(Apologies in advance if I'm a little muddy -- miserable cold, sinuses backed up into brain.)
HBO is replaying season 1 of Carnivāle starting (from the beginning) on Monday 12/6.
I think Carnivāle is excellent. Very intelligent. Somewhat strange, but in a very interesting way. Beautifully done as a period piece (1934). Beautiful subtleties, & very detailed. Some mystical stuff, some historical stuff. Comparative religions, mythologies & philosophies. "Twin Peaks" is often mentioned, although I'm personally confident that those in charge of Carnivāle have more of a clue where we're actually going with this story.
The single biggest problem with recommending it to people is that I can't imagine how somebody could possibly drop in partway through the series & have any chance of sorting out what's going on. However, since they're replaying season 1 from the start, now is a good chance to catch it.
You're on your own for time zone corrections. (For example, in Phoenix, we have the east coast feed at 9:00pm, & the west coast feed at midnight. Punt.)
Mon 12/6 11:00 PM EST Carnivale 01: MILFAY
Tue 12/7 11:00 PM EST Carnivale 02: AFTER THE BALL IS OVER
Wed 12/8 11:05 PM EST Carnivale 03: TIPTON
Mon 12/13 11:05 PM EST Carnivale 04: BLACK BLIZZARD
Tue 12/14 11:00 PM EST Carnivale 05: BABYLON
Wed 12/15 11:00 PM EST Carnivale 06: PICK A NUMBER
Presumably the rest of season 1 follows in the subsequent weeks.
Now to complicate matters, they're also running a parallel "thread" of episodes on Saturday nights; however, that's up to about episode 7 already. So don't get those by mistake -- you'll be very confused!
Season 1 is also out now on DVD for those who want to catch up. I agree with you on both points - I absolutely LOVE Carnivale, and it's nearly impossible to jump right into it.
For those of us who are all caught up and are eagerly anticipating January 9th, there's a preview of Season 2 available on HBO.com's "Carnivale" site [link].
Could Smallville's new creative team be old TNA fans? That's the only reason I can think of for naming this week's episode "Abyss" and then topping it off with a preview for next week that showed DOOMSDAY!
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