Treme

I really liked the first episode; I thought they did a good job of mixing humour into a truly tragic story. If it is the same group that did "The Wire", I can't help but have very high expectations.

This is, however, a perspective from someone who was not directly affected by Katrina and never lived in NO (though I do enjoy visiting). You obviously were, NoLaLH, and I can certainly see how it might be hard to watch for someone who lived there at the time.
 
I really liked it. The music is great. I will have to see about Steve Zahn's character. He was getting on my nerves, but I was tired and a little impatient. I am going to watch it again tonight. I really love New Orleans and love the idea that someone is doing a series based in NO, especially the Wire guys. I think they will do it justice.
 
Bunk and Lester from The Wire are prominent here. And that DJ's girlfiend, the restauant owner, looks familiar. Was that Joanie Stubbs from Deadwood?
 
First episode pace was a little too slow. Hopefully that was to set the tone and it will pick up. Thought they could have done a better job at the beginning setting the stage.

I think what struck me the most was how much the culture of NOs is really an every day part of their lives. It isn't just for show or for something to do to make money but it is deeply rooted in their beliefs.

Hard to watch Goodman. Seems like he has trouble breathing everytime he tries to talk.

I was thinking this show was really going to be controversial and go after the insurance companies that screwed so many people over and the gov't ineptitude that left many without a FEMA trailer for so long and then left them in it for way too long. But in the end I am not sure the show is going to go exactly where it needs to go.
 
Thanks for the links. While I'm not a big fan of the Zahn character, apparently his act is rooted in reality. The character is partially based on DJ Davis Rogan (who is a consultant on the show).

What I love about David Simon and the other writers is their attention to detail as reflected in some of the dialogue:
"I'm not serving f'n chinese crawfish in my restaurant"
"He f__ed around and got himself shot to death in one of them Telephone road bars"
"It's never been safer. All the crime moved to Houston."

Several of my co-workers are from New Orleans and I can vouch for their disdain of Chinese crawfish (frozen). The two Houston comments hit home for me. Whether it was perception or reality, many people in Houston (during this time, I was living in Houston) believed that crime exponentially increased with the wave of evacuees into H-town. The high school (in SW Houston) I taught at was a predominately Cholo (gang) school and was one of four high schools that took in the majority of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. There definitely was some tension at the school as some of the New Orleans students were gang members/wannabes who wanted to establish turf. Apparently for those who remained in New Orleans, it was a bit of a running joke to say that all of the crime moved to Houston. The line about Telephone Road is great because a lazy writer could’ve just said that he got shot in Houston. I think the writer intentionally referenced Telephone Road as a shot-out to Steve Earle who was in the Wire. Steve Earle’s version of Telephone Road has long been replaced by seedy motels, massage parlors, and dive bars.The Link

For those who though the series started out too slow (and there are plenty based on reviews I've read on-line), I say give David Simon a chance. Many people said the same thing about the first few episodes of season 1 of the Wire (pacing too slow, too many storylines being established at once, taking too long to develop the characters). I thought the Goodman character did a good job of introducing ‘high level’ complaints about the government’s failure, “This is not a natural disaster, this is a man-made f__ing catastrophe of epic proportions." He then places blame at the feet of the Army Corp of Engineers, federal government, state government, and local government. Simon will reveal more of the failures by the fed government/police/insurance companies/FEMA etc. as the series goes on. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I personally can’t wait for his reveals, however subtle or sledge-hammer like (the Goodman and Zahn characters).
 
Slow is fine. I personally like a nice introduction to the characters and scene before they start blasting away with everything.
 
i think they start slow on purpose. the beauty of the wire was that the characters developed naturally--meaning character development wasnt forced to the point where you knew who and what a character was about after episode 1.

i think they're giving us snippets to, as someone said, interweave the characters with their surroundings. once they hit a certain level, i think some drama will start happening.
 
"the insurance companies that screwed so many people over"

You mean the people who had no insurance of any kind? Or, just the ones who had no flood insurance? Yeah, those old meanies.
 
"the insurance companies that screwed so many people over"
__________________________________________________

actually, the poeple that got screwed were in mississippi who took the brunt of the hurricane. all the expensive beachfront owners got their claims denied because the insuraqnce companies claim their houses didnt flood but were washed away by the storm surge. i know they all sued, i dont know what the outcome was. strangely, you dont hear about what happened in mississippi much.
 
Love New Orleans, love the very edge of Treme (the only part I've been to!), love the Treme Jazz Band, loved the first episode. It was slow, but things in New Orleans - The Big Easy - tend to move pretty slowly in real life. If the pace doesn't pick up on the show, however, it will not attract the viewers it needs to live. I'm stickin'.
 
Thought the first episode was well-done and actually far ahead of The Wire at this stage in terms of laying the groundwork and simultaneously piquing the viewers' interest. But I guess Baltimore vs. New Orleans isn't really a fair matchup in terms of culture and intrique.Never would've predicted what The Wire would've become after watching the first half-dozen or so episodes, so I'd say to all the naysayers, give it some time. These guys know what they're doing.
 
thought the second episode was better. Maybe some might not like the humor and lighter touches with the tourist plotline, but Zahn had some good lines.

a. 'When the cabby asks, tell him "you are sure."'

b. 'keynesian economics' when chatting up Costello.
 
the scene in which the horn player (i forget the character's name) gets arrested seemed very plausible to me. A few simple seemingly innocent gestures/repsonses, escalating to a beat down and arrest.
 
the post before snowleopard was 4/27/10..

12 months just flew by. wow.
 
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