HBO is really just about the only TV I watch anymore. Yeah, I know there are those people who say "I never watch TV" but they mysteriously forget the 20 hours a week they aimlessly flip channels. I'm guilty of vegging on the occasional
West Wing marathon or
motorcycle race, but otherwise the remote sits pegged to channel 98 because that's just about the only place I find stuff worth watching.
Carnivale was one of the more worthwhile addictions I developed over the past two years. I found the first season a bit vague and unsatisfying, but that time spent developing characters paid big dividends in the second season as the interconnections and alliances coalesced into confrontation. And just as the series promised to resolve its focal conflict between
Ben and
Brother Justin, the finale bolted for the cliff and hung the audience over the edge awaiting season three. How will
Sofie fit into the conflict? What happens to Justin after his healing? Why did
Jonesy have to get shot?
Well, it seems as though those questions will never be answered, because HBO has done something unusual and
canceled a Sunday night series well before its time. I don't follow TV ratings, but I had assumed that Carnivale was nearly as popular as
Six Feet Under or
Deadwood. Apparently not. This isn't like
Star Trek, where the franchise ran out of steam about 2 series before
Enterprise limped prematurely off the air. The shame is that this series burst with creativity and had ample stories left to tell about its characters, let alone the primary story arc.
There is some solace, in that the show's creator is keeping mum on future story lines in the hope that Carnivale may yet see the light of day. I'm not holding out hope for a
Family Guy-esque revival – this is an expensive production involving period detail and top talent, not line drawings done in Korean sweatshops – but in this media-retarded culture that seems to have an unending appetite for sci-fi franchises and Martin Lawrence vehicles to fill the dearth of creative offerings, someone will eventually pay to revive a known commodity like Carnivale.
In the meantime, Dan Knauf offered this tidbit of wisdom to fans, via the Carnivale Yahoo! group (courtesy of
creamycenter on the
CHUD forums):
Of course you're owed something, but not a cheap slap in the face like a quick, bloodless rundown of what happens to the characters through the end of the story.
Carnivale has never been about the destination. After all, look around. We're all still here, so we know the devil didn't have his day and bring on Armegeddon, despite the successful tests at Alamogordo. The destination is self-evident.
You want to know the end of the story? Look in the mirror.
No, Carnivale is and always has been about the journey. And that is all in the telling.
In order to protect the telling, I won't ever release a "quick digest" of future plots. And it would be BS anyway if I did, because even though I may know the "recipe," the actual "cooking" happens in a room with other writers, all of whom add their own ingredients. And then there's the directors, who brings stuff to the party. And the department heads, of course. And the
actors, who have a huge impact on interpreting the characters' behavior.
So I'll be taking a tip from J.K. Rowling, and the tale will stay inside my head until the opportunity comes around that will allow me to finish it and do it justice. Please do not ask me. My least favorite word in the English language is "no," but I'll use it. Again and again and again and isn't that boring? My lips are sealed.
All except for this because, damnit, it's just not fair to leave you hanging:
Neither Ben nor Justin are dead.
Jonesy recovers from the gunshot wound.
