John from Cincinnati is HBO’s latest original drama. Set to begin airing in June, John from Cincinnati is the story of the Yost family, a family of surfing greats ranging from the teenage surf prodigy to the grandfather, a legendary surfing great well past his prime. At the beginning of the series two new arrivals to Imperial Beach, California, an old enemy and a new stranger shake up this already dysfunctional family.

John from Cincinnati: Drama, yes; interesting, for me, no. Granted I’m disillusioned with HBO at the moment having canceled all three of my favorite shows: Deadwood, Rome, and The Sopranos. But if you look at these shows that I’m like and that have kept many HBO’s subscribers John from Cincinnati doesn’t fit the mold to keep these fans. Maybe the people who liked Six Feet Under will go for this one but John from Cincinnati will not prevent me from canceling my HBO subscription the day after The Sopranos ends.

The cast is good, including Bruce Greenwood, Rebecca De Mornay, Luke Perry, and Ed O’Neill. It also includes several actors who have worked on the HBO original Deadwood: Austin Nichols, Dayton Callie, and Jim Beaver. The Deadwood connection is the one ray of hope I see for this show. The show’s creator David Milch also created Deadwood. Kem Nunn who was one of the writers for Deadwood, helped develop John from Cincinnati and it is his ‘Surf Noir’ novels upon which this series is based. The have also pulled in Mark Tinker, one of the directors of Deadwood to direct for John from Cincinnati as well. I loved Deadwood, based on the close ties of the cast and crew to Deadwood I have no doubt that the quality of this series will be as high as Deadwood. Never the less the premise for John from Cincinnati just doesn’t excite me. Maybe it would, if my surfing activities included more than just internet and channel surfing.

Just as a side note while I’m HBO-bashing. HBO has the worst website ever. They are promoting this new show, showing promos on the HBO channels, but there isn’t a single mention of this program on their entire website. It still has Rome and Deadwood listed even though they have been canceled* and makes no mention of the cancellation. Once again thank you HBO.

* - I heard that HBO may finish off Deadwood with a couple of made for TV movies, similar to how Farscape was closed out.