Carnivàle
Carnivàle title screen.
Genre	Drama, Mystery, Fantasy
Created by	Daniel Knauf
Starring	see Cast
Theme music composer	Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman
Composer	Jeff Beal
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	24 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Howard Klein Daniel Knauf Ronald D. Moore
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	approx. 45–60 minutes
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	September 7, 2003 – March 27, 2005

Carnivàle, pronounced /kɑɹ.nɪ'væl/ ("car-nih-VAL"),^[1] is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression. 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. The show was filmed in Santa Clarita, California and other Southern Californian locations.

Carnivàle was produced by HBO and ran for two seasons between September 14, 2003 and March 27, 2005. The show was created by Daniel Knauf, who also served as executive producer with Howard Klein. The incidental music was composed by Jeff Beal. Nick Stahl and Clancy Brown starred as Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin Crowe, respectively.

Early reviews praised its style but questioned the approach and execution of the story. Carnivàle's debut episode set a new viewership record for an HBO original series,^[2] but was unable to retain its ratings in its second season. Carnivàle was canceled after 24 episodes, cutting its intended six-season run short by four seasons. The show won five Emmys in 2004, was nominated for 10 further Emmy awards, and received numerous other nominations and industry awards between 2004 and 2006.^[3]

Plot introduction

The two seasons of Carnivàle take place in the Depression-era dust bowl between 1934 and 1935, and consist of two main plotlines that are slowly converging. The first involves a young man with strange healing powers named Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), who joins a traveling carnival when it passes near his home in Milfay, Oklahoma. Soon thereafter, Ben begins having surreal dreams and visions, which set him on the trail of a man named Henry Scudder, a drifter who crossed paths with the carnival many years before, and who apparently possessed unusual abilities similar to Ben's own.

The second plotline revolves around a Father Coughlin-esque Methodist preacher, Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown), who lives with his sister Iris in California. He shares Ben's prophetic dreams and slowly discovers the extent of his own unearthly powers, which include bending human beings to his will and making their sins and greatest evils manifest in the form of terrifying visions. Certain that he is doing God's work, Brother Justin fully devotes himself to his religious duties, not realizing that his ultimate nemesis Ben Hawkins and the carnival are slowly drawing closer.

Production

Conception

Daniel Knauf conceived the initial script for the show between 1990 and 1992 when he was unsatisfied with his job as a Californian health insurance broker and hoped to become a screenwriter. He had always been interested in carnivals but realized that this theme had not been dramatized. The resulting story and its treatment of freaks was strongly informed by his experiences of growing up with a father who was confined to a wheelchair and therefore not commonly accepted as a normal human being.^[4][5][6]

Knauf named the intended feature film script Carnivàle because of its plot setting, but he chose the unusual spelling for a more outlandish look. Knauf had plotted the story's broad strokes as well as several plot details from early on and knew the story destination up until the final scene. But he did not anticipate that the resulting 180-page long script was about twice in length compared to an average feature film script. He also felt that the script was still too compressed to do his story justice, and he consequently shelved it as a learning experience. In the meantime, all but one of Knauf's other scripts were rejected by Hollywood studios, often for being "too weird."^[4][6][7]

In the mid-1990s, Knauf met a few Writers Guild TV writers who inspired him to revise his Carnivàle story for television. Knauf turned the script's first act into a pilot episode, but having no contacts in the television business, he was forced to shelve the project again and returned to his regular job. A few years later, Knauf found his old career not working out and decided to give his screenwriter efforts a last chance by offering the Carnivàle pilot on his website. The script was subsequently forwarded to Howard Klein via Scott Winant, a mutual friend of the two men. After several meetings and conversations, Klein felt confident that Carnivàle would make a good episodic television series that could last for many years. Klein then brought it to the attention of Chris Albrecht and Carolyn Strauss of HBO, who were receptive immediately.^{[4][8][9][10]}

The pilot episode, which was filmed over a period of twenty-one days, served as the basis for additional tweaking of intended story lines. Supplemental material was written mainly for Brother Justin's side, but creative discussions among the writers and the network postponed the filming of the second episode for fourteen months.^[11][12] Knauf had originally designed Brother Justin as a preacher far along in his career as well as a recurring instead of a regular character. But after seeing the preliminary pilot, Knauf and the producers realized that there was no room for him to grow in a television series. Hence it was decided to make Brother Justin an ordinary Methodist minister in a little town, setting him back in his career for about one or two years. Expanding Brother Justin's role opened new possibilities, and the character of Iris was created as a supporting character around him. Little was changed on Ben Hawkins' side; only the Dreifuss family was added after a Carnivàle consultant called attention to his research about families managing cootch (striptease) shows in the 1930s.^[13][14]

Format

The Carnivàle story was originally intended to be a trilogy of two seasons each.^[15] This plan was abruptly changed when HBO canceled the show after only two seasons, although the first two seasons of Carnivàle still make up one finished book. Each season consists of twelve episodes.

