this show. how many episodes are they doing anyhow?

yeah ive seen the first three at least 2 times now. john makes way more sense after repeat viewings.

i def need to watch ep 4 beacuse a) i felt like it was the worst so far, and b) i was loopy on cough syrup when i watched it last night.

anyone know what that place with the huge fence around it is? a prision?

It is a ten episode season. Apparently Milch wants to continue doing it, but that seems unlikely what with the ratings, reception, and sacking of Albrecht.

I loved the Billy and Freddy thing at the end. The music during the gathering at the motel led me to believe something more was going to happen.

Like Deadwood, this show seems to require repeat viewings to understand a lot of what the characters (especially the loopy ones) are actually saying. Deadwood was great in that I didn't have to understand every sentence or even ever exchange but the plot would make sense. The repeat viewings always clarified the dialogue. This one is the same, except the plot is murkier/less there.

It is a ten episode season. Apparently Milch wants to continue doing it, but that seems unlikely what with the ratings, reception, and sacking of Albrecht.

PROVE IT

I'd be surprised if this gets a second season. Then again, it doesn't seem like it could be nearly as expensive to make as Deadwood or Rome or even Carnivale.

It'll be a bummer if it gets canceled, but it really isn't that surprising. It's surprising when good shows DO get renewed instead of According to Jim and Seventh Heaven.

It's barely started - I hope they give it a chance to catch on at least!

They might have shot themselves in the foot with that first episode, I mean I'm sure it would seem cool if I re-watched it now that I know the show is good, but if you were going to hook people after the Sopranos that wasn't the way to do it. Apparently, about 2 million less people tuned in to episode 2.

Reaction from the small crowd at the Wrigleyville bar last night was a big relief when they showed the previews for the new Voyeur series. The bartender and two other patrons want to give J from C a chance, but they're baffled. Not a good show for a bar, I guess.

x-post
(and that's with about 9 million out of 12 million people shutting off the TV after the Sopranos finale)

Yeah, but I liked the first episode as much as I liked any of the others. My theory is that airing it after Sopranos would have been fine if 2/3 of the Sopranos fans weren't pissed off about the ending. People were too busy calling their cable companies to actually enjoy the episode!

Or maybe they just didn't like it, I guess.

And now I see that my theory is not all that unique.

i think it was marketed poorly.

i never would have watched it if i didnt stumble upon ep 2 while drunk and staying in a hotel w/ nothing else on TV.

hopefully word of mouth/dvd sales will generate enough intrest in a second season.

I remember seeing the first episode of NYPD Blue. It set up Franz's character as a difficult alcoholic hitting bottom, it had police stuff, it had dirty words and as much nudity as could be shown on network TV, and became an ensemble show later.

This one -- again, I'm giving in a chance in a Twin Peaks way, but the bar audience I'd watched the Sopranos got pulled in by the opening credits and by Dylan from 90210 and was willing to get caught up in it (I mean, the bartender didn't turn the jukebox back on at 9:02) but tuned out by about 9:10.

This same crowd is totally caught up in Entourage and Flight of the Conchords -- not that all shows (esp. dramas) should work in a bar, but Sopranos did.

And I've got a treatment and pilot script for one that would, in case anyone from HBO reads this...

Hell, the only reason I wanted to see it was Al Bundy looking hella scared. Seemed to be the most interesting thing in the promos I had seen. But then I want to see that new Californication show with Mulder boning all the hot chiX0rs so what do I know.

i was thinking about what significance "from Cincinnati" had to the story/characters.

is it just a placeholder because he isn't from anywhere?

or could it reference the Cincinnatus of roman history?

i just assumed it was a placeholder, and that it just sounded odd/intriguing.

then again, his last name is Monad, so i guess anything's possible.

A lot of potentially important stuff happened in ep. 4, though. It wasn't as big and dramatic as the Shaunie miracle but aside from John getting stabbed and magically healed with the help of Vietnam Joe, Cass hooked up with Mitch and was a witness to another levitation, Kai hooked up with Butchie, John somehow telepathically communicated with Cass and now she has kicked Mitch out and now John is living with her, Linc fired Cass, Dr. Smith resigned and started hanging out at the motel, Barry decided to make Ramon and Dickstein his business partners, Bill has got it in his head that his bird told him he should be friends with Freddie and the biggest thing that got me is John is now repeating things that he wasn't around to hear. I've only watched it once though so I might've missed some things. So not so much treading water as setting things up for the next round of big stuff.

thank you for this post^^^

will re-watch w/o cough syrup induced haze.

> John is now repeating things that he wasn't around to hear.

He's always done this, I think.

yes he has but its more prevalant now/ we're picking up on it more.

Right, they're making it really obvious like it's something we should take note of.

Like John is the showrunner.

(e.g. something Butchie had just said to Kai alone in his room)

i think its going to take a few more episodes for this show to catch on because on the surface it looks like a six ft under/ big love type drama, but the dialouge feels a lot more like you're following a stage play.

only 6 episodes of this season to go, so i hope they get things moving. i'd hate it to be like the first season of carnivale, the climax of which really should have been around the sixth episode.

One theory floated by someone over on imdb was that Mitch's levitation has something to do with the syringe he stepped on in episode one, and that John had purposefully dropped that syringe. If John's powers are somehow transferable by touch like with Vietnam Joe, or merely things he has touched, that syringe could have been the catalyst for the entire show.

things john says on his own/ not repeating others:

-"mitch yost needs to get back in the game"
-"what do you want butchie?"
-"some things that i know and some things i dont"
-a bunch of stuff during the climax at the motel in episode one, something about room 24 giving up its dead?

what else?

