. . .

• Unfortunately, John From Cincinnati was cancelled. It really had no chance whatsoever of succeeding; it's probably the single weirdest television show ever produced in the US. There were ten episodes and I have absolutely no idea what happened. In regular shows, there's a plotline: a problem occurs, the characters resolve it. There was a plotline in JFC, but it was only hinted at; I think that John is (apparently) a heavenly messenger here to prepare and guide Shaun Yost (a Jesus/prophet type) to deliver some sort of message via the power of surfing. But what I think the show is really about is the trouble our modern society would have in dealing with a supernatural/religious event, i.e., an angel or whatever the hell John was supposed to be appearing in our lives. It's a shame, then, that I'm not going to figure out what the hell that event was all about. Even though the plotline was incomprehensible, the show was just amazing at times. It also has the best opening credits outside of The Wire or The Shield; archival surf/beach town footage cut to "Johnny Appleseed" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.
  
• Speaking of The Shield, via the wonders of NetFlix and BitTorrent, I'm all caught up. Man, what was I thinking staying away from this? It's probably the best cop show ever (The Wire is not a cop show); wicked intense, great acting all around. The only problem I have with it is philosophical. The main character is Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), who is an absolutely dirty cop. Now, dirty cops are the worst thing on the street; a drug dealer/gang member you can at least respect, since he is going straight and making no bones about breaking the law. But a dirty cop? Using the color of authority to break laws? I cannot, no matter how "effective" they might be, even remotely respect someone who abuses their authority so blatantly. The Shield continually puts Mackey in a position where he is the hero of the show, the most sympathetic character there, and the most effective detective. It didn't start out this way; in the first episode Vic and Shane murdered a member of their own team who was an informant. But as the series goes on, the Farmington district's moral rot becomes clear, Vic emerges as the hero of the show. How did they do this? Here's who is against Vic:
• Captain/Councilman Aceveda: a nakedly ambitious, wants a clean district only to help his political career. Tolerates Vic when and only when it helps him.
• Dutch: smarter than Vic, a better pure detective than him, and really the only person in the district he's actually afraid might figure him out. But, he's physically weak and socially awkward and so continually humiliated in the frat-ish atmosphere of the Barn; everyone at work hates him and the audience of course follows suit. I'd like to see an endgame where Dutch locks up Vic, but given Chiklis is a producer on the show now, I don't think that will happen.
• Claudette: morally the best character on the show, but self-righteous and can be shady at times. Kind of a pain in the ass.
• Lt. Kavanaugh: IAD investigator, brilliantly played by Forest Whitaker in S5 and S6. Batshit insane.
  
  Given these characters in opposition to Vic, how can any viewer be against him? If the show wasn't so well directed and acted, I probably wouldn't watch.
• Another TV show I'm late getting in on is Battlestar Galactica. I don't generally like non-Star Wars sci-fi, but the initial miniseries just blew me away.
  
• After a two-year hiatus, my TiVo is back, so I've been subsisting on Scrubs reruns lately. The first four seasons show just how far the show has slipped over the last couple. I think one of the reasons I didn't like this past season is because the reruns are on so much they spoil me for the new stuff; The Simpsons works like this as well.
  
• Superbad, of course, was awesome. Shit, how could it not be given Seth Rogen wrote it and it stars George-Michael from Arrested Development and Jonah Hill? Funniest movie I've seen in the theater since Talledega Nights. (I don't include Knocked Up in this category, since it's something different and more special to me than a regular comedy.)

Labels: movies, TV