What happens to a modern iconoclast , in the same vein as Peckinpah and Welles, when even HBO won't let you get to the artful pursuits in your head? You go back to the future I guess. "John from Cincinnati"(JFC) wipes out.
There is no doubt David Milch is the cracked genius of the modern era of television. Noone else is creating such richly dense dialogue or taking so many chances at greatness. It's probably his myopic view of his creations that lead him to make such compelling tv for some and leave the majority of the audience in the dark. Television is suppose to placate the lower IQ range that way everyboby likes it. His last two HBO creations have had some truly monumental characters staining our imaginations( Al Swearengen of Deadwood and JFC's Bill Jacks). His genius creates blips of overly ornate mouthfuls of dialogue, laced with numerous cultural references and profanities bringing a spirit and intellect rarely seen on the small screen. Milch's indulgances in fuzzy logic in plotlines, glut of character arcs and self congratulatory demeanor can leave most people clicking the remote to more easily consumable television viewing. Deadwood seemed to die from it's
inabilty to sustain it's own weight ( budget and egos). John was just a little too weird and disjointedsome said just bad tv.
I feel JFC was brilliant in it's exploration of spirituality, surfing and the ladder days of the American Empire. It may have been a little obtuse but no more than the extremely popular "lost". I feel that "lost" uses confusion and deception merely as a tool to keep the viewing audience coming back and watching the commercials. It's just a carrot, JFC is so much more. JFC was uses the confusion and non-linear jumps to creat cogintive dissidence, breaking the audience's trend of thought and opening them into another arena, perhaps spritual realm of thinking or being. This is a very common technique in spiritual orders to help clean the mind of the day to day and help create communion with the divine or other. Perhaps this is a little lofty for a television show to burden itself with. I guess that it is. John will soon be gone, I don't Butchie instead.
Beyond all this Milch is now working on a cop show for HBO( he is under contract to develop television programming through 2008). So back to the future for the man who worked on "Hill Street Blues" and created "NYPD Blue". I'm sure it will be similar vein to Deadwood and JFC and feature some of the same actors. It would be great if it had Jim Beaver as a jaded police sergeant with early on set alzheimers, Garret Dillahunt and Brian Van Holt as partners who are detectives , Ed O'Neil as a reformed alcoholic, right wing mayor, Ian McShane as a racketeer who runs all the crime in the South part of the city and Paula Malcomson as super bitchy DA trying to clean up the city. I'm sure it will be something along these lines and very interesting as usual with lots of cuss words. I guess we will see soon. I look forward to it.
