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[Kung Fu Jedi]

I don't really get all the hate on the kid. Sure, he's not very expressive, but he's pretty much acting exactly like half the sullen pre-teens and teenagers I come across. It's a fairly naturalistic performance. I think people are confusing hate with the character as he's been written and cast with hate for the acting.

Nope. I can tell the difference. The kid is a terrible actor. It has more to do with his delivery of his lines, than his character.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I don't really get all the hate on the kid. Sure, he's not very expressive, but he's pretty much acting exactly like half the sullen pre-teens and teenagers I come across. It's a fairly naturalistic performance. I think people are confusing hate with the character as he's been written and cast with hate for the acting.

I agree. I think all three Yosties are exceptionally performed. Shawnie's just a laid back kind of kid. You can see the acting in his faciel expressions, the way he asked to call his father in the car, etc. He's definitely quality.

Look at the Bullocks' son in Deadwood. Very similar performance. Milch just seems to write a particular kind of kid.

Spoiler

And enjoys shattering their spinal cords.

 

[Flynn]

Nope. I can tell the difference. The kid is a terrible actor. It has more to do with his delivery of his lines, than his character.

Okay, so you're saying that you can tell he's a terrible actor, but for some reason Milch and the other producers of the show just can't see it. And I say you're wrong, they made a choice to put that kid in the role. His bad acting is what they wanted for the part. Or else they'd have frikking Haley Joel Osment or some other phony child thespian in there.

 

[Cornballer]

I go back and forth on the kid - he seems kind of wooden in his acting, but it is typical for someone his age. Plus he seems to have that innocent, otherworldy quality (sort of like JfC) where he smiles a lot and doesn't say much.

Look at the Bullocks' son in Deadwood. Very similar performance. Milch just seems to write a particular kind of kid.

Spoiler

And enjoys shattering their spinal cords.

Spoiler

Yup, you could tell something was going to happen, and I immediately thought of the Bullock's son when Shaun appeared in the first episode.

<--Deadwood spoilers...

Here's the bio on the kid, who I would guess does a lot of his own surfing on the show

Fourth in a generation of surfing greats, Greyson Fletcher's skills for extreme sports come to him innately. A native of Southern California, he was born in 1991 in Laguna Beach, and resides now with his mother in Anaheim Hills. Like his grandfather, father and uncle, Greyson excels at surfing, but his true passion lies in skateboarding. Confirmed by industry peers as a skating phenomenon, Greyson has traveled throughout the United States and Hawaii displaying his exceptional skills at skate clinics and free-skating demos. He has accompanied his father, Christian Fletcher, around Europe and to Australia for sporting competitions, naming Marseilles France as his favorite European skating venue.

As a testament to his athletic prowess, Greyson is sponsored by industry heavy-hitter VANS, as well as RVCA Clothing, Anti-Hero Boards, SabreVision Sunglasses, Independent Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, Motto Griptape, and Cartel Lowrider Bikes. He has been interviewed by publications such as ESPNMag, Happy Mag, Monster Children, Juice Magazine, has appeared in national campaigns for VANS and can be seen in the popular grom skating DVD "Next Invasion".

In researching John From Cincinnati, David Milch happened upon Greyson and was immediately inspired to include him as a series regular in the cast. This is Greyson's first foray into the entertainment industry and while he's often busy memorizing lines and enjoying the excitement of a hectic schedule, he remains true to his sport -- Greyson never arrives without his skateboard in hand and regardless of his locale, he manages at least one good session daily.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Okay, so you're saying that you can tell he's a terrible actor, but for some reason Milch and the other producers of the show just can't see it. And I say you're wrong, they made a choice to put that kid in the role. His bad acting is what they wanted for the part. Or else they'd have frikking Haley Joel Osment or some other phony child thespian in there.

I don't think directors and producers ever set out to hire a bad actor on purpose. They are either stuck with what they get or can afford, or they're hoping that someone will grow into a role, or what ever. They have their reasons. Perhaps he was just better than the other shitty kid actors that tried out for the part.

Or, perhaps as it's been suggested, he was hired because he's a hell of a surfer, and they need that more for the part than his acting ability. He's is terrible at delivering the lines and it's distractingly bad at times.

