2008 Woodie Awards
Fall Season Round Up of Hip New Shows
Jason Hortillas
Issue date: 10/9/03 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Just when you thought prime time TV was only all about the no-brainer, washed over, reality show hoo-hah, the fall season has burst open with a new round of sitcoms, dramas and boundary breakers.
With such an enticingl array of choices to watch, you're bound to become a champion couch potato before you know it.
But no one has the time or means for that, so here we have it, a round-up of the three most telly-worthy shows to plan your schedule around this season. Carnivàle. You simply can't lose on HBO when you're granted the coziest time slot at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night and you showcase a drama full of originality and spicy mystery.
Set in the last great age of magic, circa 1934, Carnivale follows a traveling carnival act as it spins its way through the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma during the Great Depression, picking up a mysteriously gifted young man who has recently escaped from a chain gang.
The man is a scintillating star, even above the dysfunctional whirlpool of fortune tellers, mind readers and snake charmers.
Meanwhile in California a disturbed Methodist minister preaches he has been called upon the holy one Himself (God) to serve another branch of travelers, with a surreptitious state of mind and powers that match the young man's.
The two have a cryptic connection, dreaming each other's dreams and revealing stories and truth by means of symbolic structure.
The final conflict between good and evil is bound to erupt in the era of the Great Depression and corrupt social economic standing. Yup, should be a good one.
Carnivàle, Sundays, 9 p.m., HBO
Coupling. With the end of Friends just 'round the corner, NBC had to do something to fill the empty void.
No, no, but they insist this is not a mere recast of the long-term running sitcom.
But in pre-creation of Coupling, who knew there was already another show out there about three guys and three girls who hang around New York?!
With such an enticingl array of choices to watch, you're bound to become a champion couch potato before you know it.
But no one has the time or means for that, so here we have it, a round-up of the three most telly-worthy shows to plan your schedule around this season. Carnivàle. You simply can't lose on HBO when you're granted the coziest time slot at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night and you showcase a drama full of originality and spicy mystery.
Set in the last great age of magic, circa 1934, Carnivale follows a traveling carnival act as it spins its way through the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma during the Great Depression, picking up a mysteriously gifted young man who has recently escaped from a chain gang.
The man is a scintillating star, even above the dysfunctional whirlpool of fortune tellers, mind readers and snake charmers.
Meanwhile in California a disturbed Methodist minister preaches he has been called upon the holy one Himself (God) to serve another branch of travelers, with a surreptitious state of mind and powers that match the young man's.
The two have a cryptic connection, dreaming each other's dreams and revealing stories and truth by means of symbolic structure.
The final conflict between good and evil is bound to erupt in the era of the Great Depression and corrupt social economic standing. Yup, should be a good one.
Carnivàle, Sundays, 9 p.m., HBO
Coupling. With the end of Friends just 'round the corner, NBC had to do something to fill the empty void.
No, no, but they insist this is not a mere recast of the long-term running sitcom.
But in pre-creation of Coupling, who knew there was already another show out there about three guys and three girls who hang around New York?!