Carnivàle
“Into each generation is born a creature of light and a creature of darkness.”
Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes Christian theology with gnosticism and Masonic lore, particularly that of the Knights Templar.
Details
First Aired: 9/14/2003
Languages: English
Created by: Daniel Knauf
Type: Scripted
Production
HBOCompanies: 3 Arts Entertainment, HBO
Countries: United States of America
Where to watch · US
Videos
Seasons
Season 1
Season 2
Specials
3 episodes
Gallery
Keywords
Reviews
tsdenizen
This show was insanely cool and had the potential to be one of HBO's best ever shows. Seriously, I'd take these two seasons over just about anything the premium channel has put out. There's a level of creativity and thoughtfulness that is near unheard of in TV. Unfortunately, these seasons amount to god-tier set-up for shit-hits-the-fan moments that we never got to see. As soon as we were going to get some big pay-offs, Carnivàle was cancelled. Nobody watched it: it was too slow, too smart, too weird for its time. This is one of the biggest creative what-ifs ever in my opinion. I still love these seasons, but rewatching them know that the story doesn't get its proper end isn't too appealing. Still can't rate it lower though: what we got was way too good.
