Carnivale (Season 2)... (1 Viewer)

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

I just got off the phone with DISH and cancelled HBO. Very dissapointed, but even moreso about the "natural conclusion" comment.

Actually, my wife and I catalogued it last night and since we only watch SFO and The Sorpranos on HBO, we decided we'll wait until they actually announce an air date for The Sopranos to see if we will re-up. We are giving up first-run SFO.

We have a history of this sort of thing. After SHO cancelled Odyssey 5 MID FRAKKIN SEASON we cancelled it and haven't gone back.

Speaking with his wallet...

 

[MikeyWeitz]

Anyone have a legit email addy @ HBO we can express our unhappiness to?

 

[Quentin]

VERY disappointed. I will stick around for Sopranos and SFU. But, I won't stay. Not even for Deadwood (which I find better on DVD anyhow).

HBO blew it. Too bad...

 

[JonZ]

I cant cancel HBO becuase Im a boxing freak and I love Deadwood.

But I gotta say its SO disappointing. We shoudl call the office as ask to speak to whats his name

 

[Jason Hughes]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Romier S]

I officially hate the fucking world.

 

[Joshua_W]

I'll be cancelling my HBO sub.

Part of its protest, but a part of it's that I don't want to spend money on it anymore. I'd rather rent or buy DVDs of movies than watch them on HBO, and "Carnivale" and "Deadwood" are the only original series I watch, and "Deadwood" hasn't been keeping my interest this season. "Sopranos" has stunk since the third season started, so I don't care about it any more.

I'll just use the money I spend on HBO to buy an extra book or DVD each month.

 

[Quentin]

I'm just posting again because I can.

HBO sucks.

 

[James_G]

I won't be canceling my HBO subscription, but I'm very disappointed. If the ratings are low and the show is too expensive...fine, I can deal with that more or less. However, don't shovel me a big, steaming pile of shit about the show being canned because it came to a natural conclusion and everything they wanted to do was accomplished. Don't insult my intelligence. Tell me the truth or keep it to yourself.

Bad form, HBO.

 

[KevA]

I thought Carnivale (especially the first season) was a superb show but I'll be in the drastic minority here (I guess) in saying that I felt that the show had a fairly "natural" conclusion as well. Since day one, Carnivale was about the eventual battle between Ben and Brother Justin and the forces of "good" and "evil" that they represented. Their transformation -- their understanding of their mythological selves -- seemed to be fairly complete and the battle between them took place. That was a powerful conclusion.

You can, of course, continue the mythological battle between "good" and "evil" indefinitely in a series like this. I think the ending of the last episode of the 2nd Season left this possibility open, but I certainly wasn't sitting there thinking, "wow, I wonder what's going to happen next."

In addition, it struck me that the 2nd Season had less of a sense of power and mystery than the first season and this would not bode well for potential future seasons. I thought (especially near the end) that it was getting a little too conventional and fell into "action" movie steretypes (to some degree) and excessive dramatics. There were still some tremendous episodes in the second season -- and some moments of great dramatic power -- but it was getting stale for me.

I cancelled TMN (which is the station that picks up HBO in Canada) after season 2 ended, but that was my plan anyway. I will re-subscribe as soon as the brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm (and later The Sopranos) returns, however.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

But it really wasn't the end, the battle. They had one confrontation and nothing was really resolved out of it.

 

[TravisR]

I know there was more story to come and questions left unanswered but at least we saw the confrontation between Brother Justin and Ben. However, I don't think HBO felt it came to a natural end. It's low (or not as high as they wanted) ratings and high costs are what drove it to a 'natural end'.

If the show had to end before they finished completely the story, I'd rather see it go now. It sure beats getting two stories (four seasons) finished and having HBO cancel the show when they are gearing up for Season Five or Six when they'd be right near the true end of the tale.

 

[Joshua_W]

Actually, "Carnivale" wasn't about the battle between "light" and "darkness." It was about the FINAL BATTLE between light and darkness, which would've culminated with the explosion of the atomic bomb at Trinity, when man forever traded wonder for reason.

The two season that were produced were only the beginning.

 

[MikeyWeitz]

http://savecarnivale.blogspot.com/

Email your displeasure:

[email protected]

[email protected]

 

[RobertW]

for all those talking about cancelling HBO. while i regret the ending of the show, you have to give HBO credit for actually airing a series like it, or Deadwood, or the Sopranos, or the Wire. cancelling HBO simply means that you end up missing the next quality series that they come up with.

not many networks are taking the chances that HBO is with their programming. i think they deserve a little patience, instead of knee-jerk negativity.

series air, series get cancelled. something else always comes along. be a shame to miss it just to throw a petulant hissy-fit.

 

[Alex F]

TV shows don't come as good as Carnivale. While I certainly do appreciate HBO and their efforts to better television (I'm definitely not cancelling my subscription), if they REALLY wanted to do something daring, they wouldn't pussy out of this one, and they'd take TV up a notch by showing the full arc of Carnivale. I guaran-fucking-tee you that Carnivale would have picked up steam if they continued it, and upped the promotion levels.

Did you see any promotion for Carnivale? I definitely didn't. And if you look at the numbers, Carnivale's audience GREW and the season finale had the highest ratings of the entire series so far... up the freakin' promotion, show commercials with clips of the most amazing, daring scenes in the show (like, oh, I don't know, anything from the season 2 finale) and PEOPLE WILL WATCH IT. daniel knauf agrees with me on this.

my only hope (and this is reaching for it) is that HBO strikes gold again with some new show and makes tons and tons of money and then they'll be able to fund the completion of Carnivale, the Greatest Television Show Ever.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Alex, I agree. They should have taken the bold step and kept the show on. Done more to promote it and the fan base would have grown. While HBO has been good about their series, I feel this giving up on Carnivale is the first step in compromising their standards. Several years from now, a series like Carnivale or Six Feet Under, (or many of the others), may not have the same kind of chance on HBO, that these series have had in the past.

 

[ChadMcCallum]

What a huge letdown. Carnivale was the best show on tv. I liked it better than 24, The Shield and Lost and season 2 got better and better with each new episode. What really pisses me off is that they could have wrapped the show up at the end of season 2. It would have been a crappy ending but it would be better than nothing. If HBO really cared about the show they'd sell the rights to someone else. Hopefully they do.

If we can't have the show back then I hope HBO allows a graphic novel to be made so the story can have an ending. You can't leave it where it is. Its not fair to the fan's and all of the people who worked on the show.

 

[TravisR]

I think the comic book would be a perfect format for them to continue the story in. It's still a visual medium and they'd have the freedom to do what they wanted with the story too.

Now whether Knauf has any desire (or abaility) to continue the story that way is another matter

 

[SarahG]

There's still some decent stuff out there. Have you seen Deadwood? I hope they can keep it up and have some diversity. I don't think Entourage alone is the "future" of HBO. I think it's a good show and in connection with some other good shows, they'll all do alright.