(i was thinking "see god kai" but that was kind of regurgitating "make her see god, john" from butchie)

You don't need to go to the syringe, do you? Didn't he touch Mitch directly?

"Room 24 will give up its dead and the dead will be forgiven." I think.

had john touched shaun yet when shaun brought zippy back to life?

i know he said something about shaun that no one else said.

Yeah but none of that stuff was said by another character before John said it, right? Now they're showing scenes where John isn't there and then he repeats a line spoken by a character from that scene.

And did John touch Mitch before he stepped on the syringe? I thought he just told him to get back in the game and Mitch told him to fuck off. This was the very beginning of episode one that he stepped on that thing/

"the end is near" (does he say this to anyone besides linc?

xpost yeah i am starting a new discussion on things that come out of his mouth w/o anyone else saying them, before or after.

And I want to see ep. one but maybe John dosn't need to touch Shaun, maybe since Mitch had something transferred to him only he need to touch Shuan, Shaun then transferring his power to the bird which in turn healed Shaun.

see ep. one AGAIN

it seems like he's pre-programmed with a shortlist of messages. i'm just trying to create a list of what those are/ separate them from everything else he says that is him mimicing/ prophesying.

xpost

prophesying = bad word hoice for "saying things other say before they say them/ when he couldnt have been within earshot when they said them"

Right but it's possible these are just things he heard before he met the Yosts, though the biblical nature of some of them makes that a bit suspect.

prophesying = bad word Choice

nah, i get the the feeling there _was_ no john before we saw him on the beach in episode one.

did someone say "Tomorrow is another day." before he said it to Vietnam Joe?

Milch has talked about the show in terms of "oneness" as a community as a single organism. This might just mean that everyone's fate is intertwined, or there may be some real Lynchian shape- and time-shifting on the way.

Also, this is a show that might benefit from the DVD format -- watching all of the episodes in quick succession, since the events themselves are taking place over such a short amount of time (within the show, it's only been three days since the events began).

yeah, also curious:

the episodes so far have been titled:

His Visit, Day One
His Visit, Day Two pt. 1
His Visit, Day Two pt. 2
His Visit, Day Three

That almost implies that John will disappear completely at some point and there will be the aftermath of his "visit."

that's what i was thinking.

or that his visit will end at the end of season one, and season two will begin a year or two later when He Returns or something.

right, "His second visit" or something

John
From
Cincinnati

Jesus
Fucking
Christ

I thought his middle initial was H.

It's Milch. Why use something else when you could use "fuck?"

I bet it's got nothing to do with anything. That just came to me.

Yeah, I'm not so sure it will turn out to be as simple an allegory as John is the Christ or the Anti-Christ or the Yost men represent the Trinity or anything like that. It could, but I'd hope that it won't be so black and white in the end.

Also looks like Remy beat you to it 3 weeks ago.

They might have shot themselves in the foot with that first episode, I mean I'm sure it would seem cool if I re-watched it now that I know the show is good, but if you were going to hook people after the Sopranos that wasn't the way to do it. Apparently, about 2 million less people tuned in to episode 2.

i'd agree with this. i feel like HBO is currently running on the 'still better than network' mantra. rushing another season of entourage didn't feel like a vote of confidence. i'm sorry that milch abandoned deadwood for this and that now i feel like i'm just waiting for the wire to come back.

Original JFC statements from ep. 4, wherein he appears to be channelling the audience's thoughts:

"Bill isn't Freddy's first Bill."

"Freddy isn't Bill's first Freddy."

I'm not so sure it will turn out to be as simple an allegory as John is the Christ or the Anti-Christ or the Yost men represent the Trinity or anything like that.

Ahem.

well, that one was a let-down. i actually feel my good will waning after it. where the hell was guzman?

Whatsamatta? An hour of Rebecca DeMornay growing steadily more furious didn't do it for you?

I did like Kai telling her "Out of your fucking house."

the "out of your fucking house" line reminded me of trixie.

"who DOESN'T think about killing herself every fucking day of her life?"

or something along those lines was my favorite. can't double check, already erased this ep. kinda blah, needmore john.

need more dickstein, ramon, and the crazy owner. more ed o'neil.

ridiculous that the cliffhanger is what is on that damn tape.

-NEEDS MORE JOHN.

-Rebecca DeMornay is really grating on me. Not just the poorly-directed rage-upon-rage, but is it obvious to anyone else that she isn't a smoker off camera? Every time she has a cigarette in her hand it is so distracting how unnatural it looks!

-The Mitch/Sissy have a dysfunctional marriage storyline has been my least favorite part of the show from the beginning. It reached banging head against the wall levels in this episode.

-any more original john phrases? I thought "Work Here, Cass" was, but she said something similar at the end of ep4.

-something i was confused about: Did Linc just order a girl from an escort service and it happened to be shaun's mother? He seemed pretty surprised to find out who he was and they've let us in on his deceptions so far. Also, did he pay the bartender for a night with Tina at the very end?

-OUR CHRIST FIGURE HAS A WHORE FOR A MOTHER SHOCKA.

-Shuan and his mother look v v much alike. Nice casting.

