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Yeah, I thought it was a pretty solid show as well. I think the series is going to be much like The Wire. If you watch one episode you might walk away from it forever but if you give it a few episodes and allow the story to build you are drawn in and probably will come back for more.

Good review. I liked the first episode even less than you did, and thought the second was a little better ... and, strangely, I'm still watching it ... John: Day Two

you have got to be kidding This is the worst show ever Are you paid by HBO?

No payment here, I just love the show, and I'm really baffled by the hostile reaction people are having towards it. Yes, it's odd, but shouldn't different and odd be a good thing?

"John from Cincinnati" seems to be using "non-linear" developments, which is reportedly how phenomena in quantum physics sometimes behave. The show seems to have action that emerges in a spontaneous and Zen sort of way. Food for thought in the article: "New HBO series 'John from Cincinnati' has metaphysical mysteries"

Sorry, I like weird, I liked Twin Peaks, I like quiet odd drama. However I find the series so boring that given a choice to watch nothing, I'll turn the TV off. I'm amazed at how amazed you are at those who find it too amazingly weird. I feel sad for viewers who think it's too weird as it is just plain bad.
I feel sorry for those who watched Deadwood reach an interesting point in American history let alone drama only to be cut off just before the climax.. so to speak. Boring from Cincinnati does not make Twin Peaks look ordinary, clearly you've not seen it recently on DVD.
Anyway good luck with enjoying the show. I'm not watching. Indeed I'm not watching much on HBO these days.
Meadowlands and Dexter on Showtime are both a must see, even in repeats. These shows have everything HBO would love Boring from Duplicity to have.

Anyone know where I can find the music track listing from the second episode?

Thx

The closing credits song was TV on the Radio's "Staring at the Sun," but I don't know of any general music credits page. HBO usually does them, so hopefully they'll get around to it soon.

Shaun is the worst actor ever....he is ruining the show...or whatever you want to call that 60 minutes of my life I just wasted and will never have back.

Chris,

Heres a handy list from HBO

Ep 1 -opening was "Johnny Appleseed" Joe Strummer
-ending was "Sun Rise Light Flies - Kasabian

Ep 2 -surf tent song - "TIC" Kava Kava
www.myspace.com/kavakavamusic
-end - "Staring At The Sun" TV On The Radio
www.myspace.com/tvotr

Ep 3 -"Feelin Good" Muse (half pipe/end)
www.myspace.com/muse
-"Boogie Chillen" Buddy Guy and Junior Wells (see God scene)

The New Messiah is an Idiot in California

Saddled with stereotypical characters and vapid dialogue, HBO's "John From Cincinatti" is a stranded ship that will draw viewers in with an interesting hook, then be sunk by their tears of boredom. HBO is the network that does not know how to end a series. So now it is ending them at the beginning.


The new HBO series "John From Cincinatti" is receiving some good reviews but has key flaws.

The series is advertised as being from the same Producers (headed by Ted Mann, who also is a writer) as another HBO series, "Deadwood." Deadwood was a violent (some say vile and ugly) treatment of the Old West and was mostly historically accurate in its portrayals of human depravity and viciousness. It appears that "John" is intended by these producers as a deliberate counter to that work with a positive message of miracles, hope and redemption in the backdrop of the brutal realities of human existence. Or, in this case, in the backdrop of dumb Californians.

While saintliness was largely non-existent or two-dimensional in "Deadwood," which is closer to human reality, "John" attempts to give us a genuine saint in the form of an idiot savant who is out to save airheaded, self-absorbed California Caucasians from themselves by making their faults more obvious to them. Anybody with half a brain knows their own shortcomings. Most people do not need or want a saintly idiot-savant to point out their faults with less-than-subtle miracles. And if they encountered one, they just might kick his ass. Especially in Southern California. Unless, of course, they were afraid of being struck by lightning. In that case, John would probably get whacked.
Which he does. What would Jesus do? Go to the West Coast and get killed by gang members, of course.

To compare two completely different shows is unfair. But the lack of certain parallels are fair game for criticism. Deadwood had numerous interesting characters and many good artists. It was unfairly cancelled after two seasons but probably could have lasted a few more. "John" has excellent actors, also, including at least two from Deadwood, Steady Lopez and Garrett Dillahunt. But "John" is unlikely to last as long.
And what a waste of talent saddled with empty and badly-written characters! Rebecca De Mornay desperately over-acts as if to say, "This script really sucks!" Her exchanges with Bruce Greenwood are borrowed from daytime soap operas. And they seem to go on forever, like dental surgery. SNOOOORE! Ed O'Neill has really deserved a good role for a long time. And he gets involved in this bomb as a crazy recluse who talks to his birds. Fire your agent, Ed.

The only really interesting character in the new show is the title character, played by Austin Nichols. His lines, with very few exceptions, are simply the repeating of anything said to him. Which would definitely get his ass kicked just about anywhere. The rest, perhaps with the exception of the two characters played by Lopez and Dillahunt, are excruciatingly bland. But even these two must wander through this empty drama like desert nomads thirsty for a character with direction.

The issue of boring California stereotypes continued with the recent episode which showed John being stabbed in the heart by LA Hispanic gang types. Now he can rise from the dead. No need to look for Jesus, HBO has found him. He's an idiot in California.

The story lines demonstrate that the show has nowhere to go. It will be a show of situational scenes with John causing supernatural occurrences and nobody really understanding why. What can't they understand? He's obviously a person with God-given supernatural powers; a genuine holy man. But once they reveal the true nature of John and explain what he is and why, and have the other idiot characters in the show finally understand, the show is kaput. So they probably cannot and will not, even if they could. They could have him crucified, but that ending has already been done.

In "John From Cincinatti," the hook is the entire deal. Nobody wants a good show to end, but a bad one ends at the beginning. "John" will inevitably be a long tease without a pay-off. Deadwood left their fans hanging, but it wasn't the producers' fault. The plug got pulled by the Execs. It's been joked that they reached the HBO quota for profanity in one series. It makes one wonder if John is the apology to the producers for canceling a good show like Deadwood. Like they give an Artsy film once in a while as a thrown bone to Actors who make money for the studio.

The flaws are as easy to spot in "John" as the incredibly vapid dialogue.
"See God, Kye!," John says. And Kye goes into a trance and finds God in her nipples and vagina where, of course, she alludes to numerous piercings. Give me a break! HBO has done much better than this, and should. "John" would have done better to just have good surfing, good music, and nothing else, like another cable channel. By the way, where is all the surfing that was supposed to be in this show?

Perhaps the show demonstrates how life can transform for a person or persons when the right support is provided to the right soul? Perhaps we are not supposed to "understand" this show? Perhaps we are supposed to simply watch it, enjoy it, and maybe even learn something about our own lives? Perhaps you may be inspired? Can you be a "John" in someones life? Is there a "John" in your life that you are failing to see or appreciate? Do you realize how much we all need a "John" in this world? Perhaps we all need more help than we may be yet able to know? Perhaps those of us that have at least some idea how much help we need are the only ones that even can "get it"? I love the show. I don't understand how someone can "understand" or enjoy the Sopranos. Do you really understand the Sopranos? If so, then perhaps that is why you don't understand John From Cincinnati? I think that we finally have a show that speaks for the other side...