Save HBO's John From Cincinnati

I know, not SUPER Tiki-related, but I saw a few posts on this board, and the show does have tikis on it, for what it's worth.

I just find the show really intriguing even tho, I don't fully understand it. It's kind of like Beat Jazz television. Very out there, but addicting.

The show has been cancelled, but there is a big online campaign to get it back on, including a fund raising to buy an ad in the Hollywood Reporter from the fans to get it back for another season.

If you like the show, donate a few bucks...I did.

Hey, if for nothin else, just so there is a show with Surfing as it's centerpiece, and has tikis in it all the time. Also, it takes place in Imperial beach in San Diego.

BTW...the Hollywood reporter ad was my idea. People were sending in Teddy bears and other junk to HBO, so I suggested the ad, and it's kinda snowballed.

If you haven't seen this show, it's running again now on HBO.

I really dig it.

http://www.savejfc.net/index.html

HBO is sinking .. Bill Maher and Curb is about the only 2 shows left ...John, was crap from the begining ... HBO had to do something after Soprano's... New show.. 'tell me you love me' ... shows me no talented writers on the west coast !!!
Save your cash !!! Pay your mortgage !!!!

On 2007-09-18 10:48, TikiLaLe wrote:
HBO is sinking .. Bill Maher and Curb is about the only 2 shows left ...John, was crap from the begining ... HBO had to do something after Soprano's... New show.. 'tell me you love me' ... shows me no talented writers on the west coast !!!
Save your cash !!! Pay your mortgage !!!!

Have to disagree with you on "John". I think it's a great show with even greater potential. Definitely hard to understand, but it kept me hooked.

HBO is still the only thing I turn on when I actually do sit down to watch tv.

"Tell me you love me" is another story. Crap, IMO.

Besides...John From Cincinnati has TIKIS :P

HBO is sinking .. Bill Maher and Curb is about the only 2 shows left ...John, was crap from the begining ... HBO had to do something after Soprano's... New show.. 'tell me you love me' ... shows me no talented writers on the west coast !!!
Save your cash !!! Pay your mortgage !!!!

Wow! You must have never seen Flight of the Conchords! I love that show and thankfully it developed enough of a cult following to be renewed for another year. Bret and Jermaine are absolutely wonderful. If you don't believe me, check out a few of these snippets from the show...

Business Time

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

She's so hot - Boom!

John From Cincinnati was OK at first and filmed just down the road from my house.........But the ending was totally lame and it turned out to be a sanctuary for has-beens and people we wished would just go away. Zack Morris(Mark-Paul Gosselaar), giving a product placement speech that pretty much made no sense in the finale? Terrible. You take lousy actors, give them lousy lines, and direct them like you're a high school kid and what do you get? A lousy show that we are sick of having back up traffic in Imperial Beach. PLUS, nobody really surfs IB.......it's constantly polluted and closed by Tijuanas raw sewage dumping and I really wouldn't let my dog swim there.
I'm sure they were hoping that the fact that there are no shows based around surfing, to carry the whole thing and they DID throw a couple of great actors and professional surfers into the mix ........but then directed them badly. We all know that Rebecca Demornay(pulling from her character in Lords of Dogtown) Ed Oneil and Luis Guzman(Boogie Nights, Carlitos Way) are good actors, but a bad director and shabby production can ruin just about anything. The two mooks from Hawaii who sounded like Stallone? Please. Were they supposed to be comic relief or something?

At first, the novelty of seeing my home on HBO every week was enough to keep me from being pissed off about the traffic being backed up and sometimes not even being able to get out to Imperial Beach, but that season finale was a straight up turd that plopped into the toilet of good ideas done bad with a resounding THUD that just wasn't worth the backsplash.