 

[Flynn]

You raise an excellent point about his surfing ability. That could be the sole reason they hired him.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

You raise an excellent point about his surfing ability. That could be the sole reason they hired him.

I will concede that they are probably working pretty hard with him so that he improves his acting, and if the show continues on he may grow into the role more. But right now, it's pretty clear he's more of a surfer than an actor.

 

[Smiling Bandit]

I'd much rather have a kid who actually acts like a kid than one of these Hollywood ****heads who act in a totally unnatural way. Especially saying things no child would, like all the Dakota Fanning/Joel Osbourn type of trained prodigy children.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

You raise an excellent point about his surfing ability. That could be the sole reason they hired him.

I'd say Kaia is a much more damaging example of this. She's really not that great. "They've got their own shit to deal with but maybe we can do our part to make it just...a little bit worse." was like, the WORST line reading I've seen on the show. But she is a professional surfer.

 

[FlyinJ]

I'd much rather have a kid who actually acts like a kid than one of these Hollywood ****heads who act in a totally unnatural way. Especially saying things no child would, like all the Dakota Fanning/Joel Osbourn type of trained prodigy children.

I dunno. This kid is an absolutely terrible actor. And given the amazing performances by every other actor on the show, it stands out even more. As someone said previously, distractingly so.

When he

Spoiler

died last episode, I was actually relieved. Then that damn bird opened his eyes uggh. Maybe they knew they had a disaster on their hands, and a side effect of his 'reincarnation' is that he'll be mute!

 

[Solo]

How long is the season? 12 episodes, I presume?

 

[Cornballer]

I think it was originally supposed to be 12, but they cut it down to 10 to leave time for Milch to shoot the Deadwood movies this summer. (They haven't started filming the Deadwood movies, btw.)

 

[Solo]

Damn, thats a really short run. Hopefully the show kicks it into gear here soon. Ive enjoyed the first episodes, but the pacing feels like its meant for a 22 episode run, not 10.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Damn, thats a really short run. Hopefully the show kicks it into gear here soon. Ive enjoyed the first episodes, but the pacing feels like its meant for a 22 episode run, not 10.

An average HBO season is 12 or 13.

 

[Solo]

Yeah, thats what I meant (well, Entourage has sort of become an exception to that rule). The pacing feels like its meant for a longer stretch of episodes. Presumably Milch is plotting the show for multiple seasons, but I wonder if this is a show that HBO might pull before it gets those seasons.

EDIT: HBO always commits to full seasons, right? In other words, have they ever yanked a show after like 6 episodes?

 

[FlyinJ]

What's the deal with the Deadwood movies? I seem to recall it being two 2 hour movies? Is that still the case?

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Yeah, thats what I meant (well, Entourage has sort of become an exception to that rule). The pacing feels like its meant for a longer stretch of episodes. Presumably Milch is plotting the show for multiple seasons, but I wonder if this is a show that HBO might pull before it gets those seasons.

EDIT: HBO always commits to full seasons, right? In other words, have they ever yanked a show after like 6 episodes?

They haven't, no.

Here's why you probably needen't worry about John getting canned so soon. I'd be willing to bet the average episode of this show costs about a third to make as an episode of Deadwood. Location shooting in Cali, costumes you can buy at Wal-Mart, barely any makeup, it's a much cheaper show. Cost is what keeps shows like Deadwood and Carnivale on the chopping block while Big Love continues on for more seasons, and why The Wire, fantastic but not as watched as it should be, is coming back for a miraculous Season 5. (Note, Carnivale ended up garbage in S2, but that was probably not why it ended up cancelled, as its fanbase looked past the ludicrous, show-killing explanations in its Season 2 Premiere and would have undoubtedly kept watching a Season 3.)

 

[Cornballer]

EDIT: HBO always commits to full seasons, right? In other words, have they ever yanked a show after like 6 episodes?

I can't remember them pulling anything early - they're much more patient than the networks because of their business model.

What's the deal with the Deadwood movies? I seem to recall it being two 2 hour movies? Is that still the case?

Yes, but they're behind the proposed schedule and a lot of signs point to them never being completed. There's a bit of information here. Everyone seems gung ho about it, but I remain skeptical given filming schedules, etc...

 

[Solo]

They haven't, no.

