charles-53188 I've seen the entire Deadwood series a dozen times, and considered my self a passionate fan of David Milch. Finally got round to watching this train wreck and was lost after three episodes. I only finished it to savour my incredulity via some masochistic urge to wonder why the writer of Deadwood could serve up this volcanic pile of crap, cancelled righteously, and now stone cold. Never been so disappointed as I was with this. I am more than a little interested in mystical stories which offer enlightening insight, yet I found this series exceptionally opaque, lending damage to any concept of spiritual virtue through reasoned obfuscation. As a fan of Deadwood, The actors from that ensemble appearing like pale ghosts in contemporary universe centred on a wasteland without redemption. Speech patterns and quirks of character from Deadwood are thick and abound to the point of alarming rehash, but it's not just sad, it's agonising... Where the misfits in deadwood were bound by a town in the wilderness, there in no reason for this weird and unsympathetic ensemble to hang in each other's orbit. Good bye & good riddance.

loud_silence26 "John from Cincinnati" was a very misunderstood show, imo. I think there is a lot of misdirected anger towards the show because of the ill-conceived notion that the other Milch show "Deadwood" was canceled in favor of this new one. If people raised their angry blinders and saw this show for what it is, I think there would be more fans of it rather than hurt and dejected fans of "Deadwood" cursing JFC's existence like an older sibling curses it's younger one.Unfortunately, I did not have cable when it was in regular rotation, so I could not watch it regularly, but I bought the DVDs after I saw the pilot when they reran the show in April or May. I immediately fell in love with the simplicity that was often demonstrated by this show and the beauty of it, both in terms of location but in the deeper meanings found when you read between the lines.JFC for me was a show about hope and the everlasting possibility of redemption, even after being at the lowest of lows. Every character on the show was working towards becoming a better person, healing old wounds/mistakes they had accrued throughout their lives, and moving on to a more enlightened and better place for themselves and their loved ones. John was just the catalyst for that change and the vessel for it as well.I loved Nichol's portrayal of John because he makes him so child-like and innocent, and he seems to do so effortlessly. I love the fact that surfing becomes a metaphor for life here, where the waves can thrash you around and even kill you if you're not careful, but when you catch a good one and milk that wave for all it's worth, it's a damn good ride.Everything about this show was great to me. The soundtrack was probably one of the most amazing and well though out soundtracks I have heard come from a show in years. Setting the show in Imperial Beach was an extra treat for me because I grew up going to that area, fishing off of that pier and swimming at that beach.All in all, this was a show that had such great intentions and had the possibility of going to great places, had HBO had any faith in it. I wish they had because these people who I have grown attached to seeing would live on and do great things. Oh well...

mozli From watching the first couple of episodes I wasn't sure what to make of this new series. It was a world that we've seen before, sort of. I mean, we've seen shows about beach communities(Flipper,Baywatch). We've seen shows about strange and wondrous beings among normal human beings(My Favorite Martian, Mork and Mindy and even THE FLINTSTONES w/The Great Gazoo). What distinguishes this story from those other shows is that even though the the situations are vaguely familiar David Milch slows things down and opens up the world to more than the standard situation conflicts that we're accustomed to. When a character can levitate when he's never levitated before is something you would see on 60's TV. But usually that is the only thing weird going on. You don't spend time on a telepathic parrot or a couple of immaculate conceptions. On top of that a lot of hard drug abuse, incest, communication with the afterlife and porn stars. Now with all that going on is Milch's signature writing style that forces the audience to pretty much pay undivided attention to what the characters are saying and what they are doing while they are speaking. Basically, this is another show too smart for its own good. I would have liked a second season. We don't get enough Rebecca DeMornay as it is.

hispeedkitty I loved this show out of the gate. I want more! The characters haven't even been fully developed yet! This show is a heck of a lot more fun than Deadwood. After viewing a few episodes, I looked up the city on the internet to consider moving there myself. :-)There is so much going on with each of the characters that it would take a couple seasons just to know what the main characters are about - let alone the side ones... for example, that gal in the food shop didn't appeal at first but after they gave her a few scenes with the hairlip, I got interested. And the lawyer's relationship with his fiancé' got interesting only on Day Nine. Zippy reminds me of my own 'Ziggy Stardust' with her telltale squawk. There's an awful lot going on here and it deserves at least another season to explore where the group is going.