On 2007-09-18 12:51, Billy the Crud wrote:
John From Cincinnati was OK at first and filmed just down the road from my house.........But the ending was totally lame and it turned out to be a sanctuary for has-beens and people we wished would just go away. Zack Morris(Mark-Paul Gosselaar), giving a product placement speech that pretty much made no sense in the finale? Terrible. You take lousy actors, give them lousy lines, and direct them like you're a high school kid and what do you get? A lousy show that we are sick of having back up traffic in Imperial Beach. PLUS, nobody really surfs IB.......it's constantly polluted and closed by Tijuanas raw sewage dumping and I really wouldn't let my dog swim there.
I'm sure they were hoping that the fact that there are no shows based around surfing, to carry the whole thing and they DID throw a couple of great actors and professional surfers into the mix ........but then directed them badly. We all know that Rebecca Demornay(pulling from her character in Lords of Dogtown) Ed Oneil and Luis Guzman(Boogie Nights, Carlitos Way) are good actors, but a bad director and shabby production can ruin just about anything. The two mooks from Hawaii who sounded like Stallone? Please. Were they supposed to be comic relief or something?

   At first, the novelty of seeing my home on HBO every week was enough to keep me from being pissed off about the traffic being backed up and sometimes not even being able to get out to Imperial Beach, but that season finale was a straight up turd that plopped into the toilet of good ideas done bad with a resounding THUD that just wasn't worth the backsplash.  

I disagree.
I don't know, the show was written so avant, it intrigued me, so I kept watching. Like, "what does all this mean ?" I've read several things about the meaning of it all, but it was a very strange show that kept making me come back to see what was happening. Some of the explanations I read were very interesting. I DO wish they made the story easier to follow, tho, but the mystery is what drew me (and other fans of the show) in

Freddy and Palaka's (The ":Hawaiians") NY accent did seem weird tho', being that they were Hawaii guys, but the last episode saw a visit from a real Hawaiian, and he was a spot on character, and there were lots of references to Hawaii that were you wouldn't know unless you knew a little about Hawaii.

I liked all the characters, even the badly acted ones. Alot of peple complained about Grayson Fletcher's (Sean Yost) acting, but it didn't bother me.
It was the weirest collection of misfits and f*ckups. It made me wanna watch every week.

I especially loved all the weird stuff JOHN would say.

I think, given the chance to develop, this would be a really interesting series, hence the "Save JFC" campaign. enough people sent in money to pay for a full page ad in the Hollywood Reporter, so it must have SOMETHING people like.

Maybe the ending was lame because they knew HBO was cancelling it.

So what's the deal with IB, is it really as scummy as they make it seem ?

AND, they had TIKIS (sorry, trying to keep this relevant to TC)

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2007-09-18 13:10 ]

Some of the IB neighborhoods are great and you can still get a house out there for a decent price.......but it's sort of like Pacoima, by the sea if you know what I mean. (homies, random gang violence, vandalism,etc) Plus, you have to deal with the frequent beach closeurs and diseased marine life because Mexico just dumps their toilets and toxic wastes directly into the Pacific and the current runs north. These things aren't CONSTANT worries, but taking a walk in downtown IB after dark or a swim at its beaches are quite bad ideas.

I couldn't stop watching that show, even though I was annoyed by the bad directing. The season finale is the only thing that really made me mad........it was like a two month hand-job with no happy ending.

It ended like someone got sick of writing it or had to make a deadline.

On 2007-09-18 13:30, Billy the Crud wrote:
Some of the IB neighborhoods are great and you can still get a house out there for a decent price.......but it's sort of like Pacoima, by the sea if you know what I mean. (homies, random gang violence, vandalism,etc) Plus, you have to deal with the frequent beach closeurs and diseased marine life because Mexico just dumps their toilets and toxic wastes directly into the Pacific and the current runs north. These things aren't CONSTANT worries, but taking a walk in downtown IB after dark or a swim at its beaches are quite bad ideas.

   I couldn't stop watching that show, even though I was annoyed by the bad directing. The season finale is the only thing that really made me mad........it was like a two month hand-job with no happy ending.  