Airing on HBO benefited Carnivàle in several ways. Because HBO does not rely on commercial breaks, Carnivàle had the artistic freedom to vary in episode length. Although the episodes averaged a runtime of 54 minutes, the episodes "Insomnia" and "Old Cherry Blossom Road" significantly departed with lengths of 46 minutes and 59 minutes, respectively. HBO budgeted approximately US$4 million for each episode, considerably more than what most television series receive.^[16][17] This increased Carnivàle's production value, allowing for a comparably large main cast, filming on location, and developing story, plot depth, and atmosphere.

Although almost every episode has a distinguished story with a new carnival setting, all episodes are part of an overarching good-versus-evil story that only culminates and resolves very late in Season 2. Many storylines are left ambiguous for long periods, such as the genealogical links between main characters and the significance of real-world mysteries like the Knights Templar and the Saunière manuscript in the show; the good or evil nature of the main characters are shady in the first season as well.^[18] Show creator Daniel Knauf reassured critics about the show's destination by explaining that Carnivàle was deliberately written to be open to interpretation to some extent, including the interpretation of the writer,^[19] but that the characters' free will options only make it seem like there was no destiny.^[20] In fact, the writers had established a groundwork for story arcs and character biographies before filming of the seasons began.^[21]

Historical production design

Carnivàle's 1930s Dust Bowl setting required significant research and relying on historical consultants to be convincing, which was made possible with HBO's strong financial backing. As a result, reviews praised the look and production design of the show as "impeccable,"^[22] "spectacular"^[23] and as "an absolute visual stunner."^[24] In 2004, Carnivàle won four Emmys for art direction, cinematography, costumes, and hairstyling.^[25]

To give a sense of the dry and dusty environment of the Dust Bowl, smoke and dirt were constantly blown through tubes onto the set. The actors' clothes were ragged and drenched in dirt, and Carnivàle had an estimated number of 5000 people to be costumed in the show's first season alone. The creative team listened to 1930s music and radio and read old Hollywood magazines to get the period's sound, language and slang right. The art department had an extensive research library of old catalogs, among them an original 1934 Sears Catalog, which were purchased at flea markets and antique stores. The East European background of some characters and Asian themes in Brother Justin's story were incorporated into the show. Except for the show's supernatural elements, a historical consultant deemed Carnivàle's historically accurateness to be excellent in regards to the characters' lives and clothes, their food and accommodations, their cars and all the material culture.^[5][26][27]

Filming locations

Carnivàle's interiors were filmed at Santa Clarita Studios in Santa Clarita, California, while the show's many exterior scenes were filmed on Southern Californian locations. The fictional Californian town of Mintern where the stories about Brother Justin and Iris in Season 1 were based were shot at Paramount Ranch in Malibu. The carnival set itself was moved around the greater Southern California area, to movie ranches and to Lancaster, which were to replicate the states of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.^[7][28]

Opening title sequence

Carnivàle's opening title sequence was created by A52, a visual effects and design company based in Los Angeles, and featured music composed by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman.^[29] The opening title sequence won an Emmy for "Outstanding Main Title Design" in 2004.^[25]

The production team of A52 had intended to "create a title sequence that grounded viewers in the mid-1930s, but that also allowed people to feel a larger presence of good and evil over all of time."^[29] A52 then pitched their idea to Carnivàle executives in early 2003, who felt that the company's proposal was the most creative for the series' concept. The actual production included scanned transparencies of famous pieces of artwork, each scanned transparency being up to 300 MB in size. The resulting images were photoshopped and digitally rendered. A last step involved stock footage clips being compiled and digitally incorporated into the sequence.^[29]

The opening title sequence itself begins with a deck of Tarot cards falling into the sand, while the camera moves in and enters one card into a separate world presenting layers of artwork and footage from iconic moments of the American Depression era; the camera then moves back out of a different card and repeats the procedure several times. The sequence ends with the camera shifting from the "Judgement" Tarot card to the "Moon" and the "Sun", identifying the Devil and God respectively, until the wind blows away all cards and the underlying sand to reveal the Carnivàle title artwork.^[29][30]

Music

Carnivàle features instrumental music composed by Jeff Beal, as well as many popular and obscure songs from the 1920s and 1930s, the time when Carnivàle's story takes place. The main title was written by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, and was released with selected themes by Jeff Beal on a Carnivàle television soundtrack by the record label Varese Sarabande on December 7, 2004.

