Carnivale
 

Anyone catch the first ep on HBO? I thought it holds promise - sort of reminds me of the old American Gothic - but much less cheeze.

Overall the acting seems top noch. We'll see about the writing...

It's interesting so far.
We'll see if they can continue.
I like the symbolism.

I fell asleep while watching it. Just didn't do it for me.

If they'd play it up more, have a little more fun with it, then I can see it being a great show. Right now it's just takes itself too seriously. There are stretches where not much happens, kind of like in the Sopranos. Except in the Sopranos when not much happens when not much happens the show takes on an observational quality which reveals little things about the characters (The crosscutting scene comes to mind where Furio and Tony are making dinner. Furio makes his from scratch and Tony reheats something Carmela made him in the microwave.)

In Carnivale when nothing happes, nothing happens, and it's just boring and the viewer learns nothing.

I really wanted to like this show, but so far it doesn't look good.

Dammit, I meant to watch this, but missed it. I saw the Behind the Scenes previews and thought it looked interesting. Usually I love HBO shows. Is it going to be aired again before the next episode? I only get one channel of HBO.

I thought it was interesting. Very slow at times, and some of it I just did not understand. I am waiting to find out what the deal is with the preacher and Ben. I will give it 2 more shows to really grab my attention.

I missed the first 10 minutes, so I went looking for when it would be shown again--in my area it won't be until next Sunday--on any of the HBO channels I get.

I liked it, though it has flaws--the pace is a bit slow, but I think there's potential--and a strong cast--I'll watch it again.

Well, I too was really excited to see this show. I watched it Sunday night. I do see some potential in it. But I wasn't absolutely blown away by the first episode like I was with Six Feet Under or (gasp!) Sex and the City. I'll give it a few more episodes and make my final call then.

I fell asleep...

I caught it last night on re-run.
I thought it was pretty sharp. I like Clea Duvall and Clancy Brown as actors.

About the story, I couldn't get into the Twin Peaks series, but this looks like something that I could.
Good and Evil is a great way to grab my attention, storywise.

Could someone please explain the significance of the grass at the end?
If possible, without spoiling it for others. Thanks. :)

I'm not sure......but here's what I think.....

I think that when Hawkins uses his power he has to sap his enviroment.

For instance, saving that cat and such might have been responsible for his mother's slow agonizing death. I think in the scene where he sits in the floor and cries in his mother's room they were trying to show the guilt he must have felt for being responsible for the illness and the helplessness of not being allowed to save her.

Same way with the girl. In order to help her he had to draw on the "energy" of the enviroment that's why it seemed to wilt away....

Of course, I could be completely wrong and have no friggin' clue what I'm talking about, so take that with whatever sense your momma gave you :)

Thank you, guthmund.
That gives me a whole new way to look at it.
It's better than the reason I thought of, imo.
I thought maybe the writers were trying to throw us a curve in to making us get to like Ben Hawkins then...wham! He's the bad guy. :rolleyes:

I like your version better, guthmund. ;)

My Tivo season pass manager has been updated

I was just flipping channels and saw a midget and stopped. I didn't know anything about it, but I thought it was pretty good.

Damn, I missed it! I was really looking forward to it too... Hopefully it will re-run on the weekend here.

It looks great. I love the feel of the show, but I'm worried about the writing. I'll try to come back and comment on it again when I've seen a few more episodes.

I've watched it twice. I love the feel, the texture of the show. It almost seems like you can taste the the grime and dust in your mouth. I think the midget is a superb actor, as is the guy who plays the preacher. It's intriguing. I'll keep watching it for the next few eps.

I'm hooked.

Lots of good character actors and a lot of questions brought up in the storyline that make me want to come back next week and get the answers.

If the rest are like the first two, I've found something good to watch on Sunday nights after the Simpsons.

Drat! I forgot to watch it last night. Time to go check the TV Guide.

The first episode was kinda slow but I still liked it. After watching the second....well....I'm hooked now. This show is really good at showing you just enough to keep you interested, and keep you thinking too. It left me with more questions than answers. Great show. :thumbsup:

I caught a repeat of it tonight. I like it a lot and completely agree with you. It's strange and a bit creepy, the actors are well cast, and the story draws you in. Well worth watching, nicely crafted show.

I think things are really starting to fal in place with the 3rd episode.
This show is pretty good, I'm enjoyin git.
Now to find out what Babylon is.

Darn it. Only saw one episode (maybe the third) while I was traveling. I thought it was interesting.
I may have to get HBO. (Nah, wait for the DVD!)

Hey Kidz...Time to Shake some Dust

I"m intrygued by it. Need to learn more.

So far I've watched every episode. It's beautiful, but slow. They pumped up the arrival to Babylon then once they get there Hawkin, or whatever Stahl's character name is didn't do anything.

I love this show, haven't missed an episode so far.

I think this is a great show. I can't wait to figure out what the hell is going on. I hope they don't leave me hanging at the end of the season.

