Treme (from the creator of the wire)

[Pubrick]

HBO's 'Treme' Renewed For Second Season After Just One Episode
source: AP

NEW YORK — HBO says its new drama "Treme" (truh-MAY') has been picked up for a second season just days after its series premiere.

The show is set in New Orleans in fall 2005, three months after Hurricane Katrina. "Treme" tracks the lives of a diverse group of residents as they rebuild their lives and the neighborhood that lends the show its name. Cast members include Wendell Pierce, Kim Dickens, Melissa Leo and John Goodman.

The series was co-created by David Simon, whose past credits include HBO's acclaimed "The Wire," "Generation Kill" and "The Corner."

HBO announced Tuesday that production will resume in New Orleans this fall.

"Treme" attracted 1.4 million viewers for its debut. It airs at 10 p.m. Sunday.



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maybe i can be on the first carriage of the bandwagon this time.

[diggler]

i loved it. as great as the wire was, it didn't have a fantastic premiere so it took a while to get it's hooks in you. this was a fantastic premiere.

[squints]

I loved this. John Goodman was great. Steve Zahn was kinda annoying but I'll give him a chance. I can't wait for the next episode.

[pete]

the opening where bunk/ baptiste catches up to the second line and plays his way to the front with the re-birth boys was GREAT.  the sound design was amazing.  I loved that scene and it just pumps you up and I can't remember where else I've seen that technique of someone else playing music in the distance, and playing his way up to the full band.

[©brad]

the opening where bunk/ baptiste catches up to the second line and plays his way to the front with the re-birth boys was GREAT.  the sound design was amazing.  I loved that scene and it just pumps you up and I can't remember where else I've seen that technique of someone else playing music in the distance, and playing his way up to the full band.

Yesssss. Shit goosebumped me to hell and back.

Epic premiere. So happy this is now in my life.

[pete]

I just realized the "shorty" they were referring to in that scene was Trombone Shorty aka Troy Andrews - one of the great young talents out of that city.  I've seen the kid three times now and each time a good time.  I wrote about him on the board before.  I think he'll be in the show later.

steve zahn trying to approach a famous person in a bar was fucking spot on.

[children with angels]

http://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2010/04/hbos_treme_creator_david_simon.html

HBO's 'Treme' creator David Simon explains it all for you

In the first episode of "Treme," to be broadcast tonight on HBO,  a character will reach into her purse and produce an apple-flavored Hubig's pie. She will do this in late November 2005. With the rest of her dessert menu no longer available,  the character,  a local chef,  will then serve the local delicacy to a patron of her restaurant.

We offer this bit of information freely,  as Exhibit A in what will surely become a long list of cited inaccuracies,  anachronisms and equivocations through which New Orleanians reassure themselves that not only is our little drama a fiction,  but that those who have perpetrated this fiction are indifferent to facts,  chronologies,  historical possibilities.

True,  the Hubig's bakery in the Marigny did not reopen until February 2006,  and true therefore,  any such pastry found in a woman's purse should by rights be a pre-Katrina artifact and therefore unsuitable for anyone's dessert.

But what you fact-grounded literalists clearly fail to understand is that the pie in Janette DeSautel's purse is a Magic Hubig's. Much in the manner of certain loaves and fishes in the New Testament,  or several days worth of sacramental oil in the Old,  this Hubig's somehow survives months of post-Katrina tumult and remains tasty and intact for our small,  winking moment of light comedy. We know this because we,  the writers,  imbued the pie with its special powers. We created it. We stuck it in the purse -- or more precisely,  the propmaster did. We left it there,  waiting for its special moment.

And here's the thing: It won't end with one chunk of pie.

We have trespassed throughout our narrative. And soon enough,  the true nature of our many slights and affronts,  our intentional frauds and unthinking miscalculations will be subject to the judgment of you whom we have trespassed against.

This is altogether right. Our television drama is taking liberties with a profound,  unforgettable period in this city's history. It depicts day-to-day life in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina,  referencing certain real events,  real people and places,  real cultural reference points known to many,  if not most of those who call this city home.

That we will be held to certain standards by New Orleanians goes with the territory. Beginning tonight,  you are the ultimate arbiters -- the only ones we really care about -- on the question of whether our storytelling alchemy has managed to make anything precious or worthy from the baser elements of fact.

Your sensibilities matter to us because we have tried to be honest with that extraordinary time -- not journalistically true,  but thematically so. We have depicted certain things that happened,  and others that didn't happen,  and then still others that didn't happen but truly should have happened.

This is a nice way of saying we have lied.

Why? Why not depict a precise truth,  down to the very Hubig's?

Well,  Pablo Picasso famously said that art is the lie that shows us the truth. Such might be the case of a celebrated artist claiming more for himself and his work than he ought,  or perhaps,  this Picasso fella was on to something.

By referencing what is real,  or historical,  a fictional narrative can speak in a powerful,  full-throated way to the problems and issues of our time. And a wholly imagined tale,  set amid the intricate and accurate details of a real place and time,  can resonate with readers in profound ways. In short,  drama is its own argument.

Much of our previous work in this regard was set in Baltimore,  where we took pains to incorporate many people,  places and events that existed and occurred,  and where we made equal efforts to imagine a good deal that never happened.