Here's why you probably needen't worry about John getting canned so soon. I'd be willing to bet the average episode of this show costs about a third to make as an episode of Deadwood. Location shooting in Cali, costumes you can buy at Wal-Mart, barely any makeup, it's a much cheaper show. Cost is what keeps shows like Deadwood and Carnivale on the chopping block

Good points. Damn, something like Deadwood probably cost a fortune to shoot. As for John, again, you're probably correct. Relatively speaking, John is probably dirt cheap to produce.

 

[Cornballer]

HBO puts together a lot of pricey shows (Deadwood, Rome, and Band of Brothers come to mind), so hopefully the budget is working in favor of JfC.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Rome was off the charts expensive. $100 million for the 12 episode first season alone. They essentially green lit the 10 episode second season because they had already invested in the sets, actors, and so on.

That show was amazing. I miss it already. Can't wait for the S2 box set!

 

[Solo]

Yeah, I think Rome may be their most expensive thing they ever did. I never watched it regularly, but when I did flip by it, you could definately see that $100M up on the screen.

 

[Clevinger]

I'm kind of worried about Song of Ice and Fire. I'd imagine Rome would have a similar budget with set design and costume design. Or maybe it cost that much because it had top-notch British actors (I don't know anything about British actors)?

If Rome was so expensive to produce, how are they going to get 4-7 seasons of SOIAF out?

 

[Cornballer]

I'm kind of worried about Song of Ice and Fire. I'd imagine Rome would have a similar budget with set design and costume design. Or maybe it cost that much because it had top-notch British actors (I don't know anything about British actors)?

If Rome was so expensive to produce, how are they going to get 4-7 seasons of SOIAF out?

I don't think it was the actors as much as the sets, costumes, and legions of extras. The production values were high on Rome. For ASoIaF, I would guess they'd have to enter another co-production deal (like they did on Rome w/ BBC) in order to get enough money to make it.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

it's a shame there isn't a thread this size talking about flight of the conchords. the other excellent hbo show that just started.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

it's a shame there isn't a thread this size talking about flight of the conchords. the other excellent hbo show that just started.

I didn't think it was very good. Too dry, and this is coming from someone who loved Tim & Eric's Shrek 3 promotion.

Maybe not that it's so dry, but the dryness is impenatrably slow.

"New, but mewstly it wuz that yew turned on the light."

Repeat.

Like forty times.

I'll take some new episodes of Extra, please, thanks.

 

[Eric WK]

I didn't think it was very good. Too dry, and this is coming from someone who loved Tim & Eric's Shrek 3 promotion.

Maybe not that it's so dry, but the dryness is impenatrably slow.

"New, but mewstly it wuz that yew turned on the light."

Repeat.

Like forty times.

I'll take some new episodes of Extra, please, thanks.

I think this may the first time you and I have ever disagreed.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I think this may the first time you and I have ever disagreed.

I know. I didn't want to say anything because it freaked me out.

:lol

I did like the song at the party, but I think it was just way too Williamsburg of a show.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Maybe not that it's so dry, but the dryness is impenatrably slow.

I love it but I'm worried that it will really appeal to an audience of 4 million people and nobody else.

anyway, just finished watching this show and it got enough of a WTF from me to watch the next one. Is that dude an alien or what?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I watched Flight of the Conchords as well, and thought it was just kind of "ok". There were a few moment, like Ben mentioned, the song from the party was pretty funny. But a lot of it was just beat you over the head repetitive. I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't hooked either. It showed some signs, and I'll give it another episode or two to get going, but otherwise, I'll likely pass.

The "binary solo" had my geeky ass laughing though. :lol

 

[Flynn]

I'm kind of worried about Song of Ice and Fire. I'd imagine Rome would have a similar budget with set design and costume design. Or maybe it cost that much because it had top-notch British actors (I don't know anything about British actors)?

ASOI&F is going to have the benefit of a merchandising revenue stream to help pay the bills.

 

[TheWolf]

so, who is still watching? tonight's was kind of interesting, i guess...

 

[Eric WK]

Wow. No posts about tonight's episode?

Again... I continue to love the show. It seems like it's one of those things that if you like it, you'll continue to like it and if you don't, you'll continue to dislike it.

Alot of very funny moments tonight:

"Bird shit in my pocket..."
"Did you slip me a roofie?"
"That's the shape changer."

