La caravane de l'étrange

Really loved this weird show when it first aired on HBO back in 2003, wonderful sets, actors, costumes and bizarre story line. You could feel the grittiness of the dust bowl. Such a shame the way they were forced to close up show in season 2 and left a lot unanswered. I don't get how this show couldn't barely get 2 seasons, but the idiot freak show that is the Kardashians, is still all over the place in 2020.

Carnivale is absolutely brilliant. I am amazed at every episode. The story unfolds with wonderfully colorful layers that constantly change the way you look at it. At times, the acting seems a little forced. With a cast of such talented actors I have to believe that that is the fault of the production itself. Nick Stahl, however, gives an absolutely flawless performance every time. He's really grown into his talent (and looks!). I am most impressed by the writing, the way the human aspect of the characters is so well interwoven with the macabre imagery. A production with this kind of theme and these kind of characters could easily turn campy and yet it doesn't. There's no way a show like this should be believable, but it is.

Carnivale will take you on a journey beyond the normal human boundaries into a world where weirdness and metaphysical wonders will capture your imagination. Once hooked in from the beginning, it is a feast in every sense of the word as you will keep wondering how it will unfold, what course of events will follow. Definitely a story for thirsty adults who are bored with plot driven formulas, and long to enter a world of magic. The acting, visuals, and story delivers!

The story focuses on Ben Hawkins, a young man who knows he has the power to heal set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. Ben is "lost" and picked up by a traveling Carnivale where seen by the unseen management who spots what Ben really is. Ben's healing power can bring you back from the dead, not just heal you from being crippled as seen in the very first episode, which completely hooked me and I only saw the last few minutes of the show.

Ben must come to understand how to use his gift and exactly what seems to happen when the "avatar energy" comes through him. There is conflict inside Ben that creates the back drop for the rest of the story as he figures out who he is. The images inside Ben's mind are both artful and intriguing which keep you wanting to know more. In Carnivale the characters grow and develop, each weaving a wondrous part in the tapestry of good and evil.

Some say Carnivale starts out slow, however the level of acting, and story telling delivers past the point fascination, and nothing else out there even comes close!!

Just finished watching this show today, 20+ years after its release, and comparing it to the utter (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) crap released today it should make anyone wonder what's happening in the world of cinema and story writing. Everything in this series just works. The casting is superb, the dark cinematography is stunning, the sets are inspiring, and being a spiritual being, the story is beautifully crafted. Clearly would have loved to see some more seasons, but I guess today's viewers would prefer seeing more remakes of Star Wars, and 3D versions of every Disney movie ever made. Yeah, sarcasm bites, and it's supposed to, but I guess the viewers themselves are to blame and no-one else. Anyways, hope to see some more productions like Carnivàle, and actually increased the rating for this almost perfect show from an 8 to a 9. Maybe HBO will get the hint... who shall say.

Leave it to the same cable network who gave us "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under," to find the nexus where the likes of John Steinbeck, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Ray Bradbury could co-exist and produce such a product of dark, disturbing and eerie wonder as this.

If Daniel Knauf is not David Lynch masquerading as someone else, then they are indeed cinematic soul mates.

How else could you explain the daunting premise of setting such a classic struggle of good vs. evil, in the bleak, Depression-ravaged setting of the Oklahoma dust bowl, circa 1930's?

It's a good sign that wherever the overall story arc is going, it was engaging enough to attract some top notch talent, from both mainstream features and more edgy, independent fare. TERMINATOR 3's Nick Stahl and HIGHLANDER and BUCKAROO BANZAI cult fave Clancy Brown face off as a poor dirt farmer and a charismatic preacher, respectively, both of whom seem to possess extraordinary supernatural gifts that neither understands, nor has the power to completely control. One is a "creature of light," while the other is a "creature of darkness," as intoned in the opening monologue by carny boss Michael J. Anderson, (of "Twin Peaks" fame, cementing the Lynchian vibe). The fact that the identity of each is never clearly or inanely foreshadowed or telegraphed to the audience, is one of "Carnivale's" many compelling hooks.

Add to the mix the usual collection of sideshow oddities, portrayed more than ably by some interesting actors: internationally renowned actor Patrick Bachau as Professor Lodz, the "blind" clairvoyant; Clea DuVall (IDENTITY and THE FACULTY) as Sophie, the tarot card reader with a telepathic yet comatose mother; Tim DeKay (BIG EDEN) as the boss' right hand man and Sophie's "love interest." And yes, there's a set of cojoined twins, a bearded lady, a tattooed "monkey man" with a tail (if that's what he is.) Even genre staple Adrienne Barbeau gets into the act as the mother of the strongman, (and if the previews are any indication, her part in all of this gets MUCH bigger later on.)

We even get the shamefully underused and underrated John Savage, in some mysterious and creepy flashbacks that seem to combine visions that would have not been out of place in any of Ken Russell's films, (particularly TOMMY or ALTERED STATES.)

This is the kind of television that TV rarely does anymore, dark, gritty, disturbingly inventive. No wonder the networks are slowly dying, since cable is quickly becoming a safe haven for filmmakers who dare to take the kinds of risks that make their audiences think "outside the box."

I only hope that "Carnivale" will continue to sustain and build upon the premise and the promise it presents in the first episode.