One of the perks of my little day job involves advance screenings and I was fortunate enough to attend the first episode of HBO's brand new John From Cincinatti. It premieres this Sunday on HBO following The Sopranos finale. The show is about surfing, drama in a dysfunctional family, San Diego border town politics, and paranormal activity thrown in. I was anxious before to see what this show was really about and now one word sums up my feelings: Stoked.

First thing you need to know: the posters around town do not lie. That is not some sort of transcendental metaphor. Mitch Yost, paterfamilia of the legendary Yost surfing clan, based on real-life surfing family the Fletchers, really does levitate. He doesn't know why at first, and neither will you. It's a convenient hook and even more convenient is Mitch doesn't have a lot of time to investigate his new quirk when he's got his family to deal with. Mainly the madness comes from his ex-celebrity surfer son, Butchie Yost and Butchie's smack addiction. Both men feel victimized by the world of professional surfing that made them legends and then spit them out. Butchie's son, Shaun Yost, played by real-life surfing phenom Greyson Fletcher, sets the conflict in motion when he tried to go pro at 13 years old. Shaun, no longer fit to be parented by Butchie, has been adopted by his grandparents. Granny Yost, Cissy (Rebecca De Mornay) runs the local surf shop and could not be more proud or supportive of Shaun's talents. But Mitch and Butchie couldn't argue more about the matter and spend the majority of the episode forbidding Shaun from entering his first big surf contest in Huntington. And there's a slew of misfits in the supporting cast to give Shaun their two-cents including a delusional ex-cop, the family attorney who's also a surfer-groupie, Ramon the flea bag motel manager, and Vietnam Joe the border smuggler. With the eccentric characters running around Imperial Beach like it's their own nightmare-scape no wonder they easily accept the stranger who appears rather mysteriously the same day as the surf contest. That's John Monad and he might be from Cincinnati. John is the blank slate, literally. He cannot act or talk unless he learns it from someone else. Everything from opening a car door to cussing out Butchie he picks up like a trained sponge. He's come with two messages which he prophetically repeats at key moments -- "Mitch Yost has got to get back in the game" and the ever-popular "The End is Near". We assume he's here to save the Yost family and the game is surfing. How that game is played is what we're staying tuned to find out.

David Milch created John along with "surf-noir" writer/Pomona native Kem Nunn. Like Milch's previous HBO success Deadwood, I tuned in first for the subject matter and then continued to get sucked in week by week by cryptic, practically biblical language, and bizarre character choices. Last time it was the Wild West, this time it's a chapter from my own history, the San Diego surfing scene. When little Shaun Yost busts out his "Sponsor Me" DVD I re-call the days of video-taping my brother shredding on his Gravity skateboard down our bougainvillea-lined street and listening for just the right NOFX song to use as the background music. Our high school AV Club was full of kids editing their surf/skate reels surrounded by success stories of the kids who were sent around the world by the sandal, sunglasses, board and wax companies. There's also plenty of typical moments thrown into John apart from the obvious surfer-lingo and locations. Milch actually shoots the exteriors in Imperial Beach which is refreshing for any coastal Californian who knows the beach breaks look different even from Silver Strand to Redondo. I was particularly moved by a moment at Butchie's squat, the Snug Harbor Motel, when Ramon Gaviota (Luis Guzman) with the help of lawyer/surfer Meyer Dickstein (Willie Garson) sells his interest to a lottery winner from Azusa. The lottery winner steps right into the middle of San Diego stereotypes: Yuppies, Mexicans and Surfers.

Then the surprises start happening at a rapid fire pace. It's ultimately comedic and you should feel free to laugh at the outlandishness of it all. John himself is awfully funny and touching at the same time, much like Johnny-5 from Short Circuit. Seeing his transformation will be especially entertaining and meaningful. The last moments of the episode include him on his new board on a curling wave with the golden sunset behind him and it's beautiful.

Second thing you need to know: TV fans will gasp "that's Dylan McKay!" in the show's first shot and then later "That's Al Bundy!". Luke Perry and Ed O'Neill both get their dramatic reckoning here. You'll also reacquaint yourself with Deadwood favorites Jim Beaver and Austin Nichols as John. I'm positive more HBO alums will step foot on Imperial Beach's shores and they will bring with them the unparallelled level of television fans have come to expect. Fans are also expecting a big hit to replace their dearly departed Sopranos and Fisher family. I predict John will be a sleeper but the sleeper hit creeping up on you is what will be the most fun to watch along with all those surfing shots. After the screening all I wanted to do was head to the beach.

Labels: reviews, television