-STOP REFERRING TO A GUY WITH AN EAST COAST ACCENT AS "THE HAWAIIAN." IT MAKES NO SENSE.

*He seemed pretty surprised to find out who she was

> did he pay the bartender for a night with Tina at the very end?

He paid the bartender for room service, food and booze.

waht?

Did Linc just order a girl from an escort service and it happened to be shaun's mother?

No, I think they just met on the street and he picked up the hooker vibe from her and asked if she was working. She just got into town to see Shaun, so I don't think there's any escort service involved unless I missed something. She's a porn star who turns tricks on the side, obv.

and yeah despite a couple of funny lines DeMornay seemed to be overacting and unbelievably shrill the entire episode to me too.

x-post
yeah grady he paid the bartender and said "we'll drink in the room"

i still thought the episode was great

shauny not as dumb as i previously thought, plus he smokes the weed!

No, I think they just met on the street and he picked up the hooker vibe from her and asked if she was working. She just got into town to see Shaun, so I don't think there's any escort service involved unless I missed something. She's a porn star who turns tricks on the side, obv.

OK that makes sense. I guess after 4 eps of Linc being a conniving bastard and doing everything he can to sink his teeth into shuan, i was assuming their first encounter was intentional. maybe it was JOHN MAGICS.

x-post
yeah grady he paid the bartender and said "we'll drink in the room"

paid the bartender for the sex/ tina, right? not just a "i'm a rich bastard take a juicy tip." because there was an exchange between tina and the bartender at the beginning of that scene like "don’t worry, he's with me/a friend" or something.

HI DERE I HAVE TROUBLE W/ SUBTLETY.

xpost- w33d a good choice for his character.

I took that as Tina being paranoid everyone knows she's a ho, because the bartender looked at her like "yeah, whatever what r u drinking?"

X-post. The actress playing Tina did an interesting job conveying the "uncomfortable in my skin as a porn star" routine - at one point, she's refusing to give Linc a refund, citing industry standards for sex workers ("We don't give refunds."), and then she pulls the "I'm not using your bar as a place to be picked up" line, which came across like a homeless person trying to show a shop owner that they are looking to purchase something with the money they have.

I think I need to maintain some level of flexibility when watching this show - it doesn't seem like they're going to be consistent with who is the main focus of each episode.

On the whole, though, its interesting and I'll keep watching it. Kai is much more attractive than Tina. And she's a furreal pro surfer. Tina's qualifications seem much less bona fide.

haha I think she looks like one of those "attractive" barbie doll porn stars, Jenna Jameson etc

uh, kai is NOT attractive. her pursed lips and twitchy face make me cringe. :/

Cass is probably the best looking girl on the show, but I don't think it's saying much.

In matters of taste, there are no arguments.

Cass is like a creepy blend of all my collge-years-crushes morphed into one female. I am hot for her and repulsed by her at the same time because of this.

vintage porche: HOTT.

sean smoking weed was great; anything that can be done to humanize him is good. the angsty 'whatever, dude' teen schtick as affectation has worked okay for a while, but it was beginning to feel paltry and 2-D -- at least until the scene in which his mom comes in to look at him and he feigns sleep.

Yeah, I'm not so sure it will turn out to be as simple an allegory as John is the Christ or the Anti-Christ or the Yost men represent the Trinity or anything like that. It could, but I'd hope that it won't be so black and white in the end.

-- marmotwolof, Tuesday, July 3, 2007 7:44 A

I've kinda wanted to speak to this point for a while, but I don't know exactly how to put it. See, about eighteen months ago I had a long conversation with S* M*, one of the lead Deadwood editors. I was complimenting him on his work in the episode where Bullock's son gets killed, on what I thought was some great writing ('gelding' etymologically equaling 'bullocking') and the way the show's built-up symbolism really paid off in spades. Bullock being finally checked by his son's death. S*M* all-but called me an idiot, told me that as a writer I should know better than to -- get this -- 'countenance' that kind of bullshit. I said surely there was some kind of long-considered intent behind the scene and he told me that Milch was just sick to death of the kid actor's mother pissing around off-camera. A year later I heard the same from a certain cast member.

This same cast member told me that Milch, as a general rule, isn't interested in the consistent management of a mythology nearly as much as he's concerned with creating a sort of epic mileau amd letting it play out as it will. He'll frame and build the doll-house in epic terms, then screw around with it in extremely human and antimythic ones. The (in)famous last-minute-scene changes, and day-of-shooting revisions are what result from this. David's got a big set and an army of talent, he's gonna see how his fantasy plays itself out. And for all the talk of his schematic genius, much of his "style" (even in spite of the deliberately obfuscating mysticism he espouses) is serendipitous fly-by-nightism. Which, of course, doesn't make it simplistic or less-interesting; it just renders the literal-minded speculation and attempts to pin A to A and B to B kind of naive and worthless.

In other words: it's a TV show, just watch it, nerds. :D

Heaven forbid we prognosticate incorrectly.

I like Linc for some reason.

Interesting speculation: when Cissy is in jail in the first episode, a woman speaks to her in Spanish and gives her something. Apparently, the woman sez, "Please. My son was looking for The Lone Murderer. The Masked Wrestlers."

!!!!

its on the camera!