  It ended like someone got sick of writing it or had to make a deadline.  

Pacoima by the Sea. Yikes.

I'll go with the deadline idea. I think they knew HBO was unhappy and it wasn't getting the numbers they were expecting. BUT, the last episode had 3 plus million viewers. Not so bad.

That sucks about Mexico's abuse of the marine environment, especially when it affects the US right next door.

Anyway, I hope the campaign to save it will get it another season.

It actually would be nice if they finished it like that last episode never happened. There were WAY too many little sub-plots that were just left hanging (or just got wrapped up too fast)and now that you put it that way, the show WAS bringing positive attention to a beach and neighborhood that needs cleaning up.

Look it up on google maps and you'll see that it's not really that big of a place to have the big city style problems that it has. It really IS that last American beach neighborhood before the bottom of the country

On 2007-09-18 15:39, Billy the Crud wrote:
It actually would be nice if they finished it like that last episode never happened. There were WAY too many little sub-plots that were just left hanging (or just got wrapped up too fast)and now that you put it that way, the show WAS bringing positive attention to a beach and neighborhood that needs cleaning up.

Look it up on google maps and you'll see that it's not really that big of a place to have the big city style problems that it has. It really IS that last American beach neighborhood before the bottom of the country

Indeed. Good revenue for Imperial beach. Think, if this show became a hit like 6 Feet Under or the Sopranos, you'd have some tourism money headed your way.

Also, from what I understand, there is a charity attached to the show to clean up the marine situation there.

Only good things for I.B. come from this show (except, maybe for the traffic)

Because of this show, I want to visit there too. :)

I tried, but couldn't get into the show. It was strange, weird characters, hard to follow, made me feel like an idiot, because I just didn't get it.

If you enjoyed the show and have a driving passion to keep it alive, then I wish you all the luck with your campaign. Way too many people sit around on their duffs, simply complain, and never do a damn thing -- so I aplaude you for your actions.

[ Edited by: CheekyGirl 2007-09-18 17:06 ]

Yes, it was a bit like being in a car with someone who didn't know how to drive. Once I started watching it, I couldn't stop, though.

And the motel had tikis!

On 2007-09-18 17:05, CheekyGirl wrote:
I tried, but couldn't get into the show. It was strange, weird characters, hard to follow, made me feel like an idiot, because I just didn't get it.

If you enjoyed the show and have a driving passion to keep it alive, then I wish you all the luck with your campaign. Way too many people sit around on their duffs, simply complain, and never do a damn thing -- so I aplaude you for your actions.

[ Edited by: CheekyGirl 2007-09-18 17:06 ]

LOL...I didn't get it either. That was the fun of it. Trying to figure it out.

Also, all the stuff John would say, like "I don't know, Butchie instead"....I couldn't figure out WHY he always says that until I watched the first episode again. Then I frikken laughed my ass off.

I didn't know what the heck was happeneing half the time, but the characters were really compelling, so I wanted to keep looking inside this bizarre fishbowl filled with malcontents,and just be entertained by the freakshow.

IMO HBO killed this show by premiering it after the Sopranos finale. After that shocking ending (letdown?) most people probably turned their TV off and didn't stick around to give JFC a chance.

On 2007-09-20 18:48, Tiki_Tattoo wrote:
IMO HBO killed this show by premiering it after the Sopranos finale. After that shocking ending (letdown?) most people probably turned their TV off and didn't stick around to give JFC a chance.

About 3.4 million did..according to the stats I've read.

They lost alot of viewers during the series, but ended up with 3 million for the season/series finale. I say, not too bad for something HBO considered a flop.

I liked JFC. I TIVO'd the first episode after The Sopranos. I didn't feel like watching it that night and when I tried to watch it later in the week I was multi-tasking and couldn't get into it. I had made it a seasons pass and it wasn't until I was cleaning out some stuff on that I thought I should really give it a shot. Watched 1 & 2 back to back & got hooked.

