Carnivàle revisited: is this HBO’s strangest show?

Carnivàle premiered on HBO in 2003 and was cancelled after only two seasons. In the immediate aftermath, this decision was protested by the small but dedicated cult following the show had amassed (to the tune of 50,000 emails).But in the years since, as the television canon has expanded and the taste for mystery-box TV has waned, Carnivàle now seems little more than a minor curio in HBO’s ever-expanding back catalogue. So what is this curio about?Carnivàle follows the exploits of its titular carnival as they travel across the American dust bowl in the 1930s. At the beginning of the series, these nomadic showpeople pick up Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), an ex-con with a mysterious past (and inexplicable powers)

‘We kicked Bono’s arse’: how we made Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again (with a little help from Kraftwerk)

‘Kerry’s spoken verse needed 39 takes spread over several months because she’d had her tonsils out’People never believe me that Kraftwerk created Atomic Kitten. In 1996, my band OMD released Walking on the Milky Way, which I thought was one of the best songs I’d ever written. But in the age of Britpop, we were perceived as an 80s synthpop band, past our sell-by date. Radio 2 wouldn’t play the song and Woolworths wouldn’t stock it. I thought: “I’m functioning with one arm tied behind my back

Gatz review – the Great Gatsby performed in eight and a half hours of attentive, immersive joy

A man enters his office in the morning, finds his computer on the fritz and, after a few attempts to turn it on and off again, comes across a copy of F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. So he starts to read and when his colleagues enter they find themselves taking on the characters, and soon the novel unfolds around us, word by word. The New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service has produced a work that is not quite adaptation – given it doesn’t really adapt the novel at all – but that is utterly transfixing nonetheless.Following a keen interest in non-dramatic texts, the company wanted to see what would happen when a powerful literary work was read and performed in its entirety. The result is both strange and strangely familiar

How to Make a Killing to Wu-Tang Clan: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Glen Powell indulges in some murder most profitable, and the influential rap collective arrive in the UK complete with a clutch of peerless classicsHow to Make a KillingOut nowLoosely inspired by the much-loved Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, here is a dark comedy that sees Glen Powell play an upwardly mobile schemer who isn’t afraid to murder his way to his inheritance. Directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal).Reminders of HimOut nowMaika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a woman who goes to prison following a car accident in which her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow) is killed. On release, she finds herself drawn to a handsome local bar owner (Tyriq Withers). Romance based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel

The Guide #234: Five big questions before the 2026 Oscars

Happy Oscars Eve eve to you all. The film industry’s glitziest night takes place on Sunday, at an ungodly hour for those of us covering it from the other side of the Atlantic. Coffee will be essential for anyone staying up, as will the Guardian’s annual liveblog, covering every last minute of the ceremony as well as its red carpet run-up. Head over to the homepage on Sunday evening for that, plus news and commentary on the night’s events.There’s plenty to read before that too: our annual Oscar hustings, making the case for each of this year’s best picture nominees (I sided with Sentimental Value); an interview with Academy top dog Bill Kramer; a piece on the increasingly toxic discourse around many of this year’s nominees; and Guardian film editor Catherine Shoard’s reader Q&A on this year’s race and the state of film in general

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump being gifted an Olympic medal: ‘Yet another award he didn’t win’

On Thursday night, late-night hosts discussed an odd White House women’s history month event, the fallout of the war on Iran and why Melania Trump is starting to sound an awful lot like her husband.Jimmy Kimmel spent a chunk of his Thursday night monologue on a White House women’s history month fundraiser hosted by Donald Trump. As part of the event, Melania Trump gave an extended introduction to the president.“You know how some couples as they get older start to sound alike?” asked Kimmel. “Well, while introducing her husband, Melania had an awful lot of nice things to say about herself