Jeff Beal's score is primarily orchestral but mixes themes of bluegrass as well as atmospheric rhythmic and synthesized sounds. Bigger group of strings support smaller ensembles of guitars, pianos, violins, cellos and trumpets. The music sometimes uses ethnical instruments such as banjos, harmonicas, ukuleles and duduks.^[31]

Because HBO does not break individual episodes with commercials, Carnivàle's music is paced similar to a movie, with character-specific leitmotifs since as early as the first episode. Characters get musically identified by solo instruments chosen for the character's ethnical background or nature. Some characters whose connections would only be disclosed later in the series have intentionally similar themes.^[32]

Different music is consciously used to represent the two different worlds of the story. Brother Justin's world features music of constructed orchestral sound with religious music and instruments. On the other hand, the score of the carnival side is more deconstructed and mystical, especially when the carnival travels through the dustbowl and remote towns. For carnival scenes taking places in the cootch (striptease) show or in cities, however, contemporary pop music, blues, folk, and ethnic music is played.^[31][33] One of the most defining songs of Carnivàle is the 1920s song "Love Me or Leave Me" by Ruth Etting, which is used in several episodes to tie Brother Justin and several other characters thematically, and the two worlds altogether.^[32]

Cast

• Michael J. Anderson as Samson
• Adrienne Barbeau as Ruthie
• Patrick Bauchau as Lodz (Season 1, recurring Season 2)
• Clancy Brown as Brother Justin Crowe
• Debra Christofferson as Lila
• Tim DeKay as Clayton "Jonesy" Jones
• Clea Duvall as Sofie
• Cynthia Ettinger as Rita Sue Dreifuss
• John Fleck as Gecko (Season 1)
• Carla Gallo as Libby Dreifuss
• Toby Huss as Felix "Stumpy" Dreifuss
• Amy Madigan as Iris Crowe
• Diane Salinger as Apollonia (Season 1, recurring Season 2)
• Nick Stahl as Ben Hawkins
• Karyne Steben as Alexandria (Season 1)
• Sarah Steben as Caledonia (Season 1)
• Brian Turk as Gabriel
• Ralph Waite as Reverend Norman Balthus (Season 2, recurring Season 1)

Casting

The casting approach for Carnivàle was to cast the best available actors and to show the characters' realness as opposed to depending on freak illusions too much. Carnivàle's casting directors John Papsodera and Wendy O'Brien already had experience in casting freaks from previous projects. The producers generally preferred actors who were not strongly identified with other projects, but were willing to make exceptions such as for Adrienne Barbeau as Ruthie.^[34]

The script for the pilot episode was the basis for the casting procedure, with little indication where the show would go afterwards. This resulted in some preliminary casting disagreements between the creators and producers, especially for leading characters such as Ben, Brother Justin and Sofie. The character of Ben was always intended to be the leading man and hero of the series, yet he was also desired to display a youthful, innocent and anti-hero quality; Nick Stahl had the strongest consensus among the producers. The character of Sofie was originally written as more of an exotic gypsy girl. Clea Duvall recalled needing four auditions to get the part; Duvall, a movie actor like Stahl, had wanted to try for a regular role on television in the line of HBO when the opportunity for Carnivàle came up. Tim DeKay was cast as Jonesy because the producers felt he best portrayed a "very American" looking baseball player of that period. One of the only actors who never had any real competition was Michael J. Anderson as Samson, whom Daniel Knauf had wanted as early as the initial meeting.^[9][34]

Cancellation and future

HBO traditionally carries many of its shows through to an end, but stagnant low ratings and increasing production expenses made Carnivàle's future beyond a second season uncertain. Since HBO makes their commitments only for one year at a time, a third season would have meant to open up a new two-season book in Daniel Knauf's six-year plan, including introducing new storylines for current and new characters, and further clarifying and elaborating on the show's mythology.^[35] Fans assumed that the show would be renewed, but an internet leak announced in early May 2005 that the series would not be returning for a third season.^[36] HBO confirmed that the show had been canceled on May 11, 2005.^[37] HBO's president Chris Albrecht stated that the network would have considered otherwise if the producers had been willing to lower the price of an episode to US$2 million. But the running costs for the sizable cast, the all-on-location shooting and the number of episodes per season were too enormous for them.^[38]

