John from Cincinati

I think it's pretty obvious I'm a sucker for every HBO Original Series that comes down the pike. I'm at least wiling to give them all a chance.

One of the guys that writes John from Cincinnati wrote Deadwood. Deadwood was the best show in the history of television. I was really bummed when I found out they hadn't renewed the Deadwood deal. As such, I wouldn't say that I'm eager to like John from Cincinnati. If anything, I kind of resent it for taking Milch away from producing more Deadwood.

Abstract:

Surfing family from SoCal. Grandfather is a living surfing legend but has a fucked up knee that forced him out of competitive surfing prematurely. At the point in time where the show picks up, he thinks he has a brain tumor because he perceives himself to be capable of levitating from time- while he's sane enough to realize the likelihood he's seeing things. As it turns out, he's not imagining it because his son witnesses it. Though we're really not sure because this guy, his estranged son, with whom his relationship is very much strained, was the [surfing] heir apparent only until, at some point along the way, he became a heroin addict. His father, the grandfather, attributes at least some of the blame for his son's fall from grace to the commercialization of surfing. He (the son) is currently a squatter in a motel that's about to be knocked down by a suicidal gay dude who recently won MegaMillions and bought the land. The addicts son, the first guy's grandson, who lives with his grandfather while his father struggles with addiction, is a prodigious surfer in his own right at 13 yrs old. Despite his fathers apparent struggles, he still very much looks up to him.

This John character, who is the show's namesake, is either retarded, from another planet, or suffering from amnesia. I'm thinkin he suffers from some sort of amnesia but they don't really get into it. Or at least they haven't yet. He enters their lives seemingly by chance. Who really knows, though, at this point?

The show also features Luke Perry as a talent/surfing agent, Al Bundy as a weirdo ex-cop, and Rebecca De Mornay as grandma.

The dialogue is really crazy. David Milch, of NYPD Blue and Deadwood fame, is a genius.