Treme
rootlesscosmo
12,848 Posts
The only trailer I could find is embedded here. Here's the NY Times Mag article on David Simon for this wknd. I will watch anything associated with Simon and/or the Bunk. There seems also to be significant music-r content to this series.Has anyone seen a leak or anything?
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hopefully, hbo is fully behind this -- they kinda fell off over the last year or so.
haven't seen a leak yet.
This made me LOL, though I don't really know why.
From the Wikipedia:
"Other musical guests will include Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Donald Harrison Jr., Galactic, Trombone Shorty Andrews, Deacon John, and the Rebirth and Trem? Brass Bands."
Sounds good, though I am biased as a huge Wire fan. I am also interested if there will be any revisionist history vis-a-vis the Treme taking a "relatively" small amount of damage from Katrina.
david simon article in the times
An article we did this month that focuses almost entirely on the music.
One thing's for sure--they're definitely trying to do right by the musicians in NOLA.
Typical of a Simon show, the initial installment had lots of dialog and little exposition. I'd say it's hard to evaluate a series of this kind based upon the first episode but I saw a lot that made me excited. John Goodman's character seems capable of full Walter Sobchak mode, but I'm told that his character is more nuanced. Lots of Simonesque anger already: take that Tower Records!
The one thing that struck me as a departure from the style of the Wire is the inclusion of non-diegetic music in Trem?, a rarity outside of the final montages in the Wire. Makes sense, given the importance of music to the show.
At the risk of sounding like a carpetbagguer -- a topic that will likely be displayed often on "Treme" and forever-ever on the Strut -- I loved it. I got hooked in the first few minutes by that little talk of the fedoras and then the parade: non-diegetic like whoa. Seeing a few of the musicians do a little turn and then dance into the streets just had a great energy that I, in cold Chicago, do not see displayed often enough.
As far as the how realistic is the realism of Naw'lins, I'll leave that to the folks better qualified to nit-pick its inconsistencies. But with anything that strives for the real, there will be a few missteps. As a reporter, I found fault in the way "The Wire" addressed the media in the final season, as I am sure some inner city teachers did in Season 4, and some seasoned cops in the entire series, and explosive experts did with The Hurt Locker. That misses the point, though -- isn't it more important that it comes pretty close? Obviously, if you write a story for a newspaper or magazine or blog, you want to do right by the people most intimately involved and also by the people who may be learning about it for the first time. Simon and Co. take an almost documentary care to this process and yet it opens it up to criticism when it doesn't seem as real as it could have been.
but by the end, i was pretty fascinated. really enjoyed the characters and seeing the different opinions of returning to the New Orleans.
Plus...
I am so incredibly down.
I think the more you strive (loudly) for accuracy, the more scrutiny you come in for. Even when your representation of a genre/character/city happens to be way more accurate than anything else out. Oftentimes the less realistic it is the less criticism it engenders.
Yes, I agree with all of this, I'm hooked, can't wait to see the next episode. Steve Zhan kind of makes me want to put my head through a wall usually, but somehow his annoying, over-the-top acting style works here. It's also great to see actors from the Wire of course, and John Goodman? Game, set, match. this should be a great series. Oh, and Steve Zhan's character trying to trade an out-of-print CD box set for a $350 bottle of wine had me laughing.
I have to admit it's a little jarring to see Wendell Pierce playing a dude scraping by and hustling dudes for change, but then again I'm on my 4th run-through of The Wire so it's not like I ever cleansed my palate of his Bunk character.
Who's the dude who played the hauling company owner? Man, I don't get this feeling often but I took a liking to his character and the actor's performance immediately.
Also, Lester's daughter (there I go again!) looks familiar. At first I thought she was one of Omar's henchwomen, but the more I saw
her I realized it's not.
I'm already hooked.
You shouldn't second guess your instincts, although it only looks like she's in the pilot.
As far as the hauling company owner (Robinette), I he's a new face unless you followed Prison Break.
As far as Wire Actor spotting, it's the same game people who watched Oz or Homicide played with the Wire. Especially Oz.