Damn, forgot all about that.

remy's take on Milch up there is good. I never watched Deadwood and besides binging on Sopranos and Entourage in the last two months, the only show I've watched regularly is L O S T. So I think i have the tendancy to EXAMINE EVERY LITTLE CLUE w/ this show they way you do w/ lost. However, the bit about the lady in jail and the masked wrestlers makes me jump right back into that mindset.

also: WHAT IS BUILDING INSIDE FENCE?

http://www.google.com/maps?q=Imperial+Beach,+CA,+USA&ie=UTF8&ll=32.593703,-117.129192&spn=0.00499,0.008605&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr&om=1

???????????????????????????

the area just north of there is labeled "United States Naval Radio Station."

NED?

http://eyeball-series.org/nsgasd-eyeball.htm

its like LOST with real-life places!

A+++++++

1) the john to sissy scene over the sink 'baptise that gun'

2) promo for next week: john to sean:'just hit me in the back of the fucking head' (followed by sean's gentle blessing)

D -

'You hurt me gram.'

oh snap Zack from Saved by the Bell in the next episode.

was the very last shot of the van's headligt coming on? i want to be sure i wasnt watching a bad torrent.

yep, I just double checked my DVR for you. last line: "Well, this was time well spent." and then the headlight shot.

What a weird episode. I guess we learned a lot, but what a whacked-out babblefest it was.

wtf this shot:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/johnfrom.jpg

tableau of 90's grunge style. chic!

no one in the back row was in any other shot from that scene, save butchie, who is in the front row with kai as well.

thats also the only few frames that mitch is in the whole episode, and we've never seen him dressed that way when not in a wetsuit; dark colors, long sleeves and pants.

ntm dead guy.

Not to point out the obvious, but the dead guy is sitting on a toilet.

Also, Butchie is in it twice.

that toilet dissapears when everyone "snaps out" of the dream sequence/ john mindmeld.

did cass know what was going on/see everything/hear john?

at the motel?

or in her hotel room?

ok, screengrab upthread is the *last* shot before everyone snaps out/wakes up from dream sequence/john mindmeld.

this is the shot right before it:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC1.jpg

you can see the "family portrait" over on the left side of the screen.

then it cuts to the screengrab i posted upthread, then a few shots of everyone snapping out/waking up. then we see this:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC1.jpg

who is that in the green jacket on the right side?

shit, sorry.

secong image should be this:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC2.jpg

also, i'm pretty sure that when john does the nervous toe-in-the-sand routine he's drawing a peace sign.

allright, goddamit, nickalicous needs to start watching this show so i'm not alone here.

bill, his staircase and truck seem to appear and dissapear.

same with mitch, sissy, tina, shuan and 2nd butchie.

green jacket guy too.

but cass and linc both seem to actually be there, arriving in thier cars.

maybe green jacket guy is Zack from Saved by the Bell's character. in any case let's keep an eye out for any new characters wearing green jackets with tan pants

btw thanks for checking yr DVR, marmotwolof.

ok green jacket guy is weirdo yost.com webmaster from earlier in the episode.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC5.jpg

this is the last shot of the motel during daylight:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC3.jpg

are they getting ready to pour cement for a shuffleboard court?

john places cass next to the toy horse, and dead guy just opposite that, behind kai and butchie, then stands in the very center where he draws a peace sign, babbling.

Anyone have a transcript of John's big speech from the "reunion?" It was a great episode, I guess, but they could kind-of end the series right there. Not sure where they're going to go with all this.

xx-post
yup, ok I really need to watch this again because I forgot about the website guy. This is the first episode that makes me want to go back and try to figure it out. Kind of like the Cooper's Dream Twin Peaks episode.

no problem on checking it, like I say I'm probably going to keep this one on the DVR and look at it a few times.

rusted pipe and cement mixer seem kind of deliberatley placed, too.

xxp

i'm watching that scene w/o sound for now. plan on going back and re-listening to all the "my father"s later today.

have we seen this guy before?

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC6.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC7.jpg

I am pretty sure that John is drawing "OK", as someone mentioned upthread.

I thought his toe-drawing was a stick figure of a person.

wait isn't he the guy who stabbed john? i dont have that episode on this computer...

xxp

i'm almost positive its a peace sign, starting with a circle, the line down the middle, and then the two shorter lines at the bottom.

yeah that's the stabby gang guy

which is who they're looking for in the van stakeout, right?

right

Oh yeah, I rewatched #3 yesterday with a friend I'm trying to catch up on the show, and I can't believe I missed that Mitch was literally nailed to a board.

oy

i knew there was something there, i just figured it had more to do with the son helping/saving the father.

ok i re-wathed the toe in the sand thing a few more times and i think Oily's right and i'm wrong. This is the best i can make of what he's doing:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/john.jpg

ok something else, in the john appearing to linc scene, Cass is in the reflection, and she drives off after john dissapears:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC8.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC9.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC10.jpg

maybe she gave john a ride to the motel?

