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  Average Rating for Carnivale - Series 1 [2003] - 4 out of 5

  
  (based on 1 user reviews)
• Carnivale - Series 1 [2003]

  Jeanette Wilburn 04 October 2007

  

  This is a superb series, it was recommended to me by a friend, it was shown in the US but wasn't a great hit over there so only did 2 series, such a shame. However, it is about how opressive the US was in the 1930's so maybe they don't like the truth. I don't think it was ever aired in the UK. I loved it. It is a great story and completely compelling, it tells of the lives of a travelling carnival folk, it is also about good and evil. It is addictive and you can't just watch one episode.

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Like a cross between TWIN PEAKS and THE GRAPES OF WRATH, HBO's acclaimed television drama CARNIVALE fashions an allegorical fable about the mythic battle of good and evil set against the surreal backdrop of a Depression-era travelling circus. Having lost both his farm and family to the 1930s Dust Bowl, recent prison escapee Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl, IN THE BEDROOM, BULLY) joins an itinerant carnival in a desperate bid to escape poverty, the police, and his own discomfort with his miraculous healing powers. Ben's story is juxtaposed with that of California preacher Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION), whose evangelical ministries with sister Iris (Amy Madigan) take on increasingly sinister overtones and hint at an eventual confrontation between himself and young Hawkins--whose fate seems somehow intertwined with his own through the mysterious figure of former circus showman Henry Scudder (John Savage). As the series leisurely builds to this apocalyptic showdown, there is much drama to be found in the daily goings-on of the carnival denizens. Lorded over by the pint-sized Samson (TWIN PEAKS' Michael J. Anderson) and the strangely unseen Management, the ragtag collection of sideshow freaks features blind soothsayer Lodz (Patrick Bauchau); his bearded-lady companion Lila (Debra Christofferson); matronly snake charmer Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau); her strongman son Gabriel (Brian Turk); Siamese twins Alexandria and Caledonia (Karyne and Sarah Steben); the lizard-man Gecko (notorious NEA Four performance artist John Fleck); and, most intriguingly, catatonic tarot-card reader Apollonia (Diane Salinger), who communicates telepathically with her sensitive but troubled daughter Sophie (Clea DuVall). Rounding out the eccentric troupe are wounded former baseball-player-turned-roustabout Jonesy (Tim DeKay) and a family of strippers and prostitutes comprised of mother Rita Sue (Cynthia Ettinger); her daughters Libby (Carla Gallo) and Dora Mae (Amanda Aday); and their pimpish father Stumpy (Toby Huss). Creator Daniel Knauf surrounds this impressive cast with impeccable period-piece production design, a rotating roster of directorial talent that includes Alison Maclean (JESUS' SON) and Rodrigo Garcia (fittingly, son of magical-realist writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez), and innovative storytelling that is at once supremely creepy, intellectually provocative, and emotionally gripping. This collection includes all 12 episodes of the series' highly addictive first season. Rated: Suitable for 15 years and over

All 12 episodes from the first season of HBO's surreal, sepia-toned drama series, which follows a travelling carnival troupe around the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Episodes are: 'Milfay', 'After the Ball is Over', 'Tipton', 'Black Blizzard', 'Babylon', 'Pick a Number', 'The River', 'Lonnigan, Texas', 'Insomnia', 'Hot and Bothered', 'The Day of the Dead' and 'The Day That Was the Day'.