BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) IT'S BY PEOPLE WHO GAVE US "THE WIRE"
If you’ve seen “The Wire” then there’s a good chance that you’re enthusiastically a fan of it. It’s easily one of the best one hour dramas of all time and more and more people are starting to discover that. If you’ve not seen “The Wire” then you’re in for a treat. Go now and catch up on the five season series and get back to us. For those of us who have, we now have a new David Simon show to get excited about. The first season of “Treme” is over now, but it’s HBO. Odds are you’ll be able to find it “On Demand” or wait for the DVD. I had the luxury of a friend with a loaded TiVo and got to sit down and binge on the entire season over a few days. The style Simon creates in the “The Wire” evolves into something smaller in range. It’s not all about crime and cops, but rather multiple stories of people who survived or is at least being face with the horrible Hurricane Katrina.
(THREE) THE ACTING
There doesn’t seem to be a “lead character” on this show, but rather about a dozen of them. There’s Wendell Pierce (The Wire) as a womanizing-“hard on your luck” trombonist. His character is almost a caricature definition of “jazz musician”, but he pulls it off with genuine charm. Steve Zahn rocks as “Davis McAlary”, a part-time DJ, musician, and loud mouth. Zahn has played loud mouthed roles before, but here he manages to show depth, heart, and more than one note. For me, it’s his career defining role up till this point. Khandi Alexander put a great year in as a bar owner trying to stay strong for her family while trying to find her missing brother. Melissa Leo, helps in that search as she’s a over-worked/over-sincere civil rights lawyer. Her husband is a very outspoken John Goodman. Goodman’s character, a college English professor, can be abrasive at times. As he rages on about the condition of New Orleans he sits in a way better position than any other character on the show and probably a large chunk of the viewing audience. Still, it’s a good character. Kim Dickens plays a chef of a struggling restaurant, Clarke Peters (The Wire) is a returning Mardi Gras Indian chief trying to hold tradition and respect alive, and Lucia Micarelli and Michiel Huisman play the kinda-stereotypical street musician couple who are like oil and water. There are so many other characters to list, all with well performed moments.
(TWO) THE WRITING
David Simon and Eric Overmyer managed to put together an awesome show. Like I said, there’s no main star but rather about a dozen or so characters. Each character has their own story and with only an hour to fill an episode these two pull off making each of their characters compelling, real, and just as interesting as the next. This happened for the most part in The Wire, but here it’s an even bigger scope of stories but in a more compact world to tell it. Each hour, or in two cases an hour-twenty, feel like a movie. It’s not like you’re watching a normal everyday television show. It feels like you’re being rewarded each time for watching. Basically, the best written show on television not named “Breaking Bad”. The stories aren’t predictable, the characters aren’t paint-by-number stereotypes, and it’s a realistic journey of a story that shouldn’t of had to of been told in the first place.
(ONE) THE MUSIC
It was always cool to see a real local Baltimore actor or real person on “The Wire”. David Simon has always been cool about casting from within. For Treme, they cast real New Orleans jazz musicians. I’ve always enjoyed the genre of jazz, but there’s so many players and so much material that I’ve always kind of been intimidated to jump into the scene. Thankfully, I’ve been given a healthy dose of jazz, real New Orleans jazz, with each episode. Kermitt Ruffins appears throughout and seems as respected by the fictitious characters as the other musicians. It doesn’t end there. The musical guest list goes far. We get Elvis Costello for a few episodes just hanging out and doing his thing. Steve Earle (The Wire) brings his odd charm and gritty voice. Then there’s Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and more beautiful people that I cannot even begin to list or applaud here. One cool aspect is that the producers basically hire up these musicians to play a live score to the show. This show is pretty amazing for a first season show. The acting, writing, and direction is top notch and worth your time on its own but the music is what provides the heart and soul of this television experience.
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