Anticipating Treme aka "Tremé" - David Simon and his buddies do post-Katrina N.O.

I can see why you'd think it was tedious but, pompous? Really? I mean, this is a pretty important subject that the characters are getting on their high horse about, it's not like they don't have a fucking good reason to be angry. I think the John Goodman polemics can be a bit on the blunt side but they're getting the balance right everywhere else.

Anyone else think it's really picked up over the last couple of episodes? After about five episodes of just hanging with the characters there's been a very marked shift in tone - we know where the characters are going now. There were a couple of "fuck..." moments in the last episode that really reminded me of bits of the Wire - that scene in the back of the truck was wrenching. Also Chief holing himself up in the projects - after several episodes of seeing characters getting angry at the injustice of it all, it's finally trying to make the viewers angry as well.

Wish they'd kept the Davis-running-for-council thing going a bit longer, that was great. Although my careometer is still pretty low when it comes to restaurant girl and the violinist and her dick of a junkie boyfriend.

I'm glad that the Chief storyline seems to be going somewhere (though, this being a David Simon show, it's far more likely that his efforts will be in vain - though I don't know what happened in real life), though his bits have always been entertaining, just like LaDonna's search for her son, though that storyline is a lot more motivated. Pierce's portrayal of Antoine is great enough where his plots are basically coasting on his likability; I'm okay with this. While I love John Goodman and Kim Dickens, both their stories seem too blunt, since they're both so obviously good sympathetic characters we're supposed to sympathize with. Davis... well, he's been growing on me, but not yet to the point where I feel all his screen time has been justified.

The violinist plot seems amazingly obvious, and hence feels like more of a waste of time than the others. I mean, either they're going to self-destruct and the asshole boyfriend will kill her and/or himself, or she'll finally leave him, then... so what? Is there going to be a greater point to be made about these two young people who are both imports to New Orleans? Were they just there to be young struggling musicians as a comparison to Antoine's middle-aged hustling? Lucia Micarelli's a beautiful girl, and glows wonderfully when she's playing music, but the scenes where she's had to act (fighting with her boyfriend, or this week's scene where she dogs her audition) come off incredibly hammy.

Not digging the celebrity cameos, but I am amused that Antoine seems to hate tons of other musicians.

I find it's straining my goodwill. Both the Goodman character and the Chief seem to be pretty straightforward editorializing sock-puppets, delivering monologues without much drama. Bunk-as-'Bone-man part seems underwritten - he's there just to be a loveable schlub. Goodman's wife seems similarly thin. Hate the busking couple. Find Davis annoying. Find a lot of the music scenes/celeb cameos totally indulgent. Can't believe nobody in New Orleans listens to hip hop... The truck corpses scene was good, but a bit too little too late. Are there really only 10 episodes in this season? Cos I can't see them bringing it round in the remaining three...

Nah, I gotta give the Chief credit. They gave him a ton of character set up and backstory - his strained relationships with his son and daughter and his community role as chief and white hat thug enforcer, not to mention smooth ladies man. His motivations are totally plausable, his connection to the area and people was gradually laid out competently, even though the gist of it was nailed in the pilot. His scenes are usually a pleasure to watch for me, whether he's getting in some politician's face or just eating dinner. Goodman on the other hand, I don't know why he cares so much - he just does - though who knows, kind of hoping him and Davis have a heart-to-heart about their motivations by the end of the season.

Melissa Leo's character's pretty straightforward, but I think she's managed to be effectively clever, compassionate and outraged in her own mostly procedural storyline; especially in those flashes of anger, like when she couldn't convince that ADA to file the joint motion last week. (Not as interesting in her own family, though, but I suspect there'll be boring arguments how about Goodman can't get his book done.)

Goodman is too obvious an editorialising sockpuppet I think. The Chief, no way, he's great and totally credible.

I dunno, the Chief seems too unambiguously The Noble Suffering Spirit of New Orleans to me. Love Clarke Peters work as always, though.

oh well at least it's one show where you don't have to worry about spoilers

they're in purgatory

xpost
Good point about the lack of hip-hop in the show; it's such a huge part of the scene there, but I think that music is too forward-looking for Simon to concern himself with, since so much of the show is about conserving the culture of the past. There were some nods to it, though (Davis' speaker battle with the neighbors). My guess is that you'll see more hip-hop references as the crime moves back into the city and that allows Simon to set more stories in that world (right now the projects are empty, and as the cop says to Peters, nobody's interested in having them return to what they were).

Still cracking up over how Davis was bought out in a fraction of a second

there's still that dangling issue of the chief beating that kid into a coma. was that ever brought up again after episode 2 or 3? did they drop the ball.

this show could be so much better. i think they're trying too hard to make the characters likable (compared to the wire), and it's boring. the lawyer character is particular boring. she doesn't seem to have any traits other than kindness and diligence. who is paying her? does she work for herself? she's just a plot device really. and yeah lack of hip-hop is symptomatic, as is lack of crime really. i guess they wanted to get far away from that after the wire.

i get the feeling this might get cancelled after the second season and before it picks up big time. but who knows. i'll keep watching, it's still plenty watchable and there is a basic level of quality writing that keeps my attention.

i mean there just aren't too many relationships between characters that seem complex and interesting. it's like the very profusion of characters is supposed to substitute for any of them being particularly multifaceted. davis is sort of an interesting character, as is ladonna. wish they made her more of a bitch and her husband less of a mensch. but the chief just seems to be mining one vein of righteous outrage, the kim dickens character is just sweet with hard luck, the john goodman character doesn't really seem to be fully rounded (and they have far too many scenes where the staging is meant to justify another of his harangues--teaching to a class, talking to a grad student, ranting on youtube).

