Swear to God the best thing I’ve seen on HBO since “The Sopranos” is “John from Cincinnati” from the people who brought “Deadwood” to life on HBO.

The amazing thing is that “John” actually replaced “The Sopranos” without missing a beat, with a wacked-out brilliance that is never less than super-cool, dude. Now I know I’m in the minority here—I know there’s not a chance in hell that Imperial Beach will somehow become as iconic as north Jersey. But what the hell: “John from Cincinnati” makes “The Sopranos” looks like a bake sale at the Catholic Church.

I’m in the minority here, like I said. There’s no way that I can convince you that an apocalyptic morality tale set among surfer dudes in way-Southern California beach town will ever match Tony and Sil and Paulie Walnuts. And chances are it won’t. But even so you should check this out.
 
You’ve got Mitch, the surfer legend with the bum knee and the yen for transcendent Zen—he starts to levitate in the very first episode. And his son Butchie the junkie, an even better surfer who “changed to sport,” and his son the beatific surfing prodigy Seanie. Not to mention Zippy the parakeet with his power to bring dead surfer boys back to life.

The characters surrounding this crew are nutballs: the wacked-out former cop who talks to Zippy, the lottery winner who just bought the motel where Butchie lives—and where he was abused in room #24—not to mention the accountant and maintenance man who try to keep the crackpot lottery winner under control, or the two thugs from Hawaii who supply Butchie, or the doctor who quit because he can’t quite believe the surfer dude came back to life after he broke his back.

The whole deal revolves around the heretofore unmentionable character called John and likened by some to John the Baptist. He falls to terra firma like an illegal extraterrestrial immigrant, a blank slate with supernatural powers that are only gradually revealed. He says things like “the end is near,” and when he talks about God nipple and vagina rings and hair implants get got as Hades. Like monkey, he mimics what others tell him, but he can also make $2,300 in cash and an American Express Platinum card appear with proper authorization. Yet he doesn’t know how to take a dump, make love, or much of anything else.

What he can do is not bad at all. He can make Mitch levitate—or at least that’s the implication—and he can make Seanie revive Zippy the parakeet and Zippy return the favor. When John is stabbed presumably to death he can come back to life to the astonishment of the doctor, and Butchie the junkie’s withdrawal from drugs is a non-event.

Unlike Tony Soprano, John from Cincinnati can heal the sick and put money in the pocket of the poor. He appears from nowhere and apparently will go back to the same locale when he’s done. In the meantime—yo!—we can contemplate the short distance from Imperial Beach to the Bada Bing.