Treme

Another show Jeff and I have started (and almost finished) is Treme. This show is made by the same people who made "The Wire," which is Jeff's favorite TV show, and arguably one of the best TV shows ever.

There are a number of actors from The Wire that are in Treme - Wendell Pierce (Bunk), Clarke Peters (Lester), John Goodman is also a main character. Other than that, wikipedia tells me that many of the characters were hired locally, which is cool (and similar to The Wire).

Treme is set in the Treme district in New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Like The Wire, it follows a number of different characters whose lives sometimes intersect. There are the people who are moving back into their homes in the Treme, dealing with the destruction and rebuilding. There are a lot of poor musicians, looking for gigs. It follows a lawyer-professor husband-wife team that are active in the city. The one group conspicuously missing is the police, which is a bit strange, because every police officer on the show tends to be portrayed negatively and with no depth - very different than The Wire.

There is also a bit less of a story arc in this show - it's very character driven, but with no major obstacle that each character has to overcome - for the most part, it just follows them in the everyday ups and downs that they experience - though it stays . We're eight episodes in (there are only 10 in the season), and I like it so far.