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Wendell Pierce played Detective Bunk on David Simon's HBO series The Wire. Simon cast the New Orleans native in Treme as a troubled trombonist.

Apr 10, 2010 By Kyle Lemmon Photography by Paul Schiraldi/HBO HBO

Set three months after the ravage of Hurricane Katrina, HBO’s new series Treme doesn’t hang all of its drama on that crisis. David Simon (The Wire, Generation Kill, The Corner) and Eric Overmyer’s (Homicide, The Wire) know that the New Orleans disaster is already clear in their viewers’ minds. Instead of dismantling the heartache of the crisis, they pen a love letter to the city and its determined citizens. Thankfully, the series is rarely schmaltzy or heavy-handed in its agenda. And its 80-minute premiere stands as a victory apart from the nine episodes to follow. The first few shots of the excellent show reveal a montage of warped and water-damaged houses in the Ninth Ward, ca. 2005. Its a beautiful visual analogy for the thoughtful character drama.

The brittle characters that dot Treme‘s landscape reveal a distinct cross section of New Orleansian life. Much like Simon’s justly-heralded HBO series The Wire, this drama follows the trodden-yet-hopeful survivors like a Robert Altman film. If you know someone from NoLa you know they have a civic pride that is unequaled. Treme pays credence to that variegated spirit. There are chefs, Mardi Gras Indians, radio disc jockeys, lawyers, and regular Joes/Jills trying to pick up the pieces here, but the cement that holds it all together is the city’s musicians.

The series takes its title from Faubourg Tremé (treh-MAY), the red-letter New Orleans neighborhood near the French Quarter. It’s often thought of as the Garden of Eden for jazz music and likewise the first three episodes of Treme are bursting with beautiful music. Many of the local musicians play themselves or perform in the background. Guest appearances from musicians such as Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Dr. John, and Kermit Ruffins lend much of the story its local color.

Plenty of star power keeps HBO’s new ship afloat when the plot meanders like a heady jazz solo. The ensemble cast includes Wire vets Wendell Pierce (a New Orleans native) and Clarke Peters, Khandi Alexander, Kim Dickens, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, and Steve Zahn, in his debut TV series role.

Pierce’s attention-grabbing portrayal of trombonist Antoine Batiste (he played Detective Bunk Moreland on The Wire) is the show’s emotional ballast. Batiste tries to pick up gigs at funeral processions for his late neighbors and that’s where we meet him first. His ex-wife, LaDonna Batiste-Williams (CSI: Miami & The Corner‘s Alexander) owns a bar in the Central City district and drives back and forth between NoLa and her new family in Baton Rouge. She’s looking for her younger brother David (nicknamed Daymo). She pleads for her current husband to appeal to his brother, a civil-court judge. But there’s sticky racial issues involved with that.

Treme approaches race, but it isn’t merely a serialized indictment on relations. In fact, Treme’s merits are often found in what it’s not doing in any scene. It’s doesn’t resort to silly Mardi Gras scenes, though the characters know how to kick back. It doesn’t lecture us about socioeconomic brambles or the mismanagement of FEMA aide.

Refreshingly, it’s an anti-Wire story, but with most of that show’s dramatic heft. Those expecting gritty police procedurals and metropolitan politics may be disappointed, but the hallmark of this beautifully shot show is found in its already-mentioned stellar cast. Time will tell whether that changes as Treme‘s many characters edge closer to present-day NoLa’s murder rate problem.

There’s been a plethora of media coverage in anticipation of Sunday night’s premiere, after the untimely passing of one of the show’s scribes, David Mills (The Wire, The Corner). His indelible fingerprints are all over the series’ authentic dialogue and sense of culture and milieu.

His first, of several, teleplay contributions, comes with episode three (“Right Place, Wrong Time”), and ends with a tearful funeral. Despite the sad situation on and off screen, Treme is an auspicious series that sheds light on the resiliency of human will. Mills’ addition to this show and TV will be missed, but Treme is a beautiful reminder of his impact and love for a life well-lived. Through it all, The Big Easy’s motto still remains: “Laissez le bon temps rouler.” (www.hbo.com/treme)

Author rating: 8/10