John from Cincinnati

I've never been a fan of Rebecca De Mornay. I've always found her very cold and aloof, someone I could never really connect to when I saw her on screen. There was something about her that made me vaguely uncomfortable.

I recently became hooked on John From Cincinnati. One, I love anything surfer-related. I don't surf, I never have, and waves scare me, but I do love to watch it. That may explain why I've seen Blue Crush and Point Break more times than I can count.

Two, this guy, Brian Van Holt, plays Butchie Yost, an ex-surfer heroin addict, and he is so hot it hurts to look at him. The picture doesn't actually do him justice, but here it is.



He's got a kind of Billy Crudup thing going on, back before he ruined my love for him by dumping the very awesome, very pregnant Mary Louise Parker for Claire Danes. Douche.

Now, the title character, John (from Cincinnati) is super weird, and I can't really get into him. I suspect there's going to something Jesus-y going on with him, and it will probably annoy me, and I also heard something about aliens and 9/11 figuring into the plot, and there's a very real possibility I may hate this show in the near future, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy it. Because, I mean … Al Bundy! Dylan McKay! Rebecca De Mornay!

That's right, I put an exclamation point at the end of Rebecca De Mornay. Why? She fucking rocks this show. Hard. She is 100% raw emotion. Every time she's on screen, you can feel her sadness, anger and resentment. She yells and screams. She rips her hair out and contemplates suicide in moments of desperation. She alienates everyone who cares about her. She molested her son. Yet, still, somehow, you find yourself rooting for her -- and that's not easy to pull off.

It's no Sopranos for sure, but it'll do.