There were some slow moments and some confusing ones but I thought it was pretty good. TIVO made it nice because you could rewind and hear what they said again to figure it out. I liked the characters and wanted to know more about most of them. I think if they had went ahead with Season Two we would have found the scripts more interesting and with a better flow. I think the creative crew figured out they were not going to get renewed and just pieced the finale together. Funny how HBO didn't announce the cancellation until the day after the finale. Maybe Freddy & Palaka were malihini to Hawaii? That would explai the accent. They had to flee NY and hide out in Hawaii? I was excited about the Hawaiians in the last episode. They were locals for sure. You can't fake the lilt in the voice and certain mannerisms they used. I wish we would get a follow up episode putting some closure on it.

Big Love is good and Flight of the Conchords is my favorite show on TV right now. I have seen each episode at least twice and can't wait for the Season One DVD for the extras & outtakes. Curb Your Enthusiasm is still a great show. Totally not related to this thread but still a cable show, Mad Men on AMC is great. It was great fun watching someone drink out of the Orchids of Hawaii Bamboo mug. I got to shout "Hey, I've got a set of six of those"!

Aloha PunaGirl...is this THE PunaGirl , AImee ?

Aloha Tikiyaki, it's me, Aimee. I lurk on here but haven't ever posted. Your JFC thread got me ready to talk. Are you planning a visit to the Big Island anytime soon? We will be there for Thanksgiving & having a party in a Kapoho so if you plan to be there let me know so I can give you directions.

I don't think there will be too much of a chance that JFC does come back. There was a lot of tiki in the show and John even made the KU face once as he approached a tiki...Most of the actors are already entering other contracts so assembling the cast again probably won't happen.

Milch originally wrote up the screenplay about a recovering heroin addict based in New York. HBO asked him if he could redo it with a SoCal surfing theme and he did. I quess the "Hawaiians" were a holdover from the original text.

The best part of the show for me was seeing some real surfers get some play in Hollywood. Keally Kennely (Kai) is from Kauai and one of the hottest women surfers going. Steve Hawk, Herbie and Grayson Fletcher as well as others made considerable contributions to the show.

As far as a conclusion to the show...it did seem to lack some clarity but it was conclusive with the big wave coming in from "Cincinnati" and the family finally coming together. A lot of other shows like X-files, Northern Lights etc. have not wrapped it up as decisively in their finales.

BUMP !

On CBS news today, an interview with one of the people heading up the campaign to save JFC.

Watch the video at http://www.cbs8.com/features/special_assignment/story.php?id=103917#

and the ad in Hollywood Reporter coming out this week.

http://www.savejfc.net/ad.html

The ad was my idea, I swear !

Save JOHN !

Never fear tikiyaki...if that doesn't work I have a totally original plan for a new show. "Tom From Encinitas"...It's about a surfer that likes to smoke a lot of pot and go surfing and stuff and then this cute chick with mystical powers comes along and gives him lots of money and pot and all ends well and he is happy. :wink:

On 2007-09-27 08:47, tikihai wrote:
Never fear tikiyaki...if that doesn't work I have a totally original plan for a new show. "Tom From Encinitas"...It's about a surfer that likes to smoke a lot of pot and go surfing and stuff and then this cute chick with mystical powers comes along and gives him lots of money and pot and all ends well and he is happy. :wink:

Gee...who would be the star ?

I don't know Butchie Instead.

I remember reading some articles that JFC lost a fair chunk of Milch's original Deadwood fans, that were ticked at the way that DW was allowed to coast to an abrupt, incomplete finish... OK, some movies planned off down the road. But no formal "ending" or wrap-up when it went off the air.

The story goes that HBO wouldn't fund both another season of DW and a new production of JFC. And that Milch helped make the choice of which stayed and which faded away. Yeouch!