My interpretation of that "John is everywhere at once" thing is that JFC is the Holy Ghost aspect of the divine, the part that is omniscient and omnipresent. Also, when he appears to Linc, as soon as he vanishes, Linc walks over to where JFC was and looks out with the same angle and perspective, implying (to me anyway) that Linc is not only the 'evil' to John's (or whoever's) 'good', but that he is equal in some way to it.

that makes sense. they also walk out of the frame in the same direction.

in this ep, we saw JFC speak as Bill's dead wife, something he hasn't done fore.

he also recanted a very specific, very embarrassing memory of sissy's that took place decades prior. i don’t think he'd done this, aside from a line or two about room 24, which was more like a prophecy.

also: he was saying things that Vietnam Joe was *thinking* in this episode, as he was thinking them. whereas in previous episodes he was saying things before others said them/ was out of earshot when they said them.

they also walk out of the frame in the same direction.

ok you already said this.

i'm probably reading too much into this, and its probably just a continuity error, but the gathering around the shuffleboard plot and the way things are placed seems very intentional...

anyway, the cement mixer moves after the sun goes down:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC3.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x18/gr8080/JFC11.jpg

clarifying upthread question about cass:

during the whole bizarre final thing. and the driving. was she aware of what was going on? others just pop up at the place, but she was taken by john and driven there. linc as well, i suppose, since they stopped to tell him 'to get back in the game'.

rewatching the episode in an hour or so when my friend gets here.

also, when i was watching john draw in the sand, i clocked it as the stargate symbol: http://sea-of-ink.com/stargate/earthglyph1.jpg

what potential!

during the whole bizarre final thing. and the driving. was she aware of what was going on? others just pop up at the place, but she was taken by john and driven there. linc as well, i suppose, since they stopped to tell him 'to get back in the game'.

it seems as though everyone except:

Shuan
Sissy
Mitch
Tina
2nd Butchie
Dead Guy
Vietnam Joe
Vato Stabby guy
Weirdo Green Jacket Yost.com webmaster
Bill

was actually there, with linc and cass arriving sometime after the sun goes down. but there in the physical sense only? my take is that john made everyone mentally go there, and some "woke up" like Joe and Bill in the van, and some "snapped out of it" like all those at the motel. others, like green jacket guy, dead guy, stabby guy, we dont know... were they just pictured at this gathering, or did they experience it like the other characters did?

I'm only two episodes in and haven't read most of the thread (form obvious reasons) but I must say that I am enjoying this.

Good work on all these so far, Grady.

OK lots of insight here:

http://www.hbo.com/johnfromcincinnati/inside/index.html

including clarification that Sissy did indeed give her 13 year old son a handjob while tripping on LSD, mitch was in mexico for this whole episode, Dayton Callie and Ed Oneill actually play sex and harp IRL, and a complete trasncript of JFC's clusterfuck of a speech, with this note:

I can say this: all but a couple of John's statements will make sense to anyone who follows the show, listens closely and think it through.

here's the transcript:

"If my words are yours, can you hear my Father? Can Bill know my Father, keeping his eye on me? Can I bone Kai and Butchie know my Father instead?

"My Father's shy doing his business. Kai helps my Father dump out. Bill takes a shot. Shaunie is much improved.

"Joe is a Doubting Thomas. Joe will save Not-Aleman. Joe will bring his buddies home. This is how Freddy relaxes. Cup-o'joe, and Winchell's variety dozen.

"Mitch catches a good wave. Mitch wipes out. Mitch wipes out Cissy. Cissy shows Butchie how to do that. Cissy wipes Butchie out. Butchie hurts Barry's head. Mister Rollins comes in Barry's face. My Father runs the Mega-Millions.

"Fur is big. Mud is big. The stick is big. The word is big. Fire is huge. The wheel is huge. The line and circle are big. On the wall, the line and circle are huge. On the wall, the man at the wall makes a man from the circle and line. The man at the wall makes a Word on the wall from the circle and line. The Word on the wall hears my Father.

"The zeroes and ones make the Word in Cass's camera. In the Word on the wall that hears my-Father-in-Cass's-camera, the good one Mitch catches doesn't wipe Cissy out. In the-Word-that-hears-my-Father, Cissy shows Butchie something else. In-my-Father's-Word, Cissy shows Butchie in Shaun. In-my-Father's-Word, Tina raises Shaun at lunch. In Cass's-camera, Butchie lays the court out for Barry, and Mister Rollins watches, and he doesn't come on Barry's face. In Cass's-camera, Butchie knows Kai kept the faith. In-my-Father's-Word, the Wave lifts them up.

"In Cass's camera, Bill doesn't bump his head on the stairs. In Cass's-camera, as long as he's being stupid, Bill gives Lois a kiss.

"In His-Word-in-Cass's-camera, the Internet is big. Nine-Eleven is big, but not every towel-head is eradicated. In His-Word, We are coming Nine-Eleven-Fourteen.

"In my-Father's-Word, Bill sees how Freddy relaxes. In Cass's-camera, Ramon wants to know who's hungry, in the courtyard and Room Forty-Five.

"In my-Father's-Word-to-come-in-Cass's-camera, Doctor Smith calls Ocean Properties. In Cass's-camera-to-come, my Father stares Not Aleman down, and Freddy sees Bill much-improved.

"You will not note my-Father's-Word, nor remember Cass's-camera, but you will not forget what we did here."

And with that, John's spell is broken.

lol

actually play SAX and harp

ok so what does any of that mean

"On the wall, the man at the wall makes a man from the circle and line."

did JFC say anything about "my father" before this episode?

<i>Fur is big. Mud is big. The stick is big. The word is big. Fire is huge. The wheel is huge.</i>

So maybe I'm dense, but I just figured out that this has something to do with describing the steps in the formation of human society. Which, you know, Milch's whole Big Theme is basically Why Society, Though?

what the fuck this show sounds ghey

and everyone is so mad all the time

lets smile more, people

k sorry i talked shit. that episode kicked ass.

we forgive you, last week went a bit overboard on the screechy DeMornay

The last act of the most recent episode is so seriously awesome the more I think about it.

and I can't believe I missed that Mitch was literally nailed to a board.

