YMMV / Carnivàle

• Audience-Alienating Premise: Despite having a highly original and engaging plot, the premise of "supernatural battle set in the Depression-era dustbowl", and the thick layer of religious and mystical symbolism all over the show, made it hard for a lot of people to get interested in. It didn't help that the series mythological background (based on both real-world myths as well as components created for the show) wasn't laid out well and the hints were obscure leaving viewers who didn't have an encyclopedia on hand clueless to many aspects. It's been described as a less accessible Twin Peaks for a reason.
• Complete Monster: Varlyn Stroud is the sociopathic chief enforcer of the New Canaan Ministry. A convicted criminal even before being chosen to be the "Archangel" of Brother Justin Crowe, Stroud is tasked with capturing and delivering Henry Scudder to him. Taking the opportunity to cause as much mayhem as possible, Stroud murders multiple people; bombs a Templar lodge in New Mexico; and torches an entire carnival, endangering the lives of several workers. Fanatically devoted to the apocalyptic plans of his master, Stroud ultimately ensures that Crowe becomes the feared Usher of Destruction.
• Cult Classic: Never the most popular show on HBO, it nonetheless has a loyal following to this day.
• He Really Can Act: Turns out Michael J. Anderson is just as good playing a human character as he was a backwards-talking, dancing spirit.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The ghosts in Babylon are very similar in both appearance and role to the Woodsmen.
• Magnificent Bastard: Iris Crowe is a fairly spectacular example. The sweet, innocent spinster sister of Brother Justin? Has not only spent her entire life playing Xanatos Speed Chess with her brother's true nature, but burned down her brother's church to get him publicity, allowed an innocent man to go to jail and eventual execution for what she did, lured an innocent woman out beyond the camp and then bashed her over the head with a boat oar, to keep her from talking about how evil Justin really is and kept the secret of Sofie's paternity from everyone. After the big battle, when Ben and Justin are lying dead in the cornfield, the New Canaan faithful have almost been completely slaughtered by Justin, and the Carnivale has had to slip away for fear of the authorities in the early morning hours, what is Iris doing? Cooling her heels as the Last One Standing.
• Moral Event Horizon: Multiple.
  • Iris when she set the ministry on fire.
  • Brother Justin's treatment of his maids.
  • Sofie shooting Jonesy and resurrecting Justin in the finale.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Tim DeKay (Clayton) is much more well-known these days as Agent Peter Burke.
  • Yes, T-Bag aka Robert Knepper is playing a good guy (Tommy).
  • As mentioned above, Liam McPoyle plays one of Ben's cousins.
• Tear Jerker: Many, most especially the immolation of the orphan children in Justin's ministry.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Some critics during the first season's run felt this way about the show, as its bleak, macabre take on the Depression-era U.S. and moral ambiguity made it difficult to care about its characters. The second season was better about this, but the show suffered a large enough ratings drop between seasons to be Cut Short.
• Values Dissonance: When Jonesy implies in the first episode that Sofie asked to be raped.
• Vindicated by History: Of a sort. The show itself was always an Acclaimed Flop, but it was also the network's unsuccessful first attempt at bringing a fantasy series for adults to the small screen. At the time, many people wrote off Carnivale's failure as the inevitable result of trying to run a history-inspired fantasy saga on HBO. Because a show like that could never possibly find a wide audience, right? But after the absurd success of Game of Thrones, the idea didn't seem nearly as strange.
  • There's also the rather slow pace of the show, with individual episodes mattering less than the season as a whole. Maybe it's not the best approach for a weekly series, but it's been good for several streaming shows.

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