'John From Cincinnati' surfs into the sunset

Farewell, "John From Cincinnati," we hardly knew ye.

Or, to be more accurate, we hardly understood ye.

HBO confirmed today that the David Milch-created drama "John From Cincinnati" will not return for a second season. The show, which was critically pummeled for its dense storylines that eschewed logic, ends its 10-episode run with last Sunday's episode.

(Photo courtesy HBO)

Comments

[Kate]

Good performances, incomprehensible writing. I can use that hour in other ways, frankly. After Deadwood, I trusted that Milch would deliver--and while some were blown away, I feel let down.

[Betty Bickers]

I am SO HAPPY that viewers didn't get sucked in to believing that John from Cincinnati was a good show. God Awful! Horrible. Terrible. Really unpleasant to watch... Thank you fellow viewers.....

[Tim C.]

Wow. HBO drops another bomb. Great acting and characters. Really, this is a shame, they could have tied it together. Bad, very bad.

[ted]

One of the worst shows I've ever seen. I have some friends inside HBO who tried really, really hard to like it, by papering over everything and focusing on one or two details. I'm sure they're relieved in some way by this! I know I am.

If they would've made it more of a noir-y beach mystery, as I hoped the show would be when I heard Kem Nunn was involved, it might have been a decent show, even with the same cast.

As it was, it aspired to sublime greatness, and achieved almost nothing.

[Dan Wilcox]

The show required some deep thinking and that is something most Americans are willing to do anymore. Bush elected President twice is the prime example of this brainless society. I thought the show was fascinating. It sure had me asking a lot of questions.
Now you folks can go back to "Who wants to be a millionaire?" Let me just say that you never will be one!

[jerry collamer]

Casablanca was written as they filmed it with no ending in mind -
Maybe that was Milch's MO in JFC - or maybe, unlike real life -
books and movies must resolve themselves aka happy-ending-time,
to be appreciated by goal-oriented viewers? JFC was frustrating.
Pretty much like Life's every-day. No answers - just more questions.
Tha's surfing for'ya - Put JFC on constant loop and pretty soon, just
like John's repeditive dialogue, it starts making sense. Brave New TV.
F*^?<#@k explanations. Milch goes for the throat. Remember people -
it's NOT TV (duh), it's HBO. Hell, it was just getting good - you kooks.

[Paul Flick]

I loved this show (as I did Deadwood) and looked forward to seeing it each week. I actually watched some of the episodes more than once. The show made you think! and the variety of characters made it interesting. I am disapointed to find that it will not be back. There were a number of us in the office who watched and would discuss the show through out the week. Did we all agree on the meaning of everything ? NO but that is what made it worthwhile. It took a brain to watch and enjoy. I will miss the writing, charachters, acting and "John" in general.

[Me Dumb]

So I guess I'm one the dumb ones even though I didn't vote for Bush. I guess the whole point of the show was to make thousands feel stupid trying to figure out the metaphors and allusions.

This show reminds me how pretentious art can be at times. While I can admire the effort, I still say, "CRAP!"

[John Gibson]

It was something different, it was something that took a bit of effort. It was something unlike the rest of the mindless programming where everything is spoonfed in bite sized chunks to the viewers. Therefore, it had no chance of surviving.

[SaveJFC.net]

The many friends of 'John From Cincinnati' have taken out a full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter to implore HBO to bring the show back for a second season. There is also a YouTube video of the ad. See both at http://www.savejfc.net

[Patrick v.G.]

Show was strange that it kept me wanting to watch more, why does everthing have to make sence? I found it beginning tie together the more I watched, which to me shows the creativitof the writers.