A few weeks ago when I detailed the amazing looking year HBO has ahead of it, I was rightly chastised by many for failing to mention Treme, a new series by the creator of The Wire.
Set shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the title refers to one of the oldest and most culturally rich areas. The long ass rundown…
The drama unfolds with Antoine Batiste, a smooth-talking trombonist who is struggling to make ends meet, earning cash with any gig he can get, including playing in funeral processions for his former neighbors. His ex-wