2003’s Carnivale delivered an engaging fantasy/supernatural genre entry with complex characters and intricate plotlines that was sadly cut short by its network, leaving its story incomplete.
What Is It?
This series follows a traveling carnival making its way through Dust Bowl America in the days of the Great Depression. A young man with strange powers joins the carnival at the behest of “management” and that sets him on the path for an eventual confrontation with the malevolent preacher Brother Justin Crowe who has achieved notoriety throughout the country
Aired: HBO, 2003-05, 2 Seasons Totaling 24 Episodes
Cast: Nick Stahl, Michael J. Anderson, Clancy Brown, Adrienne Barbeau, Tim DeKay, Clea DuVall
Crew: Daniel Knauf (Creator/Executive Producer), Ronald D. Moore (Executive Producer)
Legacy:
Carnivale delivered a rare entry among genre shows that combined intricately plotted stories, a fully realized setting, and complex, morally ambiguous characters into an ongoing arc that presented the viewer with challenging and engaging television, and it counts as must-watch television.
A Closer Look:
At a time when HBO was looking to expand on its original programming and distinguish itself from the episodic fare on the broadcast and cable networks, they took a flyer on this series from newcomer Daniel Knauf and delivered one of the most original dramas the genre has known. It’s really hard to sum up this series in just a few words, and the synopsis above barely scrapes the surface. Carnivale had an epic scope as it presented us with a riveting saga of good vs. evil and free will vs. destiny, but then it also had many intimate, human aspects to its story as well. Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin may have been the main focus of the show, but the ancillary characters don’t just fade into the background or provide filler action to pad out the hour. Each of these personalities come alive and offer their own stories and the actors do more than just play the roles, they actually become the characters. All involved with this series bring their A-game and help propel it into a rare, nearly flawless production.
The show could be somewhat slow at times and the stories were definitely dense. But this rarely bogs it down, it just encourages the discerning viewer to dive more deeply into the episodes. And there are many layers to be unraveled here as Knauf works in religious themes along with bits of mysticism to flesh out the mysteries laced into the overall story. This is a challenging show, awash with moral ambiguities and some not particularly likable characters, but that never works against the story, only makes it that much more enticing. And then there’s that driving, alluring soundtrack by Jeff Beal that beat Battlestar Galactica to the punch in incorporating Eastern-tinged musical themes to add to the dark ambiance of the show. (Ronald D. Moore was executive producer on Carnivale and he apparently took copious notes before moving on to the BSG revival.)
For genre fans who missed this one, I highly recommend you seek it out. Don’t be too concerned about the story leaving you hanging as the final episode of Season 2 provides a resolution of sorts, even if it does leave you wanting more. And it’s definitely worth your time to watch the full series as it provides a rare example of a first-rate genre production that avoids the compromises we see all too often from television productions.
Cancelled Too Soon:
Yes. Series creator Daniel Knauf originally envisioned this as a trilogy of “books” with each book comprising two seasons. And the series initially bowed to very strong ratings, but would see its numbers drop across its two-year run and would find itself truncated after completing only one of the three books. HBO actually wanted to continue the series, but it had grown too expensive and the viewership had dropped too far. They did offer Knauf the chance to do a two-hour movie to wrap the series up, but he knew that he could not compress the remaining story into that timeframe. Fans lobbied for HBO to produce a third series, allegedly sending in as many as fifty thousand letters in one weekend, but the cable network could not be convinced to keep the show going.
The Story Continues:
IMDb.com offers the following summary of where the story would have progressed if given a full six seasons (SPOILERS AHEAD):
Season three would have been set in 1939 around the time WWII was breaking out in Europe and it would have followed Ben and Samson who decide to find their friends from the carnival, who after season two finale all went their separate ways to have new lives including Jonesy who survived the shooting, and reassemble their old outfit to go and look for the hidden Templar scriptures. Ben is now the new Management and he picks up some of the old Management’s seedier traits. His wounds took long time to heal and in the process he lost his power to heal others. Meanwhile, Sophie has partially accepted her dark side and is now living with Brother Justin as his wife. He survived the confrontation with Ben only because the blade did not fully pierce his heart, but the blade’s shard is now permanently stuck in his chest, which has left him barely more than a shell of his former self and a puppet in Sophie’s hands. Therefore, Sophie and his sister now battle each other for full control over his still powerful ministry.
Season four would have seen the Carnivale going to Europe during WWII to discover the dark secrets of the medieval Templar order and find several amulets they left hidden that give the ultimate power to the bearer. In season five, they would have learned about the Manhattan Project and the competing Nazi atom bomb project causing them to attempt to stop the nukes from ever being used, since Ben sees it as the end of the Avatars and possibly humanity itself. In the sixth and final season, Ben would have faced Sophie only to discover that she is the Omega, meaning the only female and ultimately final Avatar, and that she had given birth to their baby who is the perfect combination of both light and dark traits. They figure that they must sacrifice their child to save the world but at the very end of the show, Ben realizes that nuclear weaponry is part of human progress and that there is no stopping progress. He concludes that humanity has finally evolved enough to become both its own worst enemy and savior and that the age of Avatars has come to an end with the atomic age since there’s no further need for them anymore. Professor Ernst Lodz was to return and become the servant of darkness only to realize at the very end what he had done and try to make things right one final time.
Should It Be Revived / Rebooted?
A reboot for this one would be a bad idea as the two completed seasons stand as a huge accomplishment for genre television and are definitely preferable to any attempt to restart the show from the ground up. A revival would be tough as well because a lot of time has passed since this show aired, but perhaps there would be a way to make it work. Knauf has tried to carry on the story in comics and in print, but HBO holds the rights and they have kept him from moving forward with that. Maybe at some point he could produce a series of novels to cover the trilogy he originally planned and that may be the best way to complete the story (I believe that fans should definitely lobby for this option). But it is also possible that we may never get more than the two television seasons produced.
Interesting Facts:
Daniel Knauf was a relative newcomer to the entertainment industry and yet in a rare move, HBO gave him considerable creative freedom with the show as well as an extensive budget.
Those wondering where they previously saw diminutive actor Michael J. Anderson who plays carnival manager Samson, need only go back and watch the first episode of Twin Peaks. Anderson played the dancing dwarf (aka “The Man from Another Place”) in that series. He also appeared in the X-Files episode “Humbug”.
Where Can You Watch It?
The complete series has been released on DVD, but it has not received the Blu-ray treatment yet. It is also available for streaming on Max.
