PopSyndicate.com

Luke Perry, Ed O’Neill and Rebecca De Mornay all in one series.  It’s got to be a vehicle for a comeback, right?  At least it would have been if HBO had allowed it to last more than one season.

John From Cincinnati, a quirky, dark, and funny drama chronicling how the lives of a surfer family is changed when a strange outsider comes to town, has gone the way of so many ingenious series before it.  My So Called Life.  Freaks and Geeks.  Bakersfield PD.  All right, not so much Bakersfield PD.  But you know what I mean.  It seems that the stations do not know what to do with good television programs.  Now the networks are mostly guilty of this error in judgment.  But this time, the all mighty Home Box Office is at fault for canceling what should be considered a diamond in the rough.

Austin Nichols (Wimbledon, The Day After Tomorrow) plays John Monad, who just appears on Imperial Beach, where legendary surfer Mitch Yost (Bruce Greenwood) is surfing to inform Mitch that he needs to get back in the game.  Also at the beach is Linc, played by Luke Perry, who’s attempting to convince Mitch to let him sign his grandson, Shaun, to a surfing contract.  Mitch is married to Sissy (Rebecca De Mornay), who, unlike Mitch, wants Shaun to compete in surf competitions.

Later, John gets a ride into town from Vietnam Joe, and meets Butchie (Brian Van Holt), Mitch’s drug addled son, who was a famous surfer in his own right.  Butchie stays at the ramshackle Snug Harbor Motel, which was just sold to Barry Cunningham, a man with whom the motel a history with both Room 24 of the motel as well as Butchie.  Butchie, in his hazy state, believes that John has come to learn to surf with him, and takes him under his wing, for a price. 

As the episodes progress, we find that John has many strange powers, and that strange things have begun to happen since John arrived in Imperial Beach.  John can make anything appear from his pocket.  He also seems to be able to read minds and seems to be able to project images into the minds of others.  Also, at around the same time that John appears in Imperial Beach, a bird belonging to Bill Jack (Ed O’Neill), a friend of the Yost family and substitute father figure for Shaun, dies and then miraculously returns to life.  A day later, at his first competition, Shaun falls; breaks his neck, and is pronounced brain dead.  Bill sneaks the bird into the hospital to kiss Shaun, and Shaun also makes a full recovery. Those are just some of the curious events that transpire upon the appearance of John in the lives of the Yost family, and only some of the quirky characters that fill out the story. 

John is in some way a little kid, often repeating the statements made to him.  One of his original statements, however, is “The end is near.” Unfortunately for John from Cincinnati, the end came too soon.

4