Fagunwa: Thanks so much for your comment. But don't you leave me hanging too.... do the dwarf and the snakecharmer represent God and Satan? I thought Hawkins and the Priest respectively already represented them. I don't have enough knowledge of religion to join all the dots.
In particular, I can't understand the ending - how Sophie, who was the daughter of the evil priest, suddenly had the same power as Hawkins to bring the priest back to life. But her priest father didn't have that power himself of reviving dead to living?? If as below, that isn't the REAL ending, I'm still confused about Sophie???

Help?
Rowe: I agree Carnivale had too many multiple threads that sometimes unwound and weren't fully explained (the bear in the war trenches for one) but I certainly never found it boring. In my mind, it also painted a feasible picture of the depression and people's thirst for anything that resembled hope or salvation. I wasn't totally convinced that many people would have been able to afford to go to a Carnival while living in grinding poverty, but then that was the only entertainment escape available. Like when there's a recession, hairdressers always do well because people want to feel and look good even if they can't afford to spend money going out.
I've watched a few episodes of Sex In the City and found some of them very funny and one even poignant. I don't really like the overall 'reality' it clings to though. It has (and I believe perpetuates) a sense of hopelessness about men and women being forever 'disconnected'. I don't believe this. I'm guessing, but is it written by gay men? The right men and women can connect on many levels.
I'm sure it makes women feel better about being single as an inevitablity, but I don't find that mindset very healthy. Many women are addicted to the series, and buy the whole series on DVD to rewatch.
Of my girlfriends who are single, interestingly it's the ones who don't believe in love (but somehow expect it to knock on their door) that are still single in their 30s and early 40s. And if there's a whole lot of men wandering around thinking the same thing....
Johnny Destiny: you are certainly right about television overall. However I've also witnessed some wonderful documentaries and interviews, points-of-view and films I would hate to have missed. It about selectivity.