But he was upside-down -- the Hanged Man, perhaps?

It was you all right? I learned it by watching you.

Tags: john cincinnati drug+casualties shaun

best+acting+ever

About what was John's cookout speech?

wow.

most of that is pretty close to OTM, i'd bet.

http://jfc.wikia.com/wiki/Series_Tally

ZOMBIE CHILD MOLESTER

room 24 deadguy/barry's molester is the same actor as the guy in the pickup truck yelling vulger shit it tina.

(o_O)

You're having fun with that wiki, aren't you? ^_^

oh god that makes the show boring

what?

counting swear words or comparing notes on what the john speech means?

A

agreed.

i re-watched the JFC speech a few more times today and noticed there's three ominous thuds right at the end, before everyone snaps out of it.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monad

found this today in a completley unrelated wiki search:

The John Frum cult on the island of Tanna is one of the world's last remaining Cargo Cults.

o.O

shawn will be gone soon?

Gone...from what?

i duno thats what john told cass at the end of the episode.

I know - I'm just saying there's some deliberate ambiguity there.

"It could mean 1000 years"
roffle at Bill slapping John in the previews

i think JFC said "shuan will soon be gone" in the 1st or 2nd ep too, before his accident.

Any guesses as to what's on Cass's camera?

Is Linc going to join John's flock?

Does God talk to John through the Naval Radio Station?

Is Paula Malcolmson supposed to be Cissy's sister or just a pal? They look a lot alike.

wow just saw episode 6. wow.

sax with harmonica jam session

Any guesses as to what's on Cass's camera?

Ones and zeros, dude!

10111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101101110101101010101011101010111101010101011101010101010111011010101100010111010101010110111010110101010101110101011110101010101110101010101011101101010110001011101010101011011101011010101010111010101111010101010111010101010101110110101011000101110101010101

butchie's implants are just punk rock horns right?

Watching this is beginning to seem like a chore. I'm glad there are only three eps left.

Is Linc Stark <i>out</i> of the game now?

What was that line about the candy striper? It's from an Astaire movie, yes?

I dont know about that, but candy striper is what you call a hospital volunteer.

Oh.

More HMMMM:

THE HIEROGLYPHIC MONAD OF DR. JOHN DEE

I should deprive myself of telepathic information to spare you irritation? From cheeping?

I haven't been on this thread for a while, but here's what I think about
John Monad. Monad = less personal interpretation of god, right? And then there's John the Revelator who reveals god's plans.

John talks about 'the father' a lot, like Jesus or any christian. He's like the mouthpiece for the blind idiot god of the gnostics, just giving everyone what they need or want without judgment because as a creative force, this god is sort of impersonal and does everything out of agape.

If I'm right, this is kind of a neat idea, but I don't see how this show could last very long. I've noticed every episode is titled "John's Visit, Day #_", so I wonder if at some point the John character will disappear completely and the story will continue on in the wake of whatever happened during his visit, sort of like how life continues on thousands of years after Jesus.

Lord, there goes Johnny Appleseed
He might pass by in the hour of need
There's a lot of souls
Ain't drinking from no well locked in a factory

Hey - look there goes
Hey - look there goes
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you're saying, I hear what he's saying
*Is what was true now no longer so

Hey - I hear what you're saying
Hey - I hear what he's saying
If you're after getting the honey - hey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

What the people are saying
And we know every road - go, go
What the people are saying
There ain't no berries on the trees

Let the summertime sun
Fall on the apple - fall on the apple

Lord, there goes a Buick forty-nine
Black sheep of the angels riding, riding down the line
We think there is a soul, we don't know
That soul is hard to find

Hey - down along the road
Hey - down along the road
If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees

Hey - it's what the people are saying
It's what the people are saying
Hey - there ain't no berries on the trees
Hey - that's what the people are saying, no berries on the trees
You're checking out the honey, baby
You had to go killin' all the bees

Palaka, Freddie and Bill are so awesome.

This show is tops for hysterical dialog.

show is so good

palaka might be the best

"I gotta clean this four"

when he tries to squeeze into the car with harelip dude

also all the "hacking my domain" talk

needs more Trixie

I am happy to have Trixie involved at all! She isn't bothering to play a different character at all, but fuck it, I like that character.

the teddy bear is hilarious

good lord, jennifer grey is in this?! i didn't recognize her at all

holy shit, Dickstein's fiancee! yeah, I guess I hadn't seen her in anything since the nose job. Or really anything since Bueller and Dirty Dancing.

This was the best episode in a few weeks. The scene between Bill and John in ROOM TWENTY FOUR was so intense.

so is the contract signing in the final scene mean Shuan is now "gone"? If Linc is the evil element, who metaphorically fucked his father and literally fucked his mother... and Mitch, who's been keeping him safe from Linc so far is M.I.A.... is Shuan now gone?

juggling = symbolic of the way he's treating his future?

also: Palaka = YES.

oh dudes... REVELATIONS

JOHN stands on the beach and sees a beast rise from the sea.
Doesnt that beast fuck the whore of babylon and they have the antichrist?

bible people help me out here?!@#!@#

The 'whore of babylon' = tina
the beast from the sea = butchie the beast
antichrist = shaun

JOHN stands on the beach and sees a beast rise from the sea.

where is this from? did i miss something?

oh, butchine. i get it.

grady the previews seem to show that Shaun is literally missing in the next episode

(and John is gone too)

shaun's good at juggling!

oh.

i cant find it on youtube or hbo.com.

xp

anticipate the final episode! also what did that lady say when she gave ramon the avon catalogue?!