I don't have HBO, but I did rent the first disc from my local video store. So far the show is amazing, one of the best shows I've seen since 24. I'm curious though, why is that the conversation stopped? No one has mentioned anything about this show in awhile, I mean, even if you guys hated I would think you would have posted some follow-up messages.

They've just played the first series in Australia on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.), which is great cause they have no ads at all during programmes. They played two episodes a week back to back. I really liked it.

I still don't have much of a clue what is going on, but they have bought the rights to season 2 as well... :)

Michael J. Anderson rocks *points to sig*

That's okay as you'll have no idea what's going on in season 2 either.

5 shows into season 2 and I have no friggin' clue what's going to happen. I'm a big fan of the show, I like it a lot, but I'm in the dark 95% of the time.

I'm just looking for some plot advancement. So far, five shows in, the formula has become a bit repetitive, especially in the carnival itself. Ben needs to find somebody, ends up finding out something odd that raises more questions and is told to go somewhere else to find somebody to learn something odd and raise more questions. The only bright spot in the show is Clancy Brown (I've been a big fan since The Highlander...). His character seems to be progressing nicely, which is something I can't say for ol' Ben, who, like I mentioned, seems to be stuck in a never ending loop.

I hope the writers find their rhythm as I really was a big fan of the first season.

Ok I just recently got addicted to this show and I have some questions from previous seasons:

1) Brother Justin is possessed by demons right?

2) Who is "Management?"

3) What is it with Brother Justin and always drinking milk?

That's about it.

I'll give it a shot.

1) I couldn't say for certain. He's certainly the bad guy, but since he's supposed to be "The" bad guy to end all bad guys, I wouldn't say he's possessed by demons, but rather "The" Demon. The whole show seems to be gearing up for a final show down between Good and Evil. Justin being Evil's agent on Earth and the boy being his opposite.

2) I don't know what you have seen and haven't so I'm going to put what I know in a spoiler. If you haven't seen any of the second season and don't wish the revelation to be spoiled don't highlight the text. If you know this already then I could go a bit further and share the dots I've connected.

Spoiler: Justin and Ben have roles to play in this grand game, but it seems these roles have been played before by others. Scudder and Management filled these roles before Brother Justin and Ben. I don't yet understand which man played which role, but they were definately filled by Scudder and Management. Management was the Russian soldier who lost his arm and both his legs that Ben keeps seeing in his dreams. As of the latest episodes...His name is Belyakov and has a son by the name of Alexsei Belyakov that he thought was dead. In fact, Alexsei Belyakov was saved by Priest who adopted them and raised them in the church. Alexsei Belyakov is Brother Justin.

3) You know I never really noticed it, but he does seem to drink a lot of milk. How odd.....

I'm a big fan of this show and would love to start a serious discussion about it as the HBO boards are at times difficult to read and filled with some strange folks.

I'd love to talk about it but i'm so confused i wouldn't be much good. I've seen every episode but I think i would have to watch them again 5 times each before I get what is going on.

Has this opinion changed after seeing the Damascus episode?

I thought a lot of things were tied together quite well; a lot of questions answered as well as new plot components presented.

Absolutely.

I assumed that the slower shows of the first part of the season were eventually going to pay off with one big episode. I just didn't realize how big the Damascus episode was going to be.

I also realize now that time had to pass 'within' the series. Justin had to build his following, the Sophie saga had to play out and the ties that bind Ben/Management/Samson had to be found. So, a substantial amount of time had to pass in the telling of the story. Dragging them from one city to the next in search of the next 'mystery person' wasn't the story, but just a way for the writers to accomodate the story.

I have to say, I've been quite pleased with the last few episodes.

And we get a triple-whammy this Sunday.

1) Next episode of Carnivale
2) Season opener of Deadwood

and......

3) Fat Actress!!!!! (Showtime has a free preview this weekend - started today)

screw Sopranos....i'm tired of waiting forever for the next season.....and then the season sucks.

Damascus was timed well.

They gave us enough info to go "Ohhhhhh" and enough new info to keep us watching (especially the last shot of the Damascus episode).

I was almost coming to a point where I was about to give up on the show. Luckily, I TiVo's all of this season's episodes (except 1 & 2) and watched them last night. I went to bed at 4am after the Damascus episode--I couldn't stop, I knew something was coming this time, unlike the previous two dozen times when we thought something was going to be discovered and we didn't learn squat.

Also, excellent twist with the Brother Justin/DA part--i honestly didn't see that one coming. Leading up to that scene, I was wondering what was going to happen.

Question - I missed the first couple of episodes, so I have no clue what is going on with Ralph Waite's character. Could you enlighten me (with spoiler tags, of course), thanks.

One more question: <span style="background-color: White; color: White;">Also, wasn't Lily dead at the end of Season One?</span>

I didn't see much of the first season, but have been watching most of the 2nd season. Who exactly is "Management" and what the hell happened to him? He's all deformed.