Leaving several plot lines unfinished, the cancellation outraged loyal viewers, who organized petitions and mailing drives to HBO to get the show renewed. This generated more than 50,000 emails to the network in a single weekend.^[38] Show creator Daniel Knauf was unconvinced of the success of such measures, but also explained that alternatives like selling Carnivàle to a competing network or spinning off the story were not possible because of HBO owning Carnivàle's plot and characters. At the same time, Knauf was hopeful that, given a strong enough fan base, HBO might reconsider the show's future and allow the continuation of the show in another medium, although he made it explicitly clear that he would rather "leave Carnivàle unfinished than finished poorly" by a three-hour movie because of the amount of unused story material he still had.^[11][39][40]

Knauf would not release a detailed run-down of intended future plots to fans, explaining that his stories are a collaboration of writers, directors and actors alike.^[41] He and the producers however answered a few basic details about the immediate fate of major characters who were left in near-fatal situations in the final episode of Season 2. Knauf additionally provided in-depth information regarding the underlying fictional laws of nature that the writers had not been able to fully explore in the first two seasons. June 2007 however marked the first time that a comprehensive work of detailed character backgrounds was made public; following a fundraising auction, Knauf offered fans a so-called "Pitch Document", a summary of Carnivàle's first season originally written to give the writers and the studio an idea about the series' intended plot, which answered many of the show's mysteries.^[21]

As of September 2007, no news have been announced about HBO reviving Carnivàle. A February 2006 mediavillage.com article stated that HBO was planning to develop a movie or miniseries that would wrap up loose plot lines for a telecast in 2007, with the aim to resurrect the franchise as an ongoing series in 2008.^[42] HBO never responded to these claims.

Reception

Ratings

Carnivàle aired on HBO on a Sunday 9:00PM timeslot during its two-season run between 2003 and 2005. "Milfay", Carnivàle's pilot episode, drew 5.3 million viewers for its premiere on September 14, 2003. This marked the best ever debut for an HBO original series at the time, caused in part by established HBO series Sex and the City being the show's lead-in. HBO series Deadwood, debuting as the lead-out of The Sopranos, would beat this record with 5.8 million viewers half a year later, on March 21, 2004.^[2][43]

Viewership dropped to 3.49 million viewers for Carnivàle's second episode but remained stable for the remainder of the season. The final episode of season one finished with 3.5 million viewers on November 30, 2003. Season one averaged 3.54 viewers and a household rating of 2.41.^[44]

The second season opened with 1.81 millions viewers on January 9, 2005, down by two thirds of its debut viewership.^[45] The ratings never recovered to their first-season highs, although the season two finale experienced an upswing, finishing the season with 2.40 million viewers on March 27, 2005. Season 2 averaged 1.7 million viewers, not enough to avert an imminent cancellation.^[46]

Critical reviews

Many early reviews gave Carnivàle good marks but also stated that its unique characters and story might prevent it from becoming a huge mainstream audience success.^[47] Daily Variety TV editor Joseph Adalian predicted that "it will get mostly positive reviews but some people will be put off by the general weirdness of the show."^[47] Phil Gallo of Variety described Carnivàle as "an absolute visual stunner with compelling freak show characters—but the series unfortunately takes a leisurely approach toward getting to a point,"^[24] whereas James Poniewozik of Time called the first three episodes "frustrating" as well as "spellbinding."^[23] Amanda Murray of BBC said "With so little revealed, it's almost impossible to pass judgment on the show—it's hard to tell if this is just good, or going to be great."^[48]

Later DVD reviews were able to judge the series on the basis of full seasons. While the acting, set design, costuming, art direction and cinematography continued to be praised,^[49][50] some reviewers disfavored the writing, especially of Season 1, as "lack[ing] story momentum"^[50] or as "sometimes gripping but mostly boring."^[51] Other reviewers pointed out that Carnivàle may "demand more from its audience than many are willing to invest. [...] Without paying close attention, it's tempting to assume that the show is unnecessarily cryptic and misleading."^[49] Carnivàle's story was surveyed as long and complex, "and if you don't start from the beginning, you'll be completely lost."^[52]

