Hurricane Katrina was a devastating, depressing debacle whose ramifications are still felt today. Lives were lost, homes were destroyed. You'd think “Treme," a new HBO series that takes place in New Orleans in the months after Katrina, would be a downer, that viewers would be treated to a humbling, depressing television experience. You'd be wrong. “Treme," through two episodes, is among the most uplifting TV series I've ever seen.
This is one reason why Treme has the potential to be an all-time great show, to place among the best in the modern era and, dare I say it, possibly surpass its predecessor, The Wire, in terms of quality.
David Simon is the brains behind both Treme and The Wire, and there is no human more capable of telling the story of Katrina and its aftermath than he is. Obviously, any hyperbolic claims concerning Treme's legacy are premature. Rarely is a TV series fully formed at the start, and a stellar pilot isn't necessarily a recipe for sustained greatness or longevity. And, yet, is there any person alive who inspires confidence in a viewership like Simon?
With The Wire, Simon whacked the grass hut of police procedurals down with a razor-blade-spiked bamboo rod. The Wire changed what we all thought television could be. The show painted a grim but stirring picture of Baltimore, its denizens who strived to hammer out a living and the man-made institutions that let them down. It gave its audience the benefit of the doubt, throwing us right into the action without the crutch of expositional dialogue or blatantly plot-clarifying scenes.
Simon created an intricate account of a dying city over five seasons, not just showing the effects, but the causes too. Never have civic machinations been documented in such a complete, heart-wrenching manner.
So Simon has now gone from Baltimore to New Orleans. There has been a reticence among critics to actively compare The Wire to Treme, which is understandable. The Wire is considered by many to be the medium's crowning achievement, and you don't want to saddle a new series with impossible expectations.
This is one reason why Treme has the potential to be an all-time great show, to place among the best in the modern era and, dare I say it, possibly surpass its predecessor, The Wire, in terms of quality.
David Simon is the brains behind both Treme and The Wire, and there is no human more capable of telling the story of Katrina and its aftermath than he is. Obviously, any hyperbolic claims concerning Treme's legacy are premature. Rarely is a TV series fully formed at the start, and a stellar pilot isn't necessarily a recipe for sustained greatness or longevity. And, yet, is there any person alive who inspires confidence in a viewership like Simon?
With The Wire, Simon whacked the grass hut of police procedurals down with a razor-blade-spiked bamboo rod. The Wire changed what we all thought television could be. The show painted a grim but stirring picture of Baltimore, its denizens who strived to hammer out a living and the man-made institutions that let them down. It gave its audience the benefit of the doubt, throwing us right into the action without the crutch of expositional dialogue or blatantly plot-clarifying scenes.
Simon created an intricate account of a dying city over five seasons, not just showing the effects, but the causes too. Never have civic machinations been documented in such a complete, heart-wrenching manner.
So Simon has now gone from Baltimore to New Orleans. There has been a reticence among critics to actively compare The Wire to Treme, which is understandable. The Wire is considered by many to be the medium's crowning achievement, and you don't want to saddle a new series with impossible expectations.
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