Critic Reviews

As profane as "Deadwood" and as profound as "The Sopranos," the series strikes every right chord.

[A] strange confabulation.

The ceaseless ways in which Milch and Nunn challenge our expectations about how families, friends, and strangers are meant to convey their fealty to each other, along with some fine hard-boiled dialogue and fisticuffs, suggest great continuing pleasures.

Mesmerizing and entertainingly confounding.

Ultimately, viewers just have to work a lot harder to fathom John from Cincinnati than Tony from Jersey.

I found enough mesmerizing moments, bits of character and sharp Milch dialogue in the opening episodes that I'll probably stick around to catch a few more waves.

Sometimes "John From Cincinnati" is a muddle, at other times rich drama and divine comedy. And sometimes it's all of that at once.

Three episodes in, I started to buy into the world Milch has created. I don't understand it, I don't think I even really like it (almost all of the characters are damaged and rather unpleasant), but I am intrigued by it.

The premiere episode is almost willfully strange and unlikable. But that doesn’t mean that the series is bad, just peculiar, a solemn mythologization — and mystification — of surfing as unearthly pleasure and life-sapping addiction.

It's only June,? but I can confidently state that you won’t see a weirder show than "John From Cincinnati" all year long.