Character

After returning the DVDs on Sunday night, I went home and watched 'Carnivale'. Or, as the ABC insists on pronouncing it, 'Carnivalee'. No doubt many viewers have already written in to correct them, probably using bad self-penned poetry to do it. We pretentious middle-brow types don't take these things lightly.

At the moment I'm enjoying the character of Rita-Sue, simply because I think of all the characters she must be the most fun to play. It can't be very often that a plus-sized actress gets to play a sex-bomb, all bleached blonde hair and breasts, swaggering around a carnival like a blowsy Napoleon. To do it without the character turning into a campy reprise of Mae West shows the talent of the actress as much as the opportunities of the role. I imagine that if you're an actress in Hollywood, perpetually surrounded by roles suitable for what Edna Mode called "stick insects with poofy lips", characters like Rita-Sue must seem like a godsend.

Assuming of course the existence of deities who approve of cheating, lies and adultery. That'd be a pretty limited pantheon.

And also in her favour, Rita-Sue is the only one who ever seems to be clean. I realise the show is set in the dustbowl, but if Rita-Sue can look like she takes a shower occasionally, then the rest of them can too, damn it!