John from Cincinnati
This may be the worst show I've ever committed myself to watching. I can't say I've enjoyed one minute of this show and yet I'm still watching (mostly out of loyalty to the guy who made Deadwood, I guess). I keep waiting for something interesting to happen and keep coming away empty handed after each episode. Some viewers may still be hopeful that some revelation will somehow make sense of all the nonsense we've had to endure so far, but I'm not. Right now, the only thing keeping me watching is a sort of morbid masochistic curiosity to see if it can continue to get worse (and also, obviously, the fact that I don't know what to do with my Sunday nights now that The Sopranos and Deadwood and Intervention are gone). This week's episode is going to be hard to top though. It ended with a sort of Sermon on the Mount-type speech ("gibberish" would be a more accurate description) delivered in a parking lot by John, the irritating idiot savant/Messiah who gives the show its name, and which may or may not have all been a dream. These comments by David Milch, the creator of the show, from the link above are telling:
"The tactics of fictive persuasion have nothing to do with reasoned discourse."
"The important point that I'm trying to make is that storytelling has nothing, whatsoever, to do with logic. Logic is a limping stepchild of the true processes of the spirit. It's an illusion. It's a defective little parlor trick. Associations are the way that we perceive. Electrical connections caused by the juxtapositions of experience. That's the way we are really built, and storytelling takes into account that truth."
No wonder the show has turned into such a wipe out.
"The tactics of fictive persuasion have nothing to do with reasoned discourse."
"The important point that I'm trying to make is that storytelling has nothing, whatsoever, to do with logic. Logic is a limping stepchild of the true processes of the spirit. It's an illusion. It's a defective little parlor trick. Associations are the way that we perceive. Electrical connections caused by the juxtapositions of experience. That's the way we are really built, and storytelling takes into account that truth."
No wonder the show has turned into such a wipe out.
posted by BayonneMike at 7:54 AM
23 Comments:
This most recent episode was the first one I've really liked. I was pretty much done after episode 5 (the worst one so far; total placeholder), but the discussion about the "sermon on the mount" prompted me to catch up w/ it. As far as giving us weird symbolism to chew over, it's got nothing on the Sopranos and Twin Peaks, but I'll take it. At least the Cissy/John gave some much needed context to the characters' off-putting behavior.
I think the biggest reason I'm watching is because I've always wanted to see a drama series that just completely threw the rulebook out the window and dived deep into its own eccentricities. This is that show, even though the results have certainly been mixed. JFC could only have been made on HBO at this particular point in time and probably still only as a result of Milch's ability to bullshit the right execs. Best to just wring whatever enjoyment you can out of it because you won't be seeing much like it again anytime soon.
I'm all for a series throwing out the rulebook, Chris, but don't forget to make it interesting and entertaining. All of the characters on JFC come off as one-note weirdos to me (Cissy's mad, Buthchie's high, Bill is haunted, Freddy's pissed-off, etc.). Even the characters seem to be stranded, standing around waiting for something to happen. And when they speak, it's usually something totally unrealistic and ridiculous. There is so little forward motion to the show that they often resort to having characters storm off just so other characters can then go look for them. As for this week's major revelation regarding Cissy and Butchie, all I can say is "Yuck."
I agree that aside from Shaun's miraculous recovery it's pretty much been non-stop waiting/wandering around, including Luke Perry's character, who is maybe the most nonthreatening villain I've ever seen. Although what they're all waiting for is evidently some kind of tranformative event that I'm interested to see if Milch will deliver. The whole Yost family is admittedly pretty annoying and I'm more into the interactions between some of the supporting characters (I keep forgetting the guys who work at the motel are even in the show) and flashes of Milchian dialogue, neither of which have come near Deadwood's dizzying heights.
i honestly enjoyed aftermash more than this show, and i'm a milch guy. i couldn't make it to episode 2. while I'm at it, my viewing of the pilot of flight of the conchords made entourage look smart
"Associations are the way that we perceive. Electrical connections caused by the juxtapositions of experience. That's the way we are really built, and storytelling takes into account that truth."