With "The Wire, " we tried our best to be responsible,  of course -- to choose carefully where we would cheat and where we would not.

In a given episode of "The Wire, " if we wrote that the police department,  for example,  was cooking the stats -- an accusation that goes to the heart of that institution's credibility -- we did so only after being provided with ample evidence that this was,  in fact,  the case.
On the other hand,  if we laid dead homicide detectives out on the green felt of a pool table for drunken wakes in an Irish bar,  we did so knowing that such a thing never happened -- although,  frankly,  upon imagining and filming such ceremonial rites,  we came to believe that it damn well ought to be the tradition in Baltimore.

If we are true to ourselves as dramatists,  we will cheat and lie and pile one fraud upon the next,  given that with every scene,  we make fictional characters say and do things that were never said and done. And yet,  if we are respectful of the historical reality of post-Katrina New Orleans,  there are facts that must be referenced accurately as well. Some things,  you just don't make up.

Admittedly,  it's delicate. And we are likely to be at our best in those instances in which we are entirely aware of our deceits,  just as we are likely to fail when we proceed in ignorance of the facts. Technically speaking,  when we cheat and know it,  we are "taking creative liberties, " and when we cheat and don't know it,  we are "screwing up."

But "Treme" is drama,  and therefore artifice. It is not journalism. It is not documentary. It is a fictional representation set in a real time and place,  replete with moments of inside humor,  local celebrity and galloping,  unrestrained meta. At moments,  if we do our jobs correctly,  it may feel real.

Even then,  it is important to understand that the writers,  directors,  cast and crew are not in any way trying to supplant the historical record,  or,  for that matter,  the personal memories and experiences of real New Orleanians. To the extent actual individuals have inspired or informed a character or a moment,  we acknowledge that these characters are nonetheless make-believe. Real folks are entitled to real lives,  and to have those lives considered distinct from any and all moments in a television drama.

In Baltimore,  most sensible viewers figured all of the above out by episode three,  though admittedly,  a few politicians and high-ranking police commanders struggled with the concept until the very end. No doubt,  it may take at least a few episodes of "Treme" for all of us to figure each other out,  and in the event the drama lasts no more than a season,  any confusion will scarcely matter.

But going forward,  unless otherwise instructed,  our suggested rule for watching "Treme," should you choose to watch,  is to assume in every instance that someone,  somewhere sat in a room and made all of this mess up.

Except for the band that is seen playing good,  live music in a Bourbon Street strip joint in episode two. That is,  of course,  a Magical Strip Joint,  of no fixed address.

-David Simon, New Orleans, April 2010

[©brad]

"Cosmically speaking, the more cocks that get sucked, the better."

What a stellar episode. Simon and Co. have another slow-burning masterpiece on their hands. It's exciting to see the storylines start to merge, and in such organic ways; nothing feels forced or contrived. Like the Wire the show is taking it's time and it's all the better for it. The cast is remarkable, my favorite being Khandi Alexander. These characters are so dimensional and the performances feel so lived in, and it's only been 3 episodes!

Interesting opinion I don't necessarily agree with; a few critics are complaining the show is a little too smug and contentious to the viewer, like it feels the need to constantly remind us that we'll never be cool enough to truly understand what makes the city so special. As the New Yorker's Nancy Franklin puts it: "The series virtually prohibits you from loving it, while asking you to value it." I'd argue it's a little early to make such a claim, but I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

[diggler]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/murder-most-mysterious-the-house-of-horror-in-new-orleans-420853.html

it's not looking good for Lucia Micarelli

[squints]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/murder-most-mysterious-the-house-of-horror-in-new-orleans-420853.html

it's not looking good for Lucia Micarelli

oh no!

I thought the shot of sonny drinking the wine alone towards the end was so sad. Poor guy. hope he doesn't turn to chopping up the gorgeous fiddle player.

With every passing episode steve zahn gets more and more tolerable.

Only ten eps in season 1 right?

[pete]

so I work with a family that's been relocated from new orleans after katrina.  the grandma's sister is Khandi Alexander's mama on the show.  a quick chat with her today turned into a scene-by-scene commentary on everything New Orleans.  She got so emotional.  Fuck the reviewers that call it snobby.  You come see this grandma's face and how everything affects her and tell me that again, you pen-pushing boycunt.

[cronopio 2]

this third episode was the one that got things going. khandi alexander is an unbelievable actress. can you think of any other actor that can manage to switch her emotions like she did in that phone call scene?
what i like about this show is that there's originality in the character's conflicts instead of being universal dramatic situations, and how FAR FAR from cliché the narrative is . and it's done with such love... those music scenes are always a joy, instead of being generic world-music bullshit.  can't get the theme song out of my head, either.

it broke my heart to see that this episode was written by david mills. he was a great man, and his writing one of the reasons i decided to start taking english literature seriously.

[squints]

can't get the theme song out of my head, either.

seriously!

[Sleepless]

Loved the premier... hoping to catch up on the rest soon so I've been avoiding this thread for fear of spoilers but I just couldn't resist. It's an interesting mix of actors/characters. Great to see WP back in action.

[pete]

celebrity cameo overload.