Monday, August 13, 2007

Wipeout

So, any other assholes out there who actually kept watching that Deadwood-replacing, Milchatrocity John from Cincinnati? Yeah. I did. What. The. Fuck? The only entertaining part of this show is to read the crappy reviews of it, which it so sorely deserved, and then to hear people defending it with the same old tired cliches. "I enjoy INTELLIGENT programming!" "It makes you THINK." Bullshit. This wasn't about thinking. It was about believing. Believing in whatever was thrown out there on the screen and refusing to think about it, just accept it.

It made no fucking sense, this show. Milch threw his (admittedly funky) dialogue out there and kept repeating refrains and didn't play by any rules. People die and resurrect, people levitate, John keeps saying, "I don't know Butchie instead," and there's a little surfing, and it's cool and explained because that's how John's father wants it! Fuck Milch.

There were some acting bright spots on the show, such as Ed O'Neill. And Brian Van Holt ended up being pretty funny if you were able to stomach his ticks and quirks the first several episodes. But most of the acting was bullshit. Though the stylized dialogue was often funny, it often felt forced and just...bullshit. It worked on Deadwood, but drowned in its own self-consciousness on the beach here.

Deadwood was partially so compelling because it was about a time, place, and growing society that didn't have rules or laws. So it was about how people functioned and formed the necessary laws -- or disregarded them -- to suit themselves, and society. In contrast, John from Cincinnat was simply about breaking or ignoring any storytelling rules. Dues ex machina up the everloving yin yan to create any sort of wonderment or tension they cared for.

And don't tell me it's "smart" television that anything goes and we're supposed to find it divine because there's some other cosmic controlling factor. I like stuff that breaks the rules, but there still needs to be rules. Otherwise you've just got a bunch of wacked-out, would-be surfers roaming the beach and waiting for bullshit to happen. And that's what this show was. Bullshit. But oh yeah, it sure did look a lot cheaper to produce than Deadwood. Well there you go. You get what you pay for.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Susan,

A "water logged piece of shit" show--that's what you called JFC upon its debut in your blog, and months later your words proved prophetic.

I, too, watched every episode, so amazed at just how bad a television program it was turning out to be, I couldn't peel my eyes away. (Well, I was also hoping DeMornay would have a bitchy, angry, yet steamy sex scene with either John or Zippy--but wouldn't any man?)

No doubt, JFC is the worst 'weird' show I've ever seen, and I'm a huge fan of weird. Carnivale was pretty cool 'weird'. Even Deadwood, in its own way, was wierd. Hell, even the Sopranos was kind of weird, with all those wacky, and sometimes ghoulish dream sequences.

But JFC was really bad weird. It was pretentious wierd. And you're right, it adhered to no rules. The plot?, the dialogue, nothing in it corresponded with anything else in it. The show was not the sum of its parts, its parts didn't even fit. BAD, BAD, SHOW. BAD, BAD, HBO!

But hey, at least we still have Entourage and Larry David. (Yeah, I've actually started watching Entourage at your recommendation and am loving it more than I thought I would.)

But when Larry David has finally gone the way of the Dodo, HBO better pull its head out of its ass quick if they don't want me and many like me to pull the plug on their pricktease asses.

JScales

SusanD said...

I am SO glad someone else watched every episode and suffered with me! DeMornay, though still hot, is just -- wow. And YES -- pretentious is the PERFECT word for JFC.

But YAY I'm glad you've taken to Entourage. it IS fun, isn't it? And, seriously, I think Flight of the Conchords would REALLY grow on you and end up giving you some laughs, JS. Do you get Showtime? Weeds comes back on tonight, and that's a good show.

katrina said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
katrina said...

I gave up on this show two episodes ago. You summed up its horribleness nicely. LOVE the Concords though.

Anonymous said...

Yes yes yes to everything you've said about this shoow otherwise known as a waste of fucking time! I sat through every episode, letting myself be conned into thinking that Milch had an endgame, a real message to impart. "Jesuschristjesuschrist" was I wrong! I kept watching and actually defending the show because of some fun character actors and quirky dialogue...but that finale was just unpalatable. Oh well, thank my father's words THATS over with. Now maybe Mikcy can get back to finishing Deadwood.
Wifer