Alright this is a little late especially since got to see a preview of the pilot at the BFI a couple of months ago. So lets dive right in. How do you follow up what is considered by many to be the finest television drama of all time? Well that is problem that faced David Hudgins writer and creator of Past Life… only kidding! David Simon the show runner of HBO’s The Wire had the tough job of following up on the critical acclaim of the Baltimore set drama, in order to deliver he teamed up with The Wire writer Eric Overmyer to create Treme. The New Orleans drama set 3 months after Katrina looks at the working class district of Treme as musicians cooks and inhabitants struggle to get back on their feet while dealing with the fallout of the disaster. In 2007 Fox greenlit K-Ville, a post Katrina New Orleans police drama, the series was cut short during production and ultimately never even screened all the episodes that were shot. So how does HBOs take on event stack up?
Like The Wire, Treme is an ensemble cast of characters who all are looking for a way to survive in the damaged city. The main thrust of the pilot follows Antoine Batiste (Wendell Pierce) a trombonist who arrives in the New Orleans neighbourhood of Treme as it holds its first “second-line parade since the flood. Antoine is desperately chasing up friends looking for the next gig so he can survive, since the storm washed away his car, he has to rely on taxis to get him everywhere, and regrettably much of the money he earns is lost in that endeavour. Meanwhile his ex-wife LaDonna Batiste-Williams (Khandi Alexander) discovers her brother thought to be killed in the storm is still alive thanks to the help of civil rights lawyer Toni Bernette (Melissa Leo). Her husband Creighton Bernette (John Goodman) fights to get the truth about governments failings both during and before Katrina. Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens) runs a restaurant, that despite being very busy is in danger of closure as she waits for the insurance to arrive. Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn) is a DJ with a passion for the music and culture New Orleans, a struggling musician he battles the Man and his ignorance of outsiders as he defends the music he loves. Finally Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters) returns home to find it destroyed by the storm, as a Mardi Gras Indian chief, he beings trying to bring back his tribe, including his son Delmond (Rob Brown) who has found the music scene New York more to his taste. The near feature length pilot sets all these stories in motion, introducing us to this culture and what we can expect to see over the series.
There is no big mystery or mission in Treme, the characters occasionally cross paths, but they are all heading in their own direction regardless of what the others are doing. Watching the pilot we get see the heartbreak of seeing a home wrecked by the flood, the families that have been displaced and businesses struggling as they wait for tourists to return. Ultimately however there is a certainty that New Orleans is worth saving and will return with full swing.
Watching Treme for the first time, I was totally grabbed by music, the characters and the culture, the show boasts appearance form many local musicians, something which is clear for the weathered and often un-TV like faces. However, despite the rich tapestry I often found myself not really caring about the stories. This is a slow burner, many of the characters are just trying to get by day by day, therefore there are few victories they can claim and those they do are small. Albert’s big victory is getting the water damaged junk removed from outside his bar, or Antoine getting another paid gig. Sometimes it can just feel like watching a series of beautiful snap shots, moments in time, like The Wire, Treme is in it for the long game a means to explore deeper far reaching stories, rather than the “case of week” formula used on so many other shows.
HBO has already renewed the show for a second season.
Created / Written by: David Simon, Eric Overmyer
Directed by: Agnieszka Holland
Starring: Wendell Pierce, Khandi Alexander, Melissa Leo, John Goodman, Kim Dickens, Steve Zahn, Clarke Peters, Rob Brown
Date premièred: 11th April 2010
UK Details: TBC
