To me this sounded like one of the worst TV show premises ever. But the first was pretty intriguing. Certainly intriguing enough that, given that I already subscribe to HBO, I'll watch the second episode. I could totally see this show sucking after two or three episodes, since TV built around a Central Mystery isn't normally my cup of tea, but the pilot was very well-executed so I'll give them some benefit of the doubt. What's more, the whole first episode's available online.
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John From Cincinatti
13 Jun 2007 11:15 am
Comments (25)
I thought the kid was a pretty crappy actor.
cincinnati.
three Ns, one t.
it's latin, bitch.
I was intrigued enough after the first episode to put it in my tivo subscriptions. We'll see how long it stays there.
I sort of didn't get all the hostility from grandpa and loser dad to the little kid competiting in some competition. Maybe there's some surfing culture thing I don't get. But WTF? If the kid wants to do it what's the big deal?
Did I miss some explanatory scene? Or are the older male characters just total self-absorbed assholes who are fucking with the little kid's ambitions for their own tortured historic reasons?
To me this sounded like one of the worst TV show premises ever.
Well....what is the premise for those of us that refuse to pay for HBO? I saw ads for this all over New York, but I really have no idea what this show is about.
Can anything good come out of Cincinnati?
I sort of didn't get all the hostility from grandpa and loser dad to the little kid competiting in some competition. Maybe there's some surfing culture thing I don't get. But WTF? If the kid wants to do it what's the big deal?
Grandpa thinks that big-time surfing fucked up his son and turned him into a heroin addict, and doesn't want the same thing to happen to his grandson. Dad is resentful about the end of his days at the top of the surfing profession, and jealous of his son's potential success.
We flipped it off after about 10 minutes. Mind you: I used to subscribe to Surfing magazine. Still, this seemed awful. Every other word was "fuck", every character seems like a loser, etc. Enjoy.
The "meta" here is that the kid playing "Shawnie" (Greyson Fletcher) in real life is the third generation of a famous surfing family where grandpa has dropped out and dad (Christian Fletcher - no joke) has substance abuse issues.
On the show, the issue is not about the kid participating in a contest, it is about the kid getting signed to a sponsor. This is not unlike the issues surrounding child actors, models, tennis players, etc. You make fun into a job, and it introduces the kid into the adult world of commerce before he/she is ready. Of course, it is really hard for this show to make these points in a convincing way, when they have taken a 15-year old's screwed up family dynamic, and put it on millions of television sets.
Lots of hostility. Lots of rambling speechifying in high-falootin' language. Lots of use of the word "fuck". This reminded me a lot of Deadwood, only a lot more pointless.
Oh, and the young kid was definitely having trouble giving a convincing line reading. I'm sure Petey is going to chime in and tell my that my pedestrian focus on basic acting skills and believability misses the entire artistic point.
I found myself predisposed to like this one as a fan of Deadwood (who doesn't blame this show for Deadwood's demise) and as a fan of Bruce Greenwood. Plus it was described as magical realism + surf noir, what's not to like?
I watched episode 2 on demand last night, and found it more enjoyable than the pilot, which by necessity was a bit heavy on exposition (although I thought they did a pretty good job with that in most cases).
As for Greyson Fletcher (young Mr. Yost), he isn't an actor and I would call his performance non-acting rather than bad acting. But it totally works for me in the context of this show.
The most baffling character for me so far is Ed O'Neill's Bill.
I don't understand the hostility to shows where people say "fuck" all the time. The people I know in real life say "fuck" just about as fucking often as the poeple on most HBO shows.
Weird. Just weird. It seemed like each character
was just doing his own thing oblivious to everyone
else. I like the surfing shots, but frankly I'd
rather they brought back North Shore, which gave
us the surfing without all the Ionesco mind-f*ck.
TV built around a Central Mystery isn't normally my cup of tea
Aren't you a huge Veronica Mars fan, or did I imagine that?
Can anything good come out of Cincinnati?
Well, my daughter just LEFT Cincinnati, so, yes.
"The people I know in real life say "fuck" just about as fucking often as the poeple on most HBO shows."
I have accidentally trained my dogs to bark at me when I say "fuck."
(where's my fucking drink)
Rowf!
Aww, Shut up.
Rowf! Rowf!
Fucking shut up.
ROWF!ROWF!ROWF!
10 secs in it's got me with the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros theme song.
10 secs in it's got me with the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros theme song.
Posted by Joe Strummer | June 13, 2007 3:33 PM
"Marcie, get out of here. YOU'RE DEAD! You don't exist any more."
There is a reason it reminds you of Deadwood.
Just get Entourage back on the air, and bring back Curb Your Enthusiasm. WTF is up with Larry David's ridiculously long layoff?
****** SPOILER ALERT ********
Just watched ep 2 on HBO On Demand and it does not work. The problem in any surrealistic or sci-fi work is the need to establish the rules, so that you can have dramatic tension. If nothing is impossible or irreversible, then the audience has no reason to care about negative consequences to the characters.
****** END SPOILER ALERT *******
I hate making comments. But...Shuan is cute, and Ed Oneil's chara ter is pretty damn funny.
I liked the show. I don't think its going to be as good as Deadwood, but I'm going to give it a chance. I wrote about some of it on my blog:
John From Cincinnati Blog
John From Cinci Fan
Uhhhh.. hello, listen to the music, see with your eyes, father, son, holy ghost, trilogy, listen with your ears, pay attention, none of you have gotten it yet.
If you don't believe, so to speak, get your tivo out and watch again. Why would a surfer levitate?
C'mon people.
OK, I live in NYC and there's triple the use of the word "fuck" in JFC than in Loisaida. But I can live with that. Shaun is just the kind of surfer kid I had crushes on growing up in Florida--he's adorable. And he's as monotone as a lot of boys his age in real life.
So if the story gets tight (too soon to tell--but my standards in this regard require it be at least as good as Von Trier's original version of The Kingdom) then I can go for it. If it just drifts, I'm outta there. Life's too short!
Rebecca deMornay looks awesome though, as does the entire cast, camera work, and the music is real fine. Love the surfing footage.
So this really does mirror that gorgeous kid's real family? Ouch.
Comments closed June 27, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
The co-executive producer is Kem Nunn who is a terrific writer of some great surf noir novels. The first episode wasn't too great, but I'll give it a chance because of Nunn.
Posted by shnooky | June 13, 2007 11:37 AM