About the show (from www.HBO.com):
CARNIVALE follows a traveling carnival as it wends its way across the Dust Bowl, focusing on Ben Hawkins, a mysterious 18-year-old fugitive with hidden talents who is taken in by the carnival, and Brother Justin, the charismatic, shadowy evangelist who will ultimately cross his path.
The series takes place at a time of worldwide unrest, with evil on the rise around the globe and the Great Depression wreaking economic and social havoc here at home.
My Favourite show currently on television is Carnivale (maybe I shouldn't say currently, since the latest season has ended). The show is intelligent, beautifully photographed, the acting is phenomenal by everyone in the cast (standouts include Nick Stahl, Clancy Brown, Michael J. Anderson and Amy Madigan), highly addictive, to put it simply, this show is amazing.
To go into more detail on why I love this show, I’ll start with the writing. As I said before, the show is very complex and intelligent, the writers are almost always spot on. They are able to give you one answer yet rise a bunch of questions, yet still make it seem like they know what their talking about and know where the show is going (wow, that was a long sentence). Sometimes the writing is a little off, like the pacing (season one is incredibly slow, while the second half of season two takes a much faster. Some say it was rushed, I personally liked that we got a lot of the answers to the questions we’ve been asking for a while, although, I wish it was evener).
I love the 30’s, the clothing, furniture, movies, music, etc. I also love antiques, I love looking at all the props they use. I’m also particularly interested in the dust bowl era (which, as we all know is. . . . you guessed it, the 30’s!!). These aspects of the show make it all the more interesting and beautiful.
Seeing people struggle in these hard times and see how Mother Nature can sow her wrath. I love photography, and watching this show sometimes makes me think of a lot of well photographed pictures. It just looks so friggin good!! I’ve also grown a hugh fascination with Carnivals in the 1930’s. I’ve never been one to judge people on outer appearances, and the show just proves my theory that most ‘normal’ looking people are the freaks, being that they are the ones who discriminate and judge on the manifestation of these people.
Now comes my favourite facet of the show (I guess it can go along with the writing, but whatever), which is the originality and complexity of the show. So much shows currently on television is recycled, cliché crap. It’s so refreshing to see a show that is totally different then anything else on television. The mystery mixed with science fiction, mythology, religion (I’m not a religious person, and sometimes I’m aggravated with the references, but in this show, it doesn’t bother me) and of course, the beautiful look of the dust bowl, blends perfectly to make a entirely original and perplexing show. I love how it doesn’t spoon feed you all of the information, instead, you ask questions and develop theories on what could be going on. It also isn’t just good vs. evil. They all have sins to repent and they both do good deeds, although some more then others.
To end things, I would recommend this show to everyone who loves intelligent shows (or movies), originality, has patience (due to the slow pace) or has an appreciation for this specific time in American history. Hope for a season three, because if this show is cancelled, I’ll go mad.
EDIT: Well, it's offical, Carnivale is cancelled. I am deeply saddened by this news, as I had so much hope. I guess I'm just going to have to hope that HBO will turn to another medium to finish the story in (I'm hoping for a book).
