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Culturegasm: Treme - New Orleans Pilot from David Simon (The Wire)

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  1.  (2931.1)
    This was on the front page of the our paper this morning. I have to say I am pretty damn excited and now doing whatever I can to find out how to get on board this show. I am hoping between this and the Bad Lieutenant remake we will finally get some of what New Orleans is like truly coming out (and wipe away the stench of K-Ville):

    HOLLYWOOD -- In a move that could boost the city's psyche and pump millions into its economy, cable giant HBO is developing a new TV drama to be set in the New Orleans music community.

    "Treme," named after the iconic New Orleans neighborhood where many musicians live, will marry one of television's most prestigious networks with creator David Simon, one of television's hottest series masterminds.

    Simon created HBO's the "The Wire," which just completed a five-year run. While not a huge ratings success for the network, "The Wire" was one of the most critically acclaimed shows in television history.

    Simon confirmed that HBO will film the first episode of "Treme," possibly sometime later this year. If HBO gives the green light for more episodes, production would resume in 2009.

    Simon, a frequent visitor to the city and a longtime New Orleans music fan, said this week that the stories told in "Treme" would reach beyond the music scene to explore political corruption, the public housing controversy, the crippled criminal-justice system, clashes between police and Mardi Gras Indians, and the struggle to regain the tourism industry after the storm.

    "It's basically a post-Katrina history of the city. It will be rooted in events that everybody knows," Simon said. "What it's not going to be is a happy stroll through David Simon's record collection. It should not be a tourism slide show. If we do it right, it (will be) about why New Orleans matters."
    • CommentAuthorWakefield
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     (2931.2)
    Sounds pretty sweet. It almost seems like a companion piece to the Wire. New Yorker did a very good profile on Simon, where he discusses briefly the New Orleans project.

    The day after the parade, Simon took a drive around New Orleans. He said, “This show will be a way of making a visual argument that cities matter. ‘The Wire’ has not really done that. I certainly never said or wanted to say that Baltimore is not worth saving, or that it can’t be saved. But I think some people watching the show think, Why don’t they just move away?”
    •  
      CommentAuthorSarpedon
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     (2931.3)
    Simon's mini series on the Iraq War based on a book "Generation Kill" also begins airing later this week here in the states I think, I still have to watch the last 2 seasons of The Wire though. Great TV, lets hope Simon keeps up the good work.
    • CommentAuthorbuzzorhowl
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     (2931.4)
    I'm so excited about both of those David Simon projects, particularly Treme. The Wire seriously was the best TV show ever made as far as I've been able to determine, and while that gives him a lot to live up to, I'm sure neither of these shows will be anything less than awesome.
  5.  (2931.5)
    More on Treme:

    HBO and David Simon filled in some details late last week about plans for shooting the new pilot for the HBO dramatic series "Treme," inspired by the New Orleans music community.

    To write the script for the pilot episode, Simon consulted with Donald Harrison Jr., Kermit Ruffins and Davis Rogan.

    Eric Overmyer, a sometimes New Orleans resident with writing and production credits including "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "The Wire," collaborated with Simon on the "Treme" pilot script and is expected to write and executive produce for the series.

    A former Baltimore Sun crime reporter, Simon made his move to writing for TV via writing books. His first, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," was adapted into the NBC cop drama "Homicide: Life on the Street." The later "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood" was made into an HBO miniseries.

    Location scouting already has begun in New Orleans. Casting will begin soon, but production issues surrounding the practicality of shooting during hurricane season could affect the show's timeline.

    "If it were up to me, I'd shoot it in the fall," Simon said in a recent interview. If the pilot pleases HBO, shooting on regular-season episodes could begin as early as late winter or early spring, provided subsequent episodes could be written in time.

    Simon said he expects the mix of imported actors and locals to match the cast of the Baltimore-set "The Wire," which used non-Baltimore actors for most of its lead roles. "We're looking to use local people when we can," he said.

