Product Description

1934. The Dustbowl. The last great age of magic. In a time of titanic sandstorms, vile plagues, drought and pistilence - signs of God's fury and harbingers of the Apocalypse - the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. The battle will take place in the Heartland of an empire called America. And when it is over, man will forever trade away wonder for reason. See the conflict of good vs. evil played out against a pair of vivid and unusual backdrops: a traveling carnival working the American Dustbowl circuit, and an evangelical ministry in California.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:3 Audio Commentaries with Creator Daniel Knauf, Executive Producer Howard Klein and Directors Rodrigo Garcia and Jeremy Podeswa
Featurette:"Making of Carnivale" Featurette detailing how set and costume designers collaborated to achieve the look of the Dustbowl in the 1930s

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1448 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-12-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Russian
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.20 pounds
• Running time: 720 minutes

Amazon.com
Carnivàle doesn't waste any time making its--wildly ambitious--aims clear. As carnival manager Samson (Michael J. Anderson, Twin Peaks' diminutive backwards-talker) notes in pilot episode "Milfay," directed by Rodrigo García (son of Gabriel García Marquez), "To each generation [is] born a creature of light and a creature of darkness." With that the story begins. The year is 1934, the setting the Oklahoma dustbowl. In short order, Ben Hawkins (In the Bedroom's Nick Stahl) loses his mother and his home. He's poor, he's alone--he needs a job. So he joins Samson's carnival, en route to the West. Hawkins, naturally, is the good guy. Waiting for him in California is the not so good Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown, The Shawshank Redemption), a fire and brimstone preacher with supernatural powers and a fiercely loyal sister (Amy Madigan). Hawkins, as it turns out, has similar powers....

Created by Daniel Knauf (Wolf Lake), Carnivàle feels like David Lynch (weird, slow, occasionally kinky), plays like American Gothic (Shaun Cassidy's cult series about a good kid and an evil sheriff), and looks like John Ford's Grapes of Wrath. It features one of television's most colorful casts of characters. They include Sophie (Clea DuVall), who reads fortunes--with her comatose mother's assistance, the vaguely sinister Lodz (Patrick Bauchau), blind absinthe-drinker and mentalist (he can see both the future and the past), and Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), snake charmer, strongman's mother, and all-around maternal figure. By the final episode of the season ("The Day That Was the Day"), also directed by García, one of these characters will be dead. Carnivàle won five richly deserved technical Emmys for its first year, including awards for cinematography and art direction. Like HBO's edgy Deadwood, it's period drama for people who don't normally like period drama. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

We Live By A Code...
Amazing show, but PAINFULLY slow. It took about two episodes to get me hooked, but once it did, Carnivale delivered. The characters and their actions keep the viewer interested even when the "main story" isn't moving along. No matter how slow, each episode seems to have a "pay-off" style ending with a surprise or twist in store for the dedicated viewer. I wish I could give this series more than three stars, but, to be honest, this series is only going to truly intrigue a hardcore fan of the genre.

One of the best yet lesser known shows to ever be on TV.
I'm a big fan of many of the HBO TV series that have come out in the past including Soprano's, The Wire, Entourage, Deadwood, etc. and I beleive this is definatly one of the best. It's full of suspense has an incredible story and keeps you watching for hours on end. More than worth the money for anyone who loves HBO.

Very good but not for everyone
I bought this show on a whim after enjoying a few other HBO series(The Wire, Deadwood, etc) and was ultimately satisfied. While some people on here complain about the pacing, I was able to deal with it. I felt like the season built up to an exciting and satisfying ending. While the middle episodes may drag a bit, the cinematography and set designs make up for it. I'm not very technically or visually inclined but even I noticed the great outdoor shots in this series. I thought the characters were interesting and the creator made an interesting little world.