honestly if they spent 2x as much time with antoine batiste and fleshed out his dysfunctional relationship w. current girlfriend, kids, other musicians, etc. it'd be interesting. i'd like more psychological texture.

the scenes are too short and too indifferently constructed to have this effect. i guess this is why i don't like TV in general, most of the time. for example: how does batiste feel about his airport gig? he seemed embarrassed when the famous player walked into the baggage claim. did he not want to be seen working such a crap gig? did he just not want to be upstaged by a more famous trombonist? does the joy of playing and the response of the crowd redeem the sort of sordid surroundings? the scene was so promising but just kind of played out ineffectually. really lamely staged reaction shots of tourists bopping their heads were cringeworthy. not just because they looked fake and contrived but because they were so on the nose. what about some shots of people going about their business oblivious to the music? or even some people who'd rather not hear blaring brass band music after getting off a long flight? it's like, each scene has to make one obvious point and there isn't much space or time or finesse left for a lot of subtext. even if all those points are building up to some kind of tapestry, it leaves me feeling like i've been condescended to.

I think if anything this show suffers from not having a centre, from the main characters going down their own paths and not really interacting with one another. And yeah, it's obvious that almost everyone in the show is right and has a big and valid grievance.

Maybe it could do with having a higher, political layer of characters, or more figures who are exploiting the situation. The Wire wouldn't have been as interesting without the Burrell/Rawls/Landsman figures, even before we got to Carcetti et al.

they should follow that judge. he seems like part of the political machine, but maybe he's not such a bad guy. that contradiction would be really interesting.

in short -- this is beginning to seem too P.C. which is the death of drama.

i mean the judge that bribed davis.

like what if that city council race were actually a big subplot? a decent-but-not-visionary machine politician versus some hotshit-activist and then davis shows up and throws a wrench in it. that would put davis's minstrel routine in a richer context.

(Walker) Percy described New Orleans as "a most peculiar concoction of exotic and American ingredients" that had discovered "the Little Way, a talent for everyday life rather than the heroic deed."

—thought this was apropos of this show, which is almost anti-drama; I like it for that reason. Agreed with posters above that characters are not fully rounded yet, Goodman is too obvious a mouthpiece.

I was wondering if the show would get into the judge - but I think after The Wire, which did a great job of explaing how institutions have disincentivized serving the public good, Simon's done with showing us why things are fucked and is more interested in watching people thrash in the wake of a dysfunctional political system no one understands or can influence.

i know this goes against TV convention, which says that every character needs a few moments per episode so viewers don't leave disappointed -- but i think they shouldn't try to touch on every character in every episode, crosscutting mercilessly between short scenes. they should stick to two or three, maybe four tops, characters per episode, drawing out the scenes a bit longer. then use the episode-by-episode nature of TV to effect the alternation between plotlines.

I'm only on episode 5 of this but it's verging on unwatchable at times. That bit when the celebrity chefs turned up at the restaurant was cringeworthy. And i hate the fact that practically every other scene some minor character turns up who you just know is some semi-famous local. It really takes me out of the show. I'll stick it out to the end of the season but it's becoming a bit of a chore.

I'm finally caught up, and I thought that the last couple episodes were better than some of the mid-season episodes. Khandi Alexander was unstoppable in the most recent one.

momus cameo in this episode

Wow only one post this week! Everyone's dropped this show by now I guess? (or watching it several days later like I am) It really isn't very exciting. Amazing how the musician/celebrity cameos have been getting more and more pointless each episode. I guess I almost cared about the outcome of the Annie/Davis thing... almost. Poor Ladonna though.

i'm still interested but i haven't had time to sit at a computer and catch up, so i'm still at ep 3. have there been any more second line scenes? i still want to see if i made it into the background somewhere. :/

looking at the wiki, i'm pretty sure the second line i was at is in ep 5.

I dropped it. It's boring and didactic and I wanted to watch Mad Men. : (

Treme is boring so you went to MAD MEN!?

it seems ok so far?

I think my enthusiasm for the show held out longer than most but at this point... ehhh. I'm officially bored with it and will finish it up only because I've invested so much time already. Are they still doing a second season? Who's going to watch it?

Mad Men much less boring than Treme imo.

also: actually good

"boring" is carrying a lot of weight in this sentence but, i can't think of a more boring show than treme tbh

man men seems fun

dont really get ppl who find mad men boring

poll

treme is not exactly the show you're going to lend a box set to your friend on a friday, he's going to finish it on saturday afternoon, and then he's going to tell you how great it was on monday and ask when the next season starts and if you can torrent episodes for him and put them on a USB stick.

lovin' this show.

SO pumped that DirecTv will be showing The Wire this summer on their 101 Channel. I actually enjoy Treme while I am watching it, but I don't spend the week anticipating the next episode.

made it through episode 5, we didn't make the cut in the second line scene but you can hear me playing tambourine

wow. nobody even bothered to bump after the finale. RIP Simon.

Simon interview postmortem season 1

don't think anyone even bumped for the penultimate

i haven't seen 'justified' yet and im kind of wondering if i'll ever get round to this. no1 seems to really rep hard for it.

I think it's great.

i'm enjoying it, but i'm so invested in the subject matter that i don't think i can be objective about its watchability

It's beautifully done for the most part. Despite all the complaints about people being Simon's mouthpieces, it's also very understated as well.

yeah, by the end I decided it was great, despite some its flaws, which really were the same as The Wire's. I thought the last two episodes were really great, and I hope it doesn't come back, because TV shows shouldn't always have to be entire series. 1 decent season that explores these characters, their music, their city, their storm, etc. The end.

already been renewed. got to tackle the schools and the return of crime etc

yeah, just read the interview.

happy if there's more David Morse. I love that guy.