"Circus" on PBS [open spoilers]

Cafe Society
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I was out Wednesday evening, so missed the premiere of this – yay for PBS, they reran it this afternoon.

Fascinating behind the scenes look at the Big Apple Circus, a one-ring circus (which, unlike Cirque de Soleil, does use animal acts). It looks at a series of individuals from the beginning of rehearsals through … well, through the dress rehearsal, in the first two episodes, don’t know how many episodes there are total.

Really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to the rest of the series. Is anyone else watching?

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I saw it this afternoon, too, first two episodes, and really enjoyed it. Loved the interviews with the Grunts who do the hard labor, and the trapeze artists trying to work together as a troupe.Those gals have amazing shoulder muscles!

I really loved the high wire artist, Sarah Schwartz. She’s incredible, and loved her use of Blues music in her act.

I’m definitely gonna watch the rest of the series, and, next time a circus comes around here, go to it, if not run off and join.

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We watched it and thought it was very good.
I thought that 2 hour show was all there was - and then saw another new two hour part is coming next week.
Don’t know how many there are in total, but will continue to watch.

Interesting to see how the show came together, and interested in seeing how they progress. Reminds me of a documentary awhile back about people who travel with carnivals. It takes a special kind of person to live that life (with a carnival or circus) and I find it fascinating to learn about them.

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Yeah, she’s amazing.

I also loved the stuff in the first episode about Yuri, who they’re interviewing as just another working guy, and who turns out to be a serious whack job. Bizarre!

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I have family members who travel with a carnival for most of the year. They have four kids, although 2 of them lived with their mom during the school months, so only traveled in the summer. They are all grown now but the youngest, who is in high school. We always went to visit if they were within a few hours of us, and it really was fascinating to see how they worked things out, how they did schooling, what they did in off months, etc. The husband had grown up in a carnival family, so that is what he knew. They did get out of it last year, and are now trying to adjust to living in one place.

I haven’t seen this show yet, but I’d love to! And I just checked – the first two episodes are online!

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Linky?

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:slight_smile:

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thanks! (who, me, lazy? :D)

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Watched the first ep a little while ago; probably going to watch the next here in a minute. Fascinating stuff. Kinda makes me wanna run off… heh.

Any idea what the title music is, or is it something done up for the show? I tried using Shazam on it, but no luck.

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Reminder that tonight is “Circus” night.

Apparently there are six episodes in all, which they’re showing over three weeks.

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I interviewed the producer of this series, Jeff Dupre, for our magazine (I work at a PBS affliliate). He’s from our state, so we had the local angle. He also produced Carrier, about the lives of the people onboard a military aircraft carrier, for PBS, and to him they have similarities. Here’s an excerpt from the story I wrote:

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I found the middle-aged first-time clown, on whom they focused much of the second hour, to be, um, over-sharing. But I love the way the company bends over backwards to keep everyone on that it can. It looks like a company that’s really trying to live up to Google’s “Don’t be evil” slogan.

I assume that’s the guy whose wife was one of the horse grooms? I felt bad for her, because she seemed quite together. And ultimately, the whole business seemed to have been some kind of misunderstanding, I thought, but it really never was clear.

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Yeah. And you know that the filmmakers were totally “oh shit” that they hadn’t been around for the conversation(s) that led to the guy getting arrested.

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So was I (going “oh shit”). And usually I think these shows are too intrusive. But in this case, it was more a matter of “what the heck is going on???”

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It’s called “Whatever Gets You By”, by a band called The Features.

I wish they listed all the music they’re using. There’s a song in the 3rd episode with the line “I’m high above the patchwork of Ohio”, and I’d love to know who sings it and what the song’s name is, but it’s not in the list of credited music.

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Weird to worry about spoilers in a documentary series – but since there’s an unfolding story, I really don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet!

Wow, what a shock that they just fired the flying troupe – seriously, why didn’t they do it before they all drove to Virginia? And then a second surprise when Harmony came back; and a third when she left again. That wasn’t at all explained – I gather she wanted to see what happened with her boyfriend?

Speaking of boyfriends, there’s Tara and Tom, which apparently isn’t going to end well, and Yuri’s wife and the black guy … WTF.

And the whole clown subplot – all rather unclear. Is midlife crisis guy’s act working out? Is he bothered by the exclusionary tightness of the other two?

Plus the change of command at the top – is ringmaster guy just retiring, or what? His reasons for stepping down are not at all clear to me.

So much drama!

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So much drama, and so little clarity! I wish they’d spend a little less time being arty, and a little more time explaining what’s happening.

The pony died. That was my biggest shock. I’m not usually a fan of miniature things: I prefer St. Bernards and Mastiffs to Yorkies and Pekes. But that pony was cool (feisty little bugger, though!). Broke my heart.

Then, of the three candidate ringmasters, they want to choose the one who sang “Candy Man” excruciatingly off-key? If he was doing comedy, it sure wasn’t clear! I preferred either of the other two candidates!

I think Mark, the younger of the two real clowns, to be rather hot. He really nailed “Singin’ in the Rain!” However, I think there was a guy there waiting for a date with him. sigh. It figures.

As to the budding relationships, WTF indeed! Yuri’s wife seems like an otherwise really together girl whose judgment in men is less than stellar, but maybe the Colorado thing will work out. The black guy seemed to think Yuri was some kind of neo-Nazi? Maybe Yuri’s wife is just a drama junkie.

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God, I’d forgotten about the ringmaster auditions – yeah, I had the same reaction, when whatshisface said “one is clearly not in the running,” I thought “the guy who can’t sing on key, right?” Wrong. Sigh. Wonder if we’ll see more of what happens there next week, or whether that’s all for the next circus season.

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But even to my untrained eyes, I can say that the Cortes fliers were better than the Neves. So even though the Circus people behaved badly in dragging the latter down to Virginia before cutting them, I think it was the right decision to cut them.

I’m not clear as to whether there’ll be more shows or what. Fascinating as it has been, this series could have been much better. I think it might have benefited from a narrator telling us what was actually going on. The whole thing has been a tad incoherent.

The twin jugglers were interesting. I wonder what the one who isn’t interested in med school is going to do.

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twickster: just wanted to say thanks for mentioning this series as a thread. I’d never heard of it, and am really looking forward to watching the on-line stuff and rest of show. I’ve read enough just now to think its worthy of watching :slight_smile: