The Chris Moeller Archives

Treme is coming

A new HBO series may require a cable upgrade. It promises to become perhaps the greatest television show of any kind since Johnny Fever first cranked up Ted Nugent on his Ohio Valley turntable.

"Treme" is a product of David Simon, creator of "The Wire," also on HBO, a penetrating and sprawling portrait of his hometown, Baltimore, Maryland-- a city "that falls down beautifully," according to Simon. Now he's back with a series that casts a post-Katrina New Orleans as its set location and its subject.

The title of the series is drawn from the Mid-City Crescent City neighborhood (pronounced Treh-MAY') that borders the French Quarter to the west-- "back of town" in local chatter, and is equal to Vieux Carre in historic significance. Also known as Faubourg Treme, the neighborhood is considered the oldest predominately-black neighborhood in the United States, and was home to the largest community of free black people in the Deep South during slavery and an early political center for the abolition movement.

At Congo Square, carved once upon a time out of the edge of today's Treme neighborhood, slaves of the colonial 18th century were allowed to gather on Sundays and perform their native music. At the beginning of the 20th century, jazz music was first popularized in the red-light district of Storyville, covering the upper-part of Treme, with local musical cleverists building upon the traditions of "call-and-response" blues, gospel hymns, and African-rooted syncopation by "swinging" the sound of the brass instruments heard in the local military bands of this southern Navy port.

It would seem that Simon's got a sharp eye for regionalism, anyway, but this corner of the world is ground zero for local color and the exploration of regional peculiarities. He's recruited "Wire" vets Wendell Pierce (who played Det. "Bunk" Moreland) and Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon) to lead the new cast. Steve Zahn is there, along with "Newsradio"'s Khandi Alexander and "Deadwood"'s Kim Dickens, and now you can add John Goodman, a St. Louis native and an Emmy award-nominated actor who has adopted New Orleans as his hometown. It's a CM Top 50 TV Shows of all-time All-Star team!

Simon found roles for other New Orleans residents as well (Pierce is a native). Tom Piazza, the author of a book on my shelf called "Why New Orleans Matters," is a script writer, as is Lolis Erick Elie, a reporter for the local Times-Picayune. Phyllis Montana LeBlanc is a New Orleans resident who was cast here after she appeared as herself, quite memorably, on Spike Lee's Katrina requiem "When the Levees Broke," there's music in the series from Trombone Shorty, Kermit Ruffins, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Galactic, and the Rebirth Brass Band, and Simon has hired local chef Susan Spicer (that name is made up, right?) as a consultant.

The 10-episode first season begins on April 11th. Here's a promo.

posted by CM @ 10:42 PM