July 17, 2005
Entourage Renewed

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05199/539488.stm

HBO announced late Friday that its comedy series "Entourage," the best original program on the network these days, has been renewed for a third season.

But fans of the canceled "Carnivale" should find a new way to spend their time. It won't be back, despite their efforts.

"Never have we gotten besieged the way we have been besieged by "Carnivale" fans for deciding to not go on with the third season of that show," said HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht. "Literally, 50,000 e-mails over a weekend, and I don't mean the first weekend. It is so over the top, not just in terms of the number, but in terms of things that they say and threaten."

Albrecht said if the series hadn't cost about $4 million per episode, it would have returned.

"If 'Carnivale' was a $2 million-an-hour show, we'd keep going with it," he said. "It's not a big show for foreign [distribution] ... You just have to say, 'Can I take this money and allocate it in other ways to appeal to that same audience?' Although after reading the e-mails, I'm not sure."

He also said in the original concept for the second-season finale, Brother Justin (Clancy Brown) was more definitively dead, giving the show a greater sense of closure than it ultimately had. Albrecht sounded somewhat regretful about his decision, and perhaps one of the factors that went into making it.

"This is an example of why you shouldn't listen to critics," he said. "Everybody [pooped] all over that show."

     the top-ten things YOU can
     do right now and more

     news & events

     a ferris wheel full of Carnivale
     links and resources