This is SOP for British TV. We run shorter seasons, of course, but some shows get their first two seasons in the space of a year - a 4-6 ep first season in the fall followed by a 6-8 ep season in the following spring is not unusual.
WAAAAH!
The link at hbo.com/carnivale for the trailer isn’t working for me! All it does is load and load and load and never finishes!
Is there anyplace else I can look at it? Even seeing who shows up–Sophie? Appolonia? Jonesy? Lodz?–will tell me a lot.
WAAAAH!
Gaahh! My SO and I were addicted to that show! The janitor is getting younger and younger, he and his wife have to run for their lives and then…Cancelled. Damn, but that pissed us off.
You’re not missing a whole lot, IMHO. The cuts were so dark and so quick, it was hard to make anything out. I think I saw Jonesy, Sophie, and Ben, of course, and the preacher.
But it was really hard to tell anything from the trailer, at least from my PC. I’m hoping HBO will start running it so I can run it slow and pause the darn thing. 
Vibe, hell! It has the same damn dwarf (Michael J. Anderson).
One of the things I absolutely love about HBO’s original programming is how they are willing to work with a series and allow it to develop over time. Carnivale is a wonderful show and I really liked that the finale didn’t tie everything up with a cute bow.
That being said, it looks like the beginning of this season will answer some questions for us.
I seem to remember an interview with the show runner who said there is a definite end they’re moving towards and that the whole thing should take 4 or 5 seasons.
It’s not exactly true that HBO lets shows go as long as they want; David Simon has said he has two more seasons of The Wire he wants to do but it’s by no means clear that he’ll get to do them.
–Cliffy
With at least a few of us who weren’t quite sure.
BTW, for those of you with HBO OnDemand, all of S1 is available until Jan. 9.
–Cliffy
Thanks for the replies, people.
Looks like I finally know what I want for christmas.
How many episodes were there? We started watching it at the very beginning, but my roomies lost interest and then I followed them in wandering away from it.
I work at Blockbuster and I can snap up the DVDs. Are there any key episodes I should make sure to talk my roomies into watching, so we’re primed for Season 2? I’m not sure I can convince them into sitting through what amounts to practically the entire season.
S1 was 12 eps.
–Cliffy
I don’t think you can just watch a few “key” episodes. Each episode refers to the other episodes–both past and future–and they build on each other. There are definite arcs for the characters, and so much is packed into a single hour that by skipping an episode you can miss the climax or the resolution or both to an arc.
But I guess if you really can’t sit through 13 episodes then Babylon, Pick a Number, The River, Day of the Dead, and The Day that Was the Day might be good places to start. Though you will probably still miss key information.
I have watched the first season and really liked it.
It was a bit slow, but the pay-off was pretty great.
I hated the final episode until I found a place to download the season 2 episodes (don’t worry, I will buy the original when it is released).
The second season so far has blown me away.
This is now my favourite show off all times!!