David Milch knows there are "Deadwood" fans who've vowed to boycott "John From Cincinnati," the new HBO series about surfing for which he's perceived by some to have abandoned the Old West.

And he doesn't want any trouble.

The "NYPD Blue" co-creator took time out from discussions of string theory and William James (don't ask) to address the "Deadwood" die-hards through the people who've had to answer a lot of the anguished e-mails:

"The first thing I'd say to them is thanks for appreciating the work that we've done. And you know, I spent a significant portion of yesterday in collaboration with Evan Wright, who's a wonderful writer, with whom I'm doing the first of the two 'Deadwood' two-hour films. And we're very optimistic about the outcome of that work, and it's our intention that just the moment that we complete production on 'John From Cincinnati' to begin work on that.

"Having said which, you know that the closed -- the kind of emotional contract that a viewer makes with a series when it works, when that contract is sort of signed by both parties -- that's the thing, as an artist and as actors, we dream about. And certainly there was a kind of abrupt rupture that occurred that is difficult for me to adjust to. It was enormously difficult for the actors to adjust to...You know, the sun rises every morning whether or not we agree to acknowledge
that fact. We're going to put 'John From Cincinnati' on, and it's my deepest hope that, in
the scheme of things, enough forgiveness is available from those viewers to just give it,
like, a chance. And if I'm given strength and time, we're definitely going to do more 'Deadwoods.' "
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