TVSquad

The Nowhere Man himself has joined the big-screen Star Trek movie.

Bruce Greenwood will play Christopher Pike, the eventually-wheelchair bound first captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise.* You might remember the character of Captain Pike from the original pilot of Star Trek (before William Shatner joined the show), and then the two-part episode made from the original pilot, "The Menagerie." By that time, Pike was in a wheelchair, trapped on some planet led by aliens with giant heads. Jeffrey Hunter played him on the TV show.

I don't think anyone will be too surprised by the following news. One day after the finale of John from Cincinnati aired on HBO the pay-cable network decided to pull the plug on the quirky surfer drama co-created by David Milch.

Unlike Milch's other creation for HBO, the critical and fan favorite Deadwood, John never clicked with viewers, despite a strong cast that featured Bruce Greenwood and Rebecca De Mornay. If you doubt me take a look at some of the comments made by your fellow TV Squad readers on the show. While many of them were fascinated by the concept, and gave Milch the benefit of the doubt, they also expressed confusion and boredom about the show.

(S01E05) What was going on in this episode? I don't know Butchie instead. Is Zippy your personal Lord and Savior? I don't know Butchie instead. Would you keep watching this show if you weren't reviewing it? I don't know Butchie instead.

(S01E02) It's going to get harder and harder for Mitch and Bill to explain away the miraculous occurrences going on around them by way of their own neuroses now. Last week, Bill could chalk up Zippy the Wonder Bird's resurrection to his senility, and Mitch could decide that his levitating abilities came courtesy of a plumcot-sized brain tumor.

(S01E01) Unlike my esteemed colleagues at various print publications, I did not have access to John from Cincinnati's press screener weeks before the show's broadcast. I would have to write my review within an hour or two after watching the premiere with the rest of America. This is all well and good, but I was a little nervous about what I would make of David Milch's latest outing without some time to reflect. I didn't want my commentary to be mired in superfluous comments about how Ed O'Neill and Rebecca De Mornay are looking these days. This series is drawing on an "everything and the kitchen sink" range of literary and philosophical references. It deserves more from me so I prepared by reading everything that was available – namely the script, interviews with Milch and the early reviews.

Julia will have her review of the new HBO series John From Cincinnati when it premieres after the Sopranos finale on June 10, but San Francisco Chronicle critic Tim Goodman has seen the first three episodes, and he's not impressed. In fact, he's depressed.

Goodman says that the heads of fans of David Milch's other show, Deadwood, will "explode" when they see this, that they would get rid of Deadwood just to air this show. He won't have his full review 'til Sunday, but on his blog, Goodman says that HBO made "a total blunder" and that the show is just "a total mess." Wow, I guess we'll have to wait for his full review to find out what he really thinks.

As I said yesterday, I'm going to give it a shot. I mean, the previews are just so bizarre that you have to check it out.

I'm going to do my best to try and avoid using the words "gnarly" and "cowabunga," but I can't promise anything. You should be excited though because John From Cincinnati is going to be good. The new "surf noir" drama from David Milch has finally been scheduled and it's set to premiere at 10PM following The Sopranos series finale on Sunday, June 10. So far we here at TV Squad have been pretty high on this show. Can you blame us? Besides the fact that it's coming from the mastermind behind Deadwood, we're talking about a show about surfing and people who levitate. Yes, levitate. Last time I checked, that means "float." Crazy, huh? Add to that a cast that includes Bruce Greenwood, Rebecca De Mornay, Luis Guzman, and Ed O'Neill and it looks like HBO may have its next hit. Sounds like they know it too. It's been given a full 10 episode first season and I doubt very much that airing after The Sopranos series finale is a time-slot that's just given to any ol' show. Make a note though because the show moves to its regular time-slot at 9PM the following week. Gnarly, huh?

Fresh off of Deadwood (does anyone else think that left the air too soon?), David Milch and the cast presented their new surfing drama John From Cincinnati to the TCA. Most surprising was the fact that there are some mystical elements to the show ... although they weren't really elaborated on at the panel. The clips offered up contained scenes of levitation and a bird seeming to come back to life, but seeing them out of context makes us unsure to label them just yet.

Milch did get a bit esoteric though, and said that the show takes place on "the edge of the coordinates of reality." It has a vague aura of Six Feet Under around it, even though the subjects are entirely different, and I tend to like shows that aren't laid out for you in black and white.

Monday's New York Times features a story on David Milch and the writing process behind his forthcoming HBO pilot John from Cincinnati. If you've been reading our reports on the series' casting, you know that HBO's enthusiasm for this project is what brought about the earlier-than-anticipated-end of Milch's other HBO outing, Deadwood.

Most Deadwood fans, including myself, were pretty pissed to find out that Deadwood was getting the boot thanks to a show about the first family of surfing, but what are you going to do? Artists grow. They change. They want to write other stuff, and most fans of Milch will follow him anywhere including the sunny California coast.

When all that controversy was going on with Deadwood, one of the reasons that David Milch gave for the show not returning (other than the problems he was having with HBO) was that he was preparing a drama titled John From Cincinnati. Now that show is coming together quickly. Rebecca De Mornay has just been added to the cast, which includes Bruce Greenwood (she'll play his wife), Austin Nichols (he's John and he's from Cincinnati), and Brian Van Holt (from Threshold).

The HBO show is about the surfing world in southern California. Nichols is a rich guy who comes to the area to take surfing lessons, and Matt Winston plays another guy who is coming back to the area to get even with someone for something that was done wrong to him long ago.