    Though the show's main storylines will focus on musicians, other elements of the city's unique culture will be spotlighted. One of the pilot script's principal characters, Simon said, runs a restaurant. The pilot story begins two or three months after Hurricane Katrina. If "Treme" goes to series, each season would advance New Orleans' recovery story by one year.
    •  
      CommentAuthorCamyLuna
    • CommentTimeJul 14th 2008
     (2931.6)
    Sounds good, and I'm really happy that they are using some local actors because that means they have a shot at getting the accents (and the variety of accents within the city) right.
  7.  (2931.7)
    Wendell Pierce, Bunk from The Wire, is actually from here. He came in and did Waiting for Godot earlier here this year. Would be fun to see him down here playing with Simon's words again.
    • CommentAuthorbuzzorhowl
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2008
     (2931.8)
    Oh yeah, he was in Spike Lee's movie, "When The Levees Broke", and I remember seeing him and going, "Oh shit, Bunk!" That story he told about his dad losing his house made me cry my eyes out. That whole movie kind of kicked my ass, honestly.
  9.  (2931.9)
    Yeah, "When The Levees Broke" has a lot of problems. Some tragic stories, but I mainly walked out of the screening pissed off. Really not looking forward to a sequel.
    •  
      CommentAuthornativio289
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2008
     (2931.10)
    @Casey Moore

    "...walked out of the screening pissed off..."

    Ha. Maybe that was what Spike was hoping for...
    •  
      CommentAuthorTelecart
    • CommentTimeSep 2nd 2008
     (2931.11)
    This brought a smile to my face:

    "The Wire" creator David Simon is recruiting some old friends for his new HBO pilot "Treme."

    "Wire" alums Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters are set and Khandi Alexander, who worked with Simon on "The Corner" is in final negotiations to star in "Treme," which Simon created with Eric Overmyer.

    "Treme," which takes its title from an area in New Orleans and is executive produced by Simon, Overmyer and Nina Noble, is a post-Katrina-themed drama that chronicles the rebuilding of New Orleans through the eyes of local musicians.

    Pierce will play Antoine Batiste, an accomplished jazz trombonist who is now scratching for gigs, trying to support a live-in girlfriend and a new baby, while still carrying a torch for a failed marriage to Ladonna Batiste (Alexander), the mother of his two children, who is single-handedly keeping her bar afloat. Peters will play Albert Lambreaux, a big chief of the White Feather Nation trying to bring the tribe's members home.

    Alexander is coming off CBS' "CSI: Miami" where she spent seven seasons. She could return to the show as a guest star, reprising her role as medical examiner Alexx Woods.
  12.  (2931.12)
    @nativio289 I was pissed off at what he got wrong, not at what happened. We were already pissed at that.

    Last I was told is this will more than likely not shoot until earlier next year. Away from hurricane season.
    •  
      CommentAuthornativio289
    • CommentTimeSep 2nd 2008
     (2931.13)
    Oh. Ok. I can understand that...
  14.  (2931.14)
    Treme and Last of the ninth by Milch (with Ray Winstone, mind you) are the two next HBO projects I'm waiting the most.
  15.  (2931.15)
    So it aired last night and it was pretty close. About as close as any fictional show can get to the real thing. And I mean that as an absolute compliment. I basically spend most of my weekends in the area right around Treme and went to NOCCA with a lot of the jazz cats who came up around there and played around there. I can't really comment on the whole immediately after the hurricane thing too much since I was displaced and too broke to afford to move back somewhere with no readily apparent income for me. I went in and gutted out my grandma's place over the weekend and that was about it for me and after the hurricane. That and coming back for a one shot on a holiday about once every year till I finally moved back last year.

    Lemme put it this way: after the show, I went back out to Frenchman and was out till 3 listening to good: country, blues, jazz, and a brass band playing on the corner. God damn it's good to be home.
    •  
      CommentAuthorCameron C.
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2010
     (2931.16)
    I'm sold, let's do this B)
    •  
      CommentAuthorrazrangel
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2010
     (2931.17)
    Gah. I wish I could watch it. Anyone see if HBO is allowing it online anyplace? i pretty much don't watch TV on an actual TV, at least not on purpose. And couldn't in this case; I don't know anyone with HBO in striking distance.

    Everything I've heard about Treme sound fucking awesome.
    • CommentAuthoricelandbob
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2010
     (2931.18)
    I thought the Wire was excellent. This i will be watching...

    Alas i will have to "download" the episodes as there is no chance they would show this in Iceland.
  19.  (2931.19)
    I want to download but my torrent sources have been running thin lately.

    Edit: probably (a little) smarter to PM than post on the open web for any torrent sources.
    •  
      CommentAuthorPaladine
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2010 edited
     (2931.20)
    Edit: maybe a little smarter, yes, so I won't tell you publicly how to get easy tv.

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