 

[Solideliquid]

ACCOUNT ACTIVATION IN PROCESS....COMPLETE.

I'm still not sure if I like the show. I was never a big fan of Deadwood (did watch the first season), but I've been a long fan of HBO since Sex in the City started I always give HBO more chances than I should. I think John from Cincinnati will get better and hopefully we will eventually find out what the heck is happening to Mitch. My prediction is that John is an angel or some other devine figure.

I loved The Sopranos but I think overall the HBO series that takes the golden trophy was the first season of The Mind of the Married Man. Followed by Sopranos, and Rome.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Wow. No posts about tonight's episode?

Again... I continue to love the show. It seems like it's one of those things that if you like it, you'll continue to like it and if you don't, you'll continue to dislike it.

Alot of very funny moments tonight:

"Bird shit in my pocket..."
"Did you slip me a roofie?"
"That's the shape changer."

I love where it's going now. I loved the scene with Freddie as omniscient narrator of the outside the hospital scene, I loved the Ice Cream Man.

This was just filled with great shit. I was on slightly shaky ground in the first two episodes but I see where it's headed now.

"Can you tell me exactly how you're any different from a monkey in a tree?"

 

[Clevinger]

I'm glad Milch brought back the Doctor's actor again. He was great as Jack McCall/Francis Walcott on Deadwood. From a look at IMDB he seems to be a regular on it for the rest of the episodes listed.

 

[TheWolf]

the doctor was on The 4400 as well.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Also, "Mr. Hit In The Face With A Board" is my new Go-To Insulting Nickname.

 

[Shard]

Yea, I watched it as well, excellent use of Andrea Bocelli.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Yea, I watched it as well, excellent use of Andrea Bocelli.

OH, that was the "Blind ****" Freddie was talking about.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Mifune]

Oh god, it's good to have Charlie Utter back.

I'm an episode behind since Time-Warner keeps garbling the f*ck out of my HD feed, causing me to record it again (and again), but I love this show so far.

 

[kruskev]

weird I was listening to muse version of "feeling good" prior to watching the episode. I got goosebumps.

 

[Cornballer]

Inside the Episode
With Steve Hawk

What Do You Do With A Resurrection?

Shaun has miraculously recovered from his seemingly fatal spinal-cord injury, and Doctor Smith, the neurologist who moments earlier had broached the subject of organ donation, appears more giddy than perplexed by the boy's resurrection. His follow-up suggestion to the family: Get the kid the hell out of here before people start asking questions.

"No hospital is equipped to deal with what happened to your grandson," Smith tells Cissy, Shaun's grandmother. "If he stays, what'll happen to him here is in the hospital's interest, and will be of no benefit to him."

If the doctor's belief system has been shaken by a miracle so has that of Linc, the surf-industry CEO whose power derives not from science but from his ability to make people believe what he wants them to believe in order to sell them things they don't need.

As the episode opens, Linc suspects something big is going on, and he's deeply frustrated by his inability to find out what it is. When he approaches Doctor Smith to ask about Shaun's condition, their curt encounter, while barely audible, is perhaps the most heated encounter in an episode filled with brutal arguments.

In the ongoing category of "Watch what people do, not what they say," check out the exchange of icy looks after Linc, who has just been ordered by the doctor to leave a restricted area, utters a phrase veneered in civility: "Thank you. Thank you for the work you do." Enemies, and they're not sure why.

A similar but inverted disjunction between words and action occurs later in the episode, when Bill, the ex-cop, and Freddy, the drug lord, face off on the street outside the Yost house. On the surface the two men - cop, criminal - are enemies, their only common ground the fact that each happens to be a longtime acquaintance of the Yosts. But the barrage of adolescent insults they fling at each other belies their body language, which ends up almost sweet:

Bill: "What is your name please?"

Freddy: "What's your name?"

Bill: "Bill Jacks. I'm a retired police officer. And you don't want to make me ask your name again."

Freddy: "Retired cops don't get my name, what time it is, or pissed on if they go up in flames."

And later ....

Freddy: "I'm a friend of the family, all right?"

Bill: "I'm a friend of the family."

Freddy: "Then they got two friends looking out for them."

Bill: "And you look out for them how, by seeing when their backs are turned so you can steal their drapes?"

