HBO's 23-Year-Old Mystery Series Was Ahead Of Its Time

A 23-year-old mystery series on HBO didn't get the acclaim it deserved when it premiered in 2003, but years later, we can appreciate it for being far ahead of its time. The early days of HBO are an interesting time period. Some of the first original series on the network remain the greatest shows of all time.

The Sopranos, The Wire, and Six Feet Under are examples of HBO's first swings at original TV shows, and each of them is a homerun. So it's something of a surprise when you go back and look at those original series and find a show you haven't heard of, particularly one with a story that feels right at home on modern streaming.

Carnivàle debuted in 2003 and ran for 2 seasons before being canceled. Set during the Great Depression in the United States and in the Dust Bowl region of America, Carnivàle focuses on two plot lines that wind together over the seasons. The first involves Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), a young man with magical healing powers who joins a traveling carnival.

The second storyline follows Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown), a Methodist minister who discovers he has the ability to bend humans to his will and make their sins and fears manifest in visions. Both Brother Crowe and Ben have prophetic dreams that lead the two towards one another for a clash of wills.

The series was originally pitched with six seasons in mind, but when viewership for season 2 sank, the show was quickly ended. It's an incredibly arch-show, particularly for HBO, which was finding success in more grounded series, but going back to Carnivàle now, it's clear the series was ahead of its time.

Carnivàle Would Have Worked Better In The Streaming Era

Carnivàle was a show that would have greatly benefited from the streaming era. Because of how the plots are split, you sometimes feel like you are only getting half a show of each story. Back in 2003, when episodes were only coming out weekly, and with little in the way of hints of what's upcoming, that's asking a lot of your audience.

The series works a bit better as something you can binge, so that the deliberately slow storytelling doesn't feel too lethargic. It would also be a fantastic counterweight to the more young-adult low fantasy you find on streamers like Netflix these days. There is a niche that a period-drama, mature, fantasy series could occupy.

Carnivàle Was One Of The 2000s' Most Unique Series (& That Worked Against It)

There weren't really any shows like Càrnivale in the early 2000s, even on HBO. Six Feet Under, which came out in 2001, has some semi-mystical elements, and The Sopranos always dabbled in the surreal, but the characters in Carnivàle had straight-up superpowers. They may feel quaint by today's standards, but they are still powers.

The only real fantasy show of that era that wasn't directed primarily at young audiences was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and that was just as much influenced by horror and teen dramas as fantasy. Carnivàle was probably a bit too out there for what you might call a "prestige" audience. It was maybe three years too early.

In 2008, True Blood debuted on HBO Max and brought the kind of mature fantasy storytelling that Carnivàle was going for to the top of the pop culture pyramid. Perhaps if the series had premiered after True Blood, audiences would have been more open to it, and we could be rewatching six seasons of Carnivàle right now.