I didn't even recognize Howard Hesseman from WKRP in Cincinnati as The Chemist. Nice touch, though.

here you go, chaki:

Ramon: (after smelling the roses) Will they lift my spirit?
Rosa: That's why they are there.
Ramon: Good.
Rosa: Want an Avon catalog?
Ramon: For me? No.
Rosa: It doesn't cost anything to look, like the flowers.
Ramon: (after a long pause) Thanks.

is it safe to say this is the last we'll see of the yosts? :/

If you're just going by ratings, the pilot is still the highest rated episode thanks to Sopranos, even though less than a third of Sopranos fans watched it. Since then it seems to be hovering at more than 1 but less than 1.5 million viewers, still getting the shit beat out of it by Burn Notice, Spongebob, The Closer, Saving Grace, etc. in the cable ratings. But then every show on HBO right now is getting beat by that stuff, so who knows.

sad because it was really starting to hit its stride--the characters are all so enjoyable

This is a little more enlightening than comparing it to cable shows in general, and it still looks bad:

http://www.tvblogger.org/2007/07/cable-ratings-john-in-trouble-closer.html

Entourage remains king, though a much smaller king, of HBO's lineup, with 2.2 million viewers Sunday, easily outshining companion series John From Cincinnati (1.3 million) and Flight of the Conchords (817,000). Monday's Big Love fell to 1.6 million.

season 2 is hap'nin!

source?

My guess is Big Love will be renewed before the season is over.

it has.

is chaki your source?

my sourse: the GOOZE

so why didn't you ask him what Rosa said to him in Spanish

didnt ask him personally. but i was wrong anyway its still up in the air!

it's shitty how if a TV show has one million people who like it enough to watch it every week, it's a flop, but if a CD sells that many it's a platinum smash and there's no way to say if everyone that bought it even likes it.

http://www.codepink4peace.org/img/original/N17BumperStickerQuoteAndPro.gif

hahahaha

FUCKIN WU!

What a beautiful show. That Dylan song and the surfing in the beginning was just gorgeous. Even if that's the end, it was still cool as hell taken all together.

i don't understand anything

John fuckin' saved that family. Saved Butchie, especially. Whether Linc and Saved by the Bell dude are going to fuck them over eventually remains to be seen if there's going to be a season two, but if that's the end, all's well that ends well. Even the bird came back.

"Mother of god Cass Kai" could be something of a cliffhanger if it does get renewed, let the theories fly.

You know, I think what I'll miss most about this series other than the general headfuck that was the character of John, is getting a weekly dose of Ed O'Neil. He was truly brilliant throughout.

Earlier today, before having seen the season finale, I was kind of cool with the show being cancelled. I love it and all, but for some reason I felt that no matter what happened in the season finale, I would feel as though the Yost family arc would be completed and I'd be happy.

Not so anymore. I desperately want more.

That was the best episode overall, IMO

http://www.hbo.com/johnfromcincinnati/inside/index.html?ntrack_para1=feat_sec1_text

Part of me wonders whether it has pulled a Carnivale.

I know a lot of people love it, and I am a fan of it to an extent, but the first season should have taken place in the first 5 or 6 episodes. Everything started to happen in the second, but by then it was too late.

It was a good season [of JfC], and a hell of a finale, but it probably should have moved along quicker (though being a fan of it, I wouldn't really want it to).

I assume it will be cancelled, which kind of hurts more since Milch has said he knows where it is going/would have gone.

also: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200708/20070809.html

watching again now

bill's rant during the period is hilarious

drug casualties
homosexual in a hybrid
look at the breasts on these women

parade, not period

Ugh, it just does not work for me.

i love that fucking joe strummer song now.

yeah i want to hear that CD

cancelled? never even started watching it, won't bother now. wonder if he'll go finish deadwood now

yeah i want to hear that CD

The CD kinda stinks. Not only is that song the best song on it, but the shortened version in the credits is better than the original, in my opinion.

I've resigned myself to never seeing this show again, but it was fun while it lasted. I'm not sure I care what Milch thinks would happen if a skateboard company created a marketing campaign to help hide the secrets a fledgling religious movement. That's just not something I care about. Which sucks, because I loved some of the characters a lot.

i kind of agree. looks like we wont have to anyway:
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=6f61169c-e1ce-40f3-b7d6-c95ec28a0a76

Used Car Salesguy was John's father, right? I ar slo on uptaek!

At the very least, he seemed to have some sort of connection to John's world.

I'll buy the DVDs. And fuck the Deadwood-only Milch fans who are gloating because they hated this show on that blog post.

http://www.hbo.com/johnfromcincinnati/inside/season1/episode10.html

I never really felt the apocalypticism that John kept mentioning and which is mentioned in that link, and I think that's what muted my enthusiasm in the last handful of episodes. John was too much of a deus (hah) ex Cass's camera, and even with Cissy at her shrillest, I never felt the danger of the impending End which John kept reminding Linc/us of (or of Milch's imminent apocalpyse that "is upon us"), precisely because John was destined to keep the bad (or horrible) from happening to the Yosts.

