Carnivàle - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run.

[joelene]

I'm an enjoying it tremendously. I'm devastated it is only 2 seasons long. Since my original post, I made my Dad start watching it. So now I have someone to bounce ideas off of. I'm almost done, episode 10 right now, so most of my questions have been answered. Nick Stahl and Clancy Brown, along with the rest of the cast, are an awesome assemble of actors, did a fantastic job selling their characters.

side note, I grew up in Southern CA...I use to watch Bree Walker (the lady with the fused 'lobster' hands) host my local news. It was so weird seeing her in this series (especially with that horrible trouch pouch overdone plastic surgery face), but kind of cool, too!

Heh, that's cool about Bree Walker!

I love that people are still discovering this show! I watched it together with a friend this summer and she was blown away. The actors really are excellent all around. They did such a great job on the casting. They fully inhabit their characters. I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite. Still angry this show was cancelled!

I posted an interview with Daniel Knauf from last year in the media thread. He finally opened up about Carnivale, about how it all started, working with HBO, about the cast and characters and on how he would have continued/ended it. Check it out when you finish!

Edited October 24, 2014 by joelene

[DittyDotDot]

Well, hell, that interview has me jonesing for a re-watch. I can't think of how I'll fit it in for a few weeks....ooh, ooh, ooh...maybe a Christmas present to myself? Yeah, I'm probably the only person on the planet that would think Carnivale would be good Christmas TV. ;)

[joelene]

Hee! Nah, who needs regular ol' boring happy Christmas television when you can indulge on a dark, weird, creepy epic? Not strange at all! :)

[SFoster21]

World's greatest credit sequence anyway.

[peacefrog]

Oh I miss this show! I think Amazon has it and it is free for Prime members. 

 

My favorite episode and sequence is the one where Ben heals Jonsey after he was tarred and feathered.  I need to rewatch this but I am glad there is a show forum here!

[joelene]

That is one of my favorite scenes as well. So beautiful. My ultimate favorite is Scudder's escape and demise. Sooo freaky and awesome.

[DittyDotDot]

I've spent that last few weeks doing a complete re-watch. It was glorious! What's weird is, I don't think I ever saw the last episode. I have no recollection of any of it. I remember thinking it was such a shame to end the show on Sophie hearing "this is your house." For some reason, I think I actually prefer it now though. The last episode was good, but it being far more plot driven, IMO, has me preferring the previous episode a bit more.

 

Still a most glorious re-watch! Never understood how this show never reached a cult following like some other shows though. I guess it's just not goofy enough.

[Quilt Fairy]

Deadwood was getting all the acclaim at that point and HBO pushed it more.  And this glorious little unsung show just didn't capture a wide-enough audience and HBO let it die.  Hell, maybe TPTB didn't understand it.  A lot of the time I didn't, either, but I kept watching.  I think it would do a lot better today.

It should have won an Emmy for the opening credits alone.

[Madam Captain]

Carnivale was excellent! I own both seasons on DVD and I have re-watched it  number of times. I think I read somewhere online that there were going to be 5 seasons of Carnivale originally, until it got cancelled. 

[Quilt Fairy]

9 hours ago, Madam Captain said:

I think I read somewhere online that there were going to be 5 seasons of Carnivale originally, until it got cancelled. 

That's why the ending feels so rushed and incomplete.  And if it had continued, maybe Nick Stahl's career (and life) wouldn't have gone into the crapper.

Edited November 30, 2018 by Quilt Fairy

[TheLovelyAnomaly]

On 11/30/2018 at 6:56 AM, Madam Captain said:

Carnivale was excellent! I own both seasons on DVD and I have re-watched it  number of times. I think I read somewhere online that there were going to be 5 seasons of Carnivale originally, until it got cancelled. 

That explains a lot. I watched the show last year and remember being like "what the hell?" when I finished the last episode. It was axed way too soon. At the very least we could have gotten a short season three, if only to tie up a few loose ends and give the show a sense of closure.