"Get this fruit out of the sun!"

The above quote is from Ed "Al Bundy" O'Neill in John From Cincinnati, a new drama on HBO created by David Milch.

A tiny minority of us are familiar with Milch by way of his creation Deadwood, the best TV show ever in this or any other human-conceivable universe (or at least those human-conceivable universes that understand english).

It looks like Deadwood is not going to be given some sort of wrap-up, as HBO promised. Not even the pathetic three final episodes they had announced.

So why would anyone trust that HBO won't screw the fans of John From Cincinnati, just like they did the fans of Deadwood?

The answer is: there is no guarantee.


I guess if David Milch trusts HBO enough to go with them again, we should too.


All we can do, as loyal viewers (albeit non-paying loyal viewers) is enjoy the moment. (Which may, in fact, be the biggest philosophical message behind this new series...)

In the show, when he yells "Get this fruit out of the sun!", Al Bundy has just prevented Barry ("the fairy") from killing himself in the parking lot of a run-down motel, and is presumably requesting some help in removing Barry, sprawled and weepy, from the middle of the lot.

It was appalling, at the time, but today at work, thinking it over, connecting the previous bits of dialogue, I came to the conclusion that it was over-the-top hilarious.

But I had to work for it. Now that is comedy!

This episode, the pilot, basically, is viewable online at the HBO site. (UPDATE (07/06/14): the link to the entire show has been removed, and the only videos available now are the trailers. Boo! That's the HBO I know.)

Added bonus: "Johnny Appleseed" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros appears to be the theme song for John From Cincinnati. When I started playing the episode, and "Johnny Appleseed" came on, I thought I had made a mistake and fired up my playlist since I had been listening to that very tune directly before!

After 7-11, I don't believe in coincidences. Therefore, I posit that SpaceGodJehovah2000 was giving me a message by making Milch choose that particular song for that particular TV show, so that I would hear it at the particular time I did.

This experience has made me call into question my atheism.

I can hardly wait til next week's episode! SpaceGodJehovah2000 might have more messages for me.

LOST is ending?

No fear, LOST's due date might be past my own. According to the Malaysia Star,

ABC has confirmed that mystery drama Lost will be concluded in 2010, after three more 16-episode seasons.

So there you have it. ABC good, HBO bad.

HBO gave Deadwood, my favourite TV series ever, a measly six hour miniseries to finish its story, while ABC has given LOST, certainly entertaining (but inaccessible to new viewers), another 48 episodes (unheard of!) to fiddle around with, apparently regardless of LOST's ever diminishing ratings.

At this rate, by 2010, the only viewers LOST will still have will be me and my Mom (should we still be extant). And we don't watch it on TV, anyway. When we get together, we watch the show on the internets.

Maybe the writers will actually be able to wrap some things up! In the 48 episodes they have left, they had better come up with something.