Owen Aug 14 07, 9:35 AM Report abuse
15.What seperated JFC from other HBO shows was its overwhelming sense of "goodness". Where all the other HBO (and Showtime) show's bathed in the excesses of nihilism, JFC dared to create a world of sweetness and redemption.

I would agree with that in a way. Without intellectualizing it at all, that last episode just made me feel good.

http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/2007/08/john-from-cin-2.html

"Each character has the opportunity to generate God by his or her behavior. All of us are the mother and father of God, to the extent we accept the limits of our humanity."

Cool, that's pretty much what I got out of it.

As I kept raving about how good the "JFC" troupe was, particularly Brian Van Holt, Rebecca De Mornay and Ed O'Neill (pictured above with Milch), Milch chimed in with an intriguing tidbit.

"I wrote ("Deadwood's") Al Swearingen for Ed...If he'd had that part the show would still be running." I was dying to ask him to explain what he meant by that, but by this time Milch had that sound in his voice of a man who's ready to end the call, and I didn't want to wear out my welcome.

my mind = BLOWN

Yeah, if JFC proved anything it's that Ed O' Neill still fucking rules.

Yeah, but McShane owned Swearingen.

We'll never know if Ed could have been better! Milch seems to think so.

he had so many solo monologues

canceled!

only saw a few episodes - downloading whole season noow.

maybe deadwood will come back.

:S

No work on Monday, might as well tie one on.

i was totally sitting next to Kai at the pizza shop tonite. i almost bumped into her going for the parmesean and pepper.

Did she dump out?

This show is pretty awesome when viewed with a Leibniz/Deleuze scholar.

OK, this doesn't work at all -- BUT I highly, highly recommend watching the first episode with David Milch's commentary track turned on. The commentary track is what the show should've been.

Yeah, I could hear Milch talk for hours. During the tv writers' strike a couple years back he gave a series of lectures which are just incredible.

I loved this show so much.

It was really unusual, wasn't it? There are a couple things I could have done without though, like the sense that nobody in the series had any real responsibilities and were just addled, so they would lounge around the motel having cryptic meandering conversations. And I thought the final scene featuring Luke Perry unveiling a stunning marketing campaign (which wasn't stunning, I could imagine people saying 'you called us out for this? A stick-figure logo and a photo op?') was pretty weak.

I still think the conceit of the show is genius though.

I felt like it ended up as one perfect little season of TV. If it had continued on for another season, I really had no idea where they could go with it.

The show was really special for me because it really nailed San Diego-ness, and I just love Milch dialogue in pretty much any form, and I love anything about surfing, and I love a big weird mystery. Perfect for me, probably less so for others.

There were some less-than-stellar moments/actors, but I chalked some of that up to trying to gain an audience (Luke Perry/Gosslear, for example).

It's funny because the minute I heard about the Eddie Aikau and fired up that live webcast, I was back in JFC. I don't think I can ever disassociate surfing from that show.

I thought Perry was pretty wooden, but I liked how Milch positioned him as John's eventual spokesman/marketer. His 'conversion' as he slowly grasped that John was Christ was pretty nice.

ok just watched this. pretty fucking stellar.

weird thought re: the idea that shaun is the antichrist, its occurred to me that the stick figure symbol is the diametric opposite of the crucifix

crucifix = arms extended, legs together
stick thing = arms not extended, legs splayed.

eh? idk i just finished it so feel free to ignore me until i get some time to actually think about it a bit

i wish this was on HBO GO

now on HBO GO/On Demand again

just re-screened the whole season, still really holds up.

Owen Aug 14 07, 9:35 AM Report abuse
15.What seperated JFC from other HBO shows was its overwhelming sense of "goodness". Where all the other HBO (and Showtime) show's bathed in the excesses of nihilism, JFC dared to create a world of sweetness and redemption.

I would agree with that in a way. Without intellectualizing it at all, that last episode just made me feel good.

― marmotwolof, Tuesday, August 14, 2007 5:30 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^this is the big takeaway; sweetness and redemption really missing from a lot of golden-era cable dramas

It is there as well in Deadwood and Luck, but yeah, JfC is the one where it's most clear. A mess, but an open, goodhearted one.

enlightened had that sense too imo

I tried to watch Enlightened earlier this year, but it made me squirm in my seat way too much.

Enlightened is one of the best series I've seen in years.

I love Deadwood so much I might have to give Jesus Fucking Christ another shot. That first episode left me severely nonplussed.

william sanderson is a national treasure imo

JFC really takes until the credits roll at the end of ep2 to really click/grab you ime

i loved JFC but in retrospect it does really seem like there were more questions being asked than being answered and they didn't really want to answer any by the end of s1.

totally, but not really in a frustrating way (like True Detective/LOST) imo, more in a peaceful comforting ~contemplating the nature of life and existence, lol who knows~ way

Thought about this show related to the current True Detective season, in that neither one seems right for experiencing as a group (i.e., for "joining the Slate discussion" etc). Both seem better experienced in a solitary way, as opposed to Mad Men, etc. (was going to say Sopranos, but when Sopranos moved inward, the conversation was "When's someone gonna get whacked?").

i'd kill for a webseries or something written/directed by milch starring only luis guzman, dayton callie, paul ben-victor and ed o'neil

they're just so delightful