Simon’s Newest Masterpiece

There is really only one reason you need to watch “Treme,” and the reason is that it is created by David Simon.

If you’ve never seen a Simon production, you’re missing out. He created the Emmy Award-winning series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” the Emmy Award winning miniseries “The Corner” and the Emmy Award-winning miniseries “Generation Kill.” Oh, and he also created the single greatest television series of all time, and probably the best work of art ever put on film: “The Wire” – ironically the only one not to win an Emmy.

So two years after the series finale of Simon’s magnum opus, he returns with a show that takes a look at a post-Katrina New Orleans and the lives of the people, mainly the musicians, who live there.

The title of the show, “Treme,” is taken from the neighborhood of the same name in New Orleans. Like New Orleans in general, Treme is famous for its jazz origins. In the show, the characters are just starting to pick up their lives three months after the devastation of hurricane Katrina.

After watching the premiere “Do You Know What It Means,” two things will come to your mind. First will be the absolutely amazing cast Simon, his co-creator Eric Overmyer (who also worked on “Homicide” and “The Wire”) and their crew put together.

From “The Wire,” Simon has brought along two of the most memorable actors from the series: New Orleans native Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters. While both played Baltimore detectives on “The Wire,” Pierce the hilarious Bunk Moreland, and Peters the meticulous genius Lester Freeman, they are both musicians’ musicians in Treme. Pierce plays Antoine Batiste a broke, divorced trombonist and Peters is Albert Lambreaux, the chief of the Guardians of the Flame, for Mardi Gras, returning to his home city after evacuating due to the hurricane.

The other stars are John Goodman of “Roseanne” fame as Creighton Bernette, an English professor and activist, calling attention to ways the flood should have been prevented; Oscar nominated Melissa Leo (“Frozen River”), who plays his wife, Toni, a lawyer; Steve Zahn (“Sahara”) as radio DJ Davis McAlary; Khandi Alexander (“CSI”) as Ladonna, Batiste’s ex-wife and bar owner; Rob Brown (“Finding Forrester”) as Delmond, Albert’s son and Kim Dickens, who played Joanie Stubbs on another fantastic HBO drama “Deadwood,” as chef Janette Desautel.

As in “The Wire,” the supporting cast is rounded out by New Orleans natives to add to the authenticity of the show. It’s also nice to know we won’t be hearing awful fake New Orleans accents. Even in the first episode, this is apparent and amplified by the use of a well-known New Orleans jazz musician, Kermit Ruffins, as himself.

The second thing you’ll say to yourself is “what is this show really even about?” Although the premiere is 80 minutes long, not much happens that points to a specific plot the series will be following. All we really know is that it’s mostly about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans. A few plot threads open up, such as Ladonna’s search for her lost brother and Toni helping her find him and Albert returning to New Orleans without a home and his son having to come a talk some sense into him, but that’s about it. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all; the same thing could be said of the series premiere of “The Wire.” What matters is where the series goes from here.

Simon has said that by doing a show on HBO, it allows him to play out the story throughout an entire season rather than a single episode. There are still nine hours left for “Treme” to play itself out.

Now what’s remarkable about this premiere is how excellent it still is without a clear idea of where it is going. As said before, the cast is amazing as are the characters. There are a number of instances that show connections for some of the characters, but as of the first episode, it’s possible that some of the main characters may never cross paths.

Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What else is spectacular is the music. Even if you’re not a fan of this type of jazz, the music is still wonderful and seems actually be played by the actors. Wendell Pierce did learn to play the trombone for the part. Finally, in contrast to the excitement of the lively music is the somber setting for the show. “Treme” was filmed on site in New Orleans, a city unfortunately still recovering from Katrina five years later. The destroyed homes and buildings show the despair within the community while the animated music provides a glimmer of hope.

“Treme” is going to be a slow-moving show and the premiere was basically done to develop the characters we will be following. The writing, the setting, the cast and of course the music are wonderful and there’s no reason not to be eager to see where it all goes. Make sure you don’t miss a minute.