Crap, two months late I find out that Carnivàle has been cancelled after just two seasons. And I haven’t seen a single episode yet, just drooled over it.
I remember the first time it hit me that it wasn’t good enough for a tv series to be interesting and fascinating (then again, as we see with Carnivàle, not even multiple Emmys do the trick). It was when a friend showed me the eight existing episodes of Profit (1996), where golden boy Jim Profit schemes, climbs and gets his way in the shark eat shark world of multinational business… and sleeps his nights in a cardboard box. There was something seriously intriguing in the story and how it was weaved. I couldn’t believe the show had been cancelled.
Since then it has become the thing to expect, of course. At least Carnivàle got two full seasons. Buffy the Vampire Slayer got seven (1997-2003)! So it’s not like they all end up mutilated through amputation or “we want more sex/action/cliches so that it sells better and let’s air the existing episodes in the wrong order, too” from the producers. Poor Firefly (14 episodes 2002). Poor Crusade (13 episodes 1999). Would have wanted more Farscape (1999-2003) and Angel (1999-2004), too.
As a sidenote, when Kaitsu moved to US he was getting rid of his VHS tapes. The first thing I asked him was whether he still has Profit on tape. And he did! Checking out the best Profit fansite there is I also found out that Profit will be released on DVD in August this year. It’s about time.
