Where was I when the critically acclaimed HBO series Carnivale ran through its sadly curtailed and short-lived two seasons (2003 - 2005)? Let's see...oh right--I was scraping by as a lowly Hollywood assistant with no expendable income to spend on outlandish extravagances like premium cable.
I stayed up past my bedtime the other night watching the two first episodes of Season 1 on DVD and basically freaking myself out (my roommate was gone so I had to keep all the lights on!). This is some strange, disturbing stuff, but somehow I couldn't look away.
The show has been on my Netflix queue and List of Things to Do for several years running because of 1) all the great things I've heard about it and 2) my long-standing celebrity crush on Nick Stahl (since 1993's Man Without a Face--yes, Garry, even though he was a pansy in T3), which has outlasted even my long-standing celebrity crush on Joseph Gordon-Levitt (since 1994's Angels in the Outfield). I mean, I even dragged my friends to watch Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill, something I am none to proud to admit.
Anyway, I can safely say that no role has been better suited to Mr. Stahl, and he has never been better, than in the role of Ben Hawkins, the taciturn, young, and recently orphaned Okie farmer with healing abilities that gets picked up by a motley band of carnival freaks. The show is thick with mythology, almost too smart for its own good, and yet strangely compelling, especially if you're a romantic. Because there is something deeply and darkly romantic about the whole idea of social outcasts eking a living alongside the ordinary folks they entertain, who love and yet despise them, even though the whole thing's rather violent and dysfunctional.
Episodes 3-4 arrive in the mail today. I'm so excited!