It 'stands to reason' that this explaination of the process of storytelling may be the basis of poetry and songwriting as well. Storytelling seems to take a different pathway when you have less of an outline, and allow it to flow from of the writer's experiences/perceptions and associations....makes you wonder about this guy, Milch, don't it?
Of course, I've never heard of this series before and may have missed the point or misunderstood. Sorry. Carry on.
I saw a preview for JOHN in a movie theater. It reminded me of the Burt Lancaster movie THE SWIMMER. I remember seeing SWIMMER on one of CBS's Night at the Movies in the early 70s. It's hard to imagine such high tone on the Tiffany web anymore. The story is of a man who swims home from pool to pool thru his neighbors yards. It's a mystery why he's doing it with a revelation at the end that explains the odd goings on. Burt was great in it.
This is another exclusive for LAMENTATIONS, as I haven't seen anybody else make this connection.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063663/
This SWIMMER link works.
I read a synopsis of the movie at that site and in the authors opinon, the ending was almost UNBEARABLE!
AND... you can get the POSTER too!
http://www.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-3335/Swimmer.html
Now there you go, Mike, on a Sunday night. Sompin to do or watch!
Hey, Chris, what was the deal with the guy dressed up like a dead body in the Sermon in the Parking Lot scene? I thought I had missed something in Ep. 5 which I didn't see until last night, but it turns out I was wrong. Was that supposed to be the ghost that's haunting Rm. 45? Ugh.
Yes, supposedly it's the guy who molested the gay guy who now owns the motel. I've decided to mentally tune out that whole subplot.
Double ugh.
The Swimmer is based on a John Cheever story, Brian. I've been meaning to read the story and see the movie for a long time. One of these days.
Wasn't Bernard a big fan of The Swimmer?
I really would like to find David Milche's poetry. Read more of his thoughts.
"No wonder the show has turned into such a wipe out."
Did you use the words " wipe out" intentionally, Mike?
“I don’t know what it’s about. I don’t know the bottom line,” “John From Cincinnati” mastermind David Milch told Craig Ferguson Thursday night. “But if God were trying to reach out to us, and if he felt a certain urgency about it: That’s what it’s about.”
Milch, who attended Yale with the president, also says he’s never surfed. “If God were trying to reach out to us, and teach us something, the deepest nature of matter, he might use some drugged-out surfers.”
Just because you liked Deadwood or even NYPD Blue doesn't mean that this show has to be any good. Objectively, it is terrible. One-note acting is the bane of TV movies. That's what you're getting here. But the worst thing of all is that I believe it is poorly written. I can't watch more than 5 minutes at a time and in fact I've given up. I'm just not in any way entertained by this one ...
I agree, yakimba, it is poorly written, so poorly written that it's almost amazing that so many people gave it the green light. Speaking of amazing, you should check out the JFC Message Board at hbo.com. If that isn't living proof to the old adage "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit," I don't know what is.
What happened to Bruce Greenwood anyway? It's always a good sign when one of your central characters can disappear for two episodes without the slightest impact.
My guess is that he walked (or levitated hee hee hee) off the set after those first few miserable episodes, Chris. The big question now is whether his agent will be able to talk him into returning for the final episodes.
B-Mike, all I can say about that JFC message board is "JFC ... Jesus F*cking Christ ..."
The "JFC" acronym and John from Cincinnatti make me think of a pretty good SF story from years ago, in which a time traveler goes back 2000 years to Nazareth to find Jesus. When he does he learns that Jesus is a drooling retarded bastard and Mary and Joseph are hiding him from public view.
John From Cincinnatti should also be hidden from public view.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I don't like the way you really hate this series but are drawn back week after week. HOw does he do it?
"Come along, Kiddie Winkies....I've got lollypops"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-JzI8Zxx5A
Don't walk, Mike, Run!!
Only 1 more to go, Mike! I'm sure they'll wrap up everything satisfactorily!
David Mills, who writes for The Wire and worked w/ Milch on NYPD Blue, posts about a speech Milch gave @ MIT here: http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/2007/08/david-milch-and-god.html
He also talks in the comments section about Milch's "improv" writing sytle and how it has and still is getting him into trouble.
Post a Comment
<< Home