Some people have expressed the opinion that the HBO series The Sopranos may have been one of the most important and influential series to ever have graced television. Unlike the TV series of the past, such as the Lucy Show or Bonanza, where we had just a handful of regular stars and occasional cameo appearances by popular stars of the day, The Sopranos was a long, deeply developing program where we never knew what to expect, characters came and went by the dozens, and if you missed an episode or two, you were lost as to where the plot was headed.

It was an excellent example of how our own viewing habits have changed and how we as a people were not only more analytical, but had come to expect and appreciate multiple layers of dialog. We expect our characters, or at least those we seemed to connect with, to grow and change with us. Shows like The Sopranos were the precursors to reality programming where we saw the warts and weaknesses of the characters, and could relate to the fact that not everybody lived in Mayberry, USA.

So, this brings me to John from Cincinnati. The unfortunate follow up to The Sporanos and David Milches' equally engaging Deadwood. Unfortunately for John from Cincinnati, it premiered right on the heels of a frustrating final episode of Sopranos and replaced Deadwood, much to the anger of fans of both shows. JFC was dealt a bad hand, and itís unlikely anything would fill the void for the core audience of either (or both) shows.

So what does this have to do with dental technology?

Change.

While most people either love or hate the show, or frankly donít care, it is actually a revolutionary concept, and I think is giving us a glimpse of ourselves and the ways we have changed. The way entertainment has changed. I find the show engaging for a number of reasons. One, itís set here in the Southern California surf culture. Not the squeaky clean Beach Boys version, but the real seedy side that us locals know exists. One of the creators, Kem Nunn grew up just a few blocks from my laboratory.

What is different about this show is how it was designed to take advantage of TiVO or DVR's, rather than suffer from them as other programming has. There are no commercials to fast forward through, but there is so much content stuffed into the show that it requires multiple viewings to extract the information. For example, one character is referencing his Web site in a scene. That same night the website was up on the Internet, as if the company was real (http://jfc.wikia.com/wiki/YostClan.com) . Replays of the show reveal other details that upon closer inspection begin to unfold additional story lines that make scenes on TV, combined with Internet and even magazine stories all come together.

Itís like a mix of playing Geocache (http://www.geocaching.com) with Web surfing, real surfing and religion all come together in a way that is very intriguing and thought provoking. Solving Internet Web site puzzles, reveal further tips, that make you go back and rewind the show again and again to piece things together. By the time you think you have everything figured out, a new episode is played, and hours and hours of bait and switch, tidbits and research is laid upon you. Itís the show that never ends my friends, and I predict that while the show may become a one season wonder, those who have gotten the JFC bug will recognize itís fingerprints in the shows that follow.

Itís an amazing way to capitalize on all the different media we have at our fingertips, yet, makes us think long and hard about not only the physical, but spiritual things we do and don't do in this hyper-nano-giga age we live in.

What can we learn from John from Cincinnati? Besides giving our gray matter an exercise, it's reminding us that there are so many ways to reach our audience, and keep their attention, and make doing business with us fun. Once the fun is gone, so is the customer.

Mark Jackson is president of the DAMAS-certified Precision Ceramics Dental Laboratory in California.