Carnivale
Podkayne Fries
Wallenstein --
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Back in the Depression era, a carnival
drew a crowd when a barker bellowed into a megaphone, "Hurry! Hurry!
Step right up!"
HBO will resort to more sophisticated marketing tactics for
"Carnivale," its new primetime series beginning Sept. 14 about a
traveling troupe of circus performers. A supernatural-infused costume
drama set in the 1930s, "Carnivale" is a far cry from the raw slices
of contemporary realism offered by "Sex and the City" and "The Wire."
That is why the cable network plans to tweak its traditional
strategies to bring viewers into the "Carnivale" tent.
The series also is propelled by two seemingly disparate story lines
that never intertwine throughout the first season, a narrative
structure that could puzzle viewers, acknowledged Ronald Moore, one of
the series" executive producers.
"This is not a traditional TV series by any stretch of the
imagination," he said. "We're telling a complicated story in a very
elliptical, unusual fashion. We're setting the bar pretty high for the
audience."
Since explaining "Carnivale" is a daunting task, HBO will try to get
as many viewers as possible to see sneak peeks of the program. A
CD-ROM with a 2-1/2-minute trailer for "Carnivale" will be inserted
into the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly for about 500,000
subscribers in major markets. The network hopes the magazine's core
readership of young pop-culture junkies will be hooked by the series'
visually arresting scenes, which mixes the vivid pageantry of carnival
life with the stark landscapes of the Dust Bowl.
"What we wanted to do is create as many program sampling opportunities
as possible to let the program speak for itself," Monroe said.
While TV spots touting a new HBO series are usually contained to the
week before the premiere, the network quadrupled its off-channel buy
for "Carnivale."
"Carnivale" marketing also will have a significant online component,
with tune-in banners and full-screen "takeover" ads planned for select
Web sites that will lead to a personalized, interactive tarot-card
reading experience similar to what is depicted in the series. "We will
keep that going for almost the entire duration of the series, which we
don't normally do," Monroe said. "Usually, we launch it for one or two
weeks."
The print art for "Carnivale" will be driven by an image of the
17-member cast surrounding a carnival truck, with a tagline that
portends the good versus evil clash at the heart of the series: "Into
each generation is born a creature of light and a creature of
darkness."
HBO is hoping "Carnivale" will get a boost when it bows directly after
the series finale of "Sex and the City" next month at 9:30 p.m.;
though network marketing mavens expect the series to appeal more to
the "Six Feet Under" fan base, they also think it will skew female and
soak up "Sex's" massive audience. The following week, "Carnivale" will
move to its regular 9 p.m. slot, followed by another new HBO series at
10 p.m., the politically themed series "K Street."
"Carnivale" could also be a tough sell because of its historical
context, which HBO doesn't shy away from emphasizing in promotional
images.
"Period pieces can be a nightmare," warned FX's Carlisle. "You narrow
your audience if you emphasize that it's a long time ago. You need to
make it relevant."
Moore isn't daunted by the marketing challenges for his series. "The
HBO viewer has come to expect something different and demanding," he
said. "We'll meet those expectations."
--
Regards, Podkayne Fries
"Anything worth having is worth cheating for." - W.C. Fields
deering1
Podkayne Fries wrote:
>
> Liberally snipped from an article in the Hollywood Reporter by Andrew
> Wallenstein --
Heh--_thank_ you. I've been wondering what this was about since
the ads started running back in June or so. Sounds like SOMETHING
WICKED THIS WAY comes crossed with AMERICAN GOTHIC.
C.
**
(And it's on HBO, so odds of it being at least decent are fairly
good)