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Carnivàle (series) season 1 * Daniel Knauf * 2003-

I remember when these series were introduced on the Dutch television. Quite a big anouncement and my interest was raised enough to watch it. I am not good at following series on TV, so somewhere in the second half I missed an episode, later another, then I dropped out. I liked the series. They are not comparable in magnificence to Twin Peaks which name is often mentioned, but it was a nice watch. For years I had the idea to watch them on DVD some time. That apparently took four years!
Carnivàle (as you probably know) is about a travelling circus. The “route” goes through the deserts of central and southern Northern America which immediately sets the atmosphere for the series: barren, desolate and grim. The atmosphere is rather dark for such a big series and the characters are as weird as they are collourfull. A comateus tarrot card reader, a bearded lady, a reptile man, a blind clairvoyant, a tiny director (a great role by Michael Anderson, the dwarf from Twin Peaks’ red room), an invisible “management”. A young man is picked up, Ben Hawkins, a man with a strange gift/curse. He “was not picked up for no reason” and this is what the series are about. A very nice watch for sure if you enjoy the non-average TV entertainment and can stand a grim atmosphere and halucinative scenes. A series for Twin Peaks fans maybe, but believe me, Twin Peaks is 10x better and I can’t wait for the second series to be available. The second series of Carnivàle are already available and the end of the first series prove that this is not a sequel because of a successfull series, but it was always intended to be a multi-series series. I have no idea if there are plans for a third series. I hope not! Canivàle is nice, but a second series will probably already be on the edge of cow-milking. I think I might watch that second series though… sometimes (maybe when I know if there will be more series!). For the time being, if you haven’t seen Carnivàle yet, the 12x 45 to 55 minutes on the couch are worth it.

Brabant 900 * 2006

1106 to 2006, 900 years of Brabant. That is to say, 900 years ago the duchy of Brabant was ‘founded’. Meanwhile a lot has happened as regular visitor of these pages may know. What used to be the duchy of Brabant, is now divided over Belgium and the Netherlands. I like the idea of the ‘greater Brabant’ and somehow feel more connected to the Belgian Brabantians than to the Dutch living ‘above the great rivers’. The Dutch provincial broadcasting company has made two series about the history of greater Brabant and the first is available on DVD. 10 Episodes of 25 minutes about “Bourgondian Brabant”, “Romish Brabant”, the farmer culture, nature, the language, etc. Not too much about the Belgian part of Brabant though and also the historian who speaks in the episodes is often over-critical towards concepts that we Brabanders are proud of. But, the series do give a nice idea of the history, there are nice old films, photos, etc. to be seen and heard and of course there is always something nice to learn.

24 (series 3) * Robert Cochran & Joel Sunrow * 2004

The problem with series that run well is that they keep coming up with sequals, so here we have “day 3” of the 24 series. Of course again 18 hours of tv spread over 24 episodes in total dealing with one day this time from 1 to 1 pm. Also the rest is mostly the same.

For a large part you will know the characters from the previous series. We have of course Jack Bauer and his daughter Kim, president palmer, the people at CTU, etc. This time Bauer tries to stop a virus falling into the wrong hands. Especially the first half of the series are (I think) stuffed with ilogical, inconsistent and especially incredible parts in the story. Of course the threat is personal to Bauer again, he doesn’t play by the book, but it all is a bit too much. Not that it all isn’t entertaining though, but halfway I was of the opinion that this was again downhill from the original idea. Yet, just as before, there is a high speed in the series, the tension is high and you keep wondering what the picture is. Halfway things get better. Still ilogical, inconsistent and incredible elements (in particular to the ‘real time’ concept), but the ‘atmosphere’ of the series becomes superb. However I really didn’t watch the hole series in one sit (usually 3 episodes on one night), I really ‘came into’ the series and its characters. There is one episode in which the general audience gets suicide pills and Jack Bauer had to execute a colleague. Pretty heavy stuff. Other scenes are really high tension. Both things I hadn’t experienced in the previous series, however I can imagine that this isn’t the same for anyone.

In any case. When you have the DVD box and can decide for yourself when to watch it (and not have to be in front of the tv at a specific time for 24 times), these series are good entertainment. I still think series one is the best, of course mostly because of the entirely new concept, series two is good and series three is good too, but just regarding acting and atmosphere, the second half of these series three are by far the best.

So, this may promise to series four that are already on tv in the USA……..

24 (series 2) * Robert Cochran & Joel Sunrow * 2002

Another review that required 18 hours of watching. The second series of 24 are again good, but not quite as surprising as the first series. Better this time is that the speed of the events is much higher, but this kind of let to the fact that the logic and fitting-the-concept had to be kept in a little lower degree. This time a nuclear bomb is going to be set off by terrorists in LA and of course Jack Bauer is the one to prevent this. Like I said, the logic and credibility are not always guarenteed and in particular the story of daughter Kim is roundout irritating this time. Still the series are interesting enough to keep the attention for 18 hours. Some unexpected changes and the tenstion is well-done.

Series 3 are already playing in the USA, but it will take some time before I will see them on DVD I guess.

24 (series) * Robert Cochran & Joel Sunrow * 2001

Launced with a lot of publicity, these series. They were supposed to be some of the most thriller and addictive series. I watched the first episode and decided that 24 weeks of having to following one series was a bit too long. But then the thing was released on DVD and stories about people who watched the whole series in one sit start to rise. DVD is of course a lot handier than having to be in front of your TV at set times, so I decided to go for it as well (with a borrowed 6-cd-DVD-box).

The series are said to be filmed in ‘real time’, so one hour is one hour. Therefor you have 24 episodes for one day from 00:00 to 00:00. In fact, one episode is 40 minutes, so the total time is 16 hours. I suppose the other 8 hours are for commercials. Also you get a ‘previously’ before every episode and the same introduction (which you can’t skip by jumping to the next title!).

16 Hours of TV is too much to say much about in detail. The bottom line is that there is a murder attempt on the first black candidate for the American presidency that makes a good chance. A special anti-terrorist division of the government is assigned to protect Palmer, and the main character Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is in charge of the operation. It proves that the goal of the terrorists is not just to kill Palmer, but also to ruin Bauer’s family. Of course the series had to be kept interesting for 24 episodes and they sure did their utmost to! Every episode is loaded with info, new clues and turns of the plot. A bit too much the makers tried to make you have to guess who is the bad guy, what is going on etc.

All in all a nice series, but very American and not exactly brilliant.

Right now series 2 (“day 2”) is being shown on different channels and apparently also already on DVD. The future will tell if I will see that one too.