A significant portion of reviews drew parallels between Carnivàle and David Lynch's 1990s mystery TV series Twin Peaks,^{[47][48][50][51]} a show that Carnivàle actor Michael J. Anderson had previously appeared in as a memorable character. Knauf did not deny a stylistic link and also made comparisons to John Steinbeck's novel Grapes of Wrath.^[6][20] When Lost began to receive major critical attention, Carnivàle and its type of mythological storytelling were compared to Lost's story approach in several instances.^[53][54][55]

Fandom

Like other cult television shows, Carnivàle gained a respectable following of dedicated viewers.^[50][52] Carnivàle fans referred to themselves as "Carnies" or "Rousties" (roustabouts), terms adopted from the show.^[56]

With its complexity and subliminal mythology, Carnivàle spawned dedicated fansites, although most discussion took place on independent internet forums. Show creator Daniel Knauf actively participated in online fandom and offered story- and mythology-related clues; he even gave insight into reasons for Carnivàle's cancellation on a messageboard before speaking to the press.^[17] As of July 2007, he is still in contact with the show's fandom and posts semi-regularly on Carnivàle messageboards.^[57]

One year after Carnivàle's cancellation, a major Carnivàle convention called CarnyCon 2006 Live! was organized by fans, and took place in Woodland Hills, California from August 21 till 23, 2006. Many of the show's cast and crew attended the event and participated in discussion panels. The convention was recorded and made available on DVD afterwards.^[20][58]

Awards

Despite its short two-season run, Carnivàle received numerous awards and nominations.^[3] The show's inaugural season received nominations for seven Emmy Awards in 2004, winning five including "Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series" and "Outstanding Costumes For A Series" for the pilot episode "Milfay", "Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series" for the episode "Pick A Number", "Outstanding Hairstyling For A Series" for the episode "After the Ball Is Over", and "Outstanding Main Title Design". In 2005, the second season received eight further Emmy nominations without a win.^[25]

Other awards include but are not limited to:

• Win – Artios Award: "Best Casting for TV, Dramatic Pilot", 2004^[59]
• Win – VES Award: "Outstanding Special Effects in Service to Visual Effects in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial", 2004^[60]
• Win – Costume Designers Guild Award: "Excellence in Costume Design for Television – Period/Fantasy", 2005^[59]
• Nominated – four Golden Satellite Awards, 2004^[59]
• Nominated – two Saturn Awards, 2004^[59]
• Nominated – two Golden Reel Awards, 2004^[59]
• Nominated – two VES Awards, 2004^[60]
• Nominated – Costume Designers Guild Award, 2005^[59]

International reception and broadcasters

HBO president Chris Albrecht stated that Carnivàle was "not a big show for foreign [distribution],"^[16] but to go into any more detail. Reviews however indicate that the show's cryptic mythology and inaccessibility to the casual viewer were major factors. Nevertheless, Carnivàle was sold to several foreign networks as well as being distributed to HBO channels abroad. The DVD releases of Carnivàle extended the availability of the show furthermore.

Countries and channels that broadcasted Carnivàle include:

• Australia on the ABC
• Belgium on Canvas, in 2005 and 2006
• Brazil on SBT and HBO Brasil
• Canada on The Movie Network
• Croatia on HRT
• France on Canal Jimmy, beginning 2004 (as La Caravane de l'étrange)
• Italy on Canal Jimmy, in 2005
• The Netherlands on VPRO, in 2005 and 2006
• Norway on NRK, beginning 2006
• Sweden on Canal+ Scandinavia, beginning 2004
• United Kingdom on FX, beginning 2004

Lawsuit

On June 9, 2005, a lawsuit was filed in United States district court by Los Angeles writer Jeff Bergquist. He claimed that the creators of Carnivàle did not originate the idea for the show, but rather stole it from his unpublished novel Beulah, a quirky drama set amid a traveling carnival during the Depression that Bergquist had been working on since the 1980s. Bergquist argued that HBO and Carnivàle creator Daniel Knauf violated his copyright on Beulah and sought both recognition and punitive damages, but HBO and Knauf denied any claims as having "absolutely no merit."^[61] The case was dismissed with prejudice on February 17, 2006.^[62]

DVD releases

References

External links

• Carnivàle at IMDb
• HBO's Official Carnivàle Site, including a complete list of music credits
• The Movie Network's Carnivàle site
• Jeff Beal's original scores for Carnivàle
• Save Carnivàle