As I’ve mentioned numerous times, every year the Museum of Television and Radio throws a Television Festival, with each night devoted to a different TV program or star. This year one of the featured shows was Carnivale, and I knew I had to go.

After a wee bit of difficulty getting to the Director's Guild theatre (massive unforeseen traffic that caused me to doubt we'd arrive on time), we got into the presentation with minutes to spare. Unfortunately we couldn't sit as close as we would have liked, but our seats were about halfway back on the aisle...not too shabby. Every TV Festival presentation begins the same way, with pre-recorded welcome messages from Candice Bergen and Dan Rather. (Both of which are clearly very old, as Candice is on the Murphy Brown set, and Dan has black hair.) Then we were treated to a clip from the museum archive specially selected for the night's presentation. And I nearly lost my mind with joy when they showed the clip from Twin Peaks featuring Michael J. Anderson ("The gum you like is going to come back in style.") The crowd went nuts as well.

After the clip, the host welcomed the cast and crew onto the stage. Howard Klein (the executive producer), Michael J. Anderson (who got an enormous ovation), Adrienne Barbeau (who looked insanely hot), Clancy Brown, Amy Madigan, Tim DeKay, Clea Duvall, Nick Stahl, and creator Dan Knauf all filed onto the stage. (During the intros, Tim Dekay planted a little kiss on Clea Duvall's forehead.) Dan Knauf introduced the episode we would be watching, which was the season finale, "The Day That Was The Day".

And I've got to say, it was almost worth the 20 bucks a ticket just to see an episode of Carnivale on the big screen with amazing sound. The audience roared and applauded during the opening titles. The scene with the Crowe siblings and the lemonade ("I'm reminded of the phrase, 'Making a deal with the Devil.'") got huge laughs. When Ben slits his own throat near the end, the entire theatre gasped.

After the episode, the cast retook the stage, this time joined by HBO's President of Original Programming, Carolyn Strauss. (Also, I spotted the actress that plays Appolonia in the crowd, but she wasn't part of the panel for whatever reason.) Dan Knauf was asked first about why he chose this story to tell, and he said that he wanted to go "where no man has gone before". He said that with all the terrible things that were happening during that time period, was it really so hard to believe that the devil was there? (At this point he glanced at Clea, so make of that what you will.)

The actors were then asked what they thought of the project and their characters when they first read the script. Michael said he saw a lot of his father in Samson, and that helped him develop the character. Adrienne said she was driving and reading the script at the same time. and it was so good she had to pull over and finish reading it under a tree. Nick said the script was "Y'know, amazing." (He wasn't very talkative.) Clancy told a story about how he had never seen Daniel Knauf, and when they met in the lobby of the audition, he mistook Dan for a crazy fanboy. Tim said he had been working with Dan on another pilot that didn't get picked up. That show was a slick half-hour comedy. So, when he got the script for Carnivale, he thought it was the same kind of thing. After the first few pages, he thought he was missing he joke. He also said he based a lot of Jonesy on his grandfather. Amy had the best response..."I liked kissing my brother. I look forward to other...physical...things."

OK, my memory is starting to fade here. I think they talked next to Dan and Carolyn about the distinctive look of the show. Dan said a lot of how the show is shot is based on the work Rodrigo Garcia did in the pilot. (Long tracking shots, fewer close-ups, etc.) Carolyn said she has teams scouring garage and estate sales right now looking for authentic pieces to add to the wardrobe.

The host then asked Dan and the cast how much research about the time period they put into their work. Dan said he really only knew carny-speak before writing the pilot. Now he has a former Carny on staff as a full-time consultant. Clancy said he listened to recordings of the great orators of the time, as well as reading a lot of John Steinbeck. He then laughed saying he had to throw all the research out the window when he showed up on set and the script called for him to "kiss his sister and drink lemonade...neither of which is in Steinbeck." Adrienne said she read "World War I for Dummies" because she knew it played a big role in the flashback/dream sequences.

I think the audience questions were next. I didn't get to ask my questions. Also, I missed a few bits in here because of the man behind me that was sleeping and SNORING! Highlights of the Q&A portion:

-"When will the next season premiere?" Howard Klein said it's slated for January 2005. They start filming in May.
-"When will the DVD be released?" Sometime around Christmas.
-"Was that Linda Hunt as Management?" Dan said yes, but don't look for her to be the one behind the curtain. (He joked that hey have her naked in a jar.)
-When someone asked who was responsible for the opening title sequence, Tim DeKay raised his hand. That got a big laugh.
-Someone asked how much creative input the director has. Dan said that each director's episode is their own. Each director designed the dream or vision sequence that appeared in their episode.
-Someone asked about a comparison between the televangeleists of today and Brother Justin, but I missed the answer due to snoring man.
-One guy brought up Deadwood, and said it looked too similar to Carnivale. He asked if Dan was offended by this. Carolyn said they are very different shows, but Michael brought up the fact that the same Director of Photography worked on both shows.
-A guy from the HBO message boards asked if Sofie was pregnant with an avatar. Clancy said, "You think you know something, don't you? With this show, you don't know anything!" (Big laugh.) Dan wondered where people get this stuff. "Do you think she was unlucky enough to get laid ONCE and get pregnant from that?"
-Some guy tried to compliment Amy Madigan on her looks, even though he was just across the aisle from her husband Ed Harris. It came out kind of wrong, though and she got kind of offended. (Tim then kissed her on the forehead. I think Tim's a player.)
-And finally someone begged Clancy do do his Mr. Krabbs voice from Spongebob. He politely complied, and while it was funny, I wish we could have gotten a better question.

And that was it for the presentation. No real discussion of the "good vs. evil" aspect, which I found strange. Most of the cast and crew did a meet and greet at the base of the stage, though Clea and Amy seemed to vanish pretty fast. Feliz wasn't feeling well enough to go up. It was seriously packed up there, and security was trying to hurry people along. I'm not into autographs, so I settled for pictures of them signing for other people. I wanted to talk to them, but I got a little starstruck. I snapped my pics and hightailed it. Here are the best of the bunch...

Daniel Knauf...


A bad picture of Adrienne Barbeau...


Tim DeKay, who is now blind from my flash...


Michael J. Anderson, who is so teenytiny, I had a hard time getting close enough to snap a pic....


Nick Stahl, who was surrounded by a group of cooing ladies...


And the incomparable Clancy Brown...



So that's it. I'm probably forgetting a whole bunch, but that's probably because I was in such awe the whole evening. If you have any questions about anything else, ask me in a comment. It might just jog my memory. :)