It appears to be a punch-out in the making – until the scene's closing shot, when they stand side by side facing the home, each with his arms crossed. Sentinels.

Surfing USA

I worked for several years at Surfer magazine and in that time listened to many people rail against surf contests and the companies that support them for the many ways in which they exploit and despoil the sport. I no doubt railed a few times myself. Mitch, Shaun's grandfather, summarizes every "soul" surfer's disdain for contests. He's sitting in the car of the seductress, Cass, and still believes his grandson is going to die. Mitch blames himself for letting Shaun surf in the contest at Huntington Beach, where the boy broke his neck. Cass tries to comfort him by talking about Shaun's performance at Huntington:

Cass: "That whole heat, every ride, it was beautiful to see."

Mitch: "What was beautiful, watching him milk a closed-out section to impress a bunch of f**king judges? That's not surfing.... That's flapping your fins for an audience. That's letting dipshits define you by a number so other dipshits can compare you with other numbers so the other dipshits know who to pay to wear their sunglasses so the dipshits in the malls know which ones to buy."

It's a valid, if obvious, argument that would carry a bigger punch if the people who make it were less pious, and acknowledged that their chosen sport is a wholly selfish pursuit.

Found Moments

David Milch, the show's creator and head writer, loves to improvise on the set, often adding lines - and, occasionally, entire characters - just before the cameras roll.

Such a moment happened in this episode at the Snug Harbor Motel. Barry, the new owner of the hotel, has decided to return to Room 24, where a man named Gilbert Rollins abused him as a child, in order to shut the door that he'd left open a few minutes before when fleeing the ghost of his molester. Dickstein, the surfing attorney, and Ramon, the motel manager, decide to escort Barry to the room.

While that scene was being shot, three life-size cardboard cut-outs of bikini models happened to be propped up on the other side of the parking lot. They'd been left there by Butchie, Shaun's junkie father, in the previous episode after he bought them with John's high-octane credit card.

Milch decided at the last minute to have Barry, still rattled from having seen a ghost, look over at cut-outs and ask, "Animate or inaminate?"

To which Dickstein replies: "Inanimate."

Another found moment that bears fruit in this episode came in Episode One, when Butchie and John are outside the Yost family surf shop, having just met Kai, the female shop employee. John tells Butchie he likes Kai.

Butchie: "Yeah, you would John, I'm beginning to see that about you. You know, you could probably even f***king bone her if you tried hard enough."
John: "I'll bone her."

Austin Nichols, who plays John, improvised that last line during rehearsal, and Milch liked it so much he told Austin to repeat it for the cameras. None of us knew then that the "boning" idea would reverberate through future episodes.

Alternate Titles

Three alternate titles to the official one ("His Visit: Day Two Continued"):

a. "Kai Sees God"
b. "John Bones Kai"
c. "On the Precipice of a Clusterf**k"

I'm still somewhat confused by this show, but entranced nonetheless.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I'm still somewhat confused by this show, but entranced nonetheless.

"And you look out for them how, by seeing when their backs are turned so you can steal their drapes?"

How could you not be?

:lol

 

[Cornballer]

How could you not be?

:lol

That's part of the reason why I'm digging it - I just end up sitting there after each episode trying to figure out what just happened and why. At the moment, that's awesome, but hopefully there's some internal logic to the storytelling that will make sense at some point.

 

[Solo]

Finally caught the episode. Great shit.

"Now we're boning, Kai!"
"We're on the precipace of a clusterfuck!"

:lol

 

[TheWolf]

i still don't know what the **** this show is about. the girl that plays Cass is very pretty though.

 

[Clevinger]

Yeah, the show seems kind of aimless so far, yet it's really enjoyable and alluring despite it. The dialogue alone makes it worth watching for me.

 

[Solo]

Ed O'Neill was the best thing about this episode, bar none.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Personally, I think I'm about done with this show. It just doesn't seem to have a whole lot of a point at the moment. At least not one that is all that evident. I'll grant that it does have some good dialog, but that's about all I can say for it. I may give it one more week to see if it hooks be, but right now I'm not feeling it.

And that kid playing Shawn is not getting any better as an actor. He delivered a couple of lines last night that were just cringe worthy. Fortunately, he really wasn't in it much though. It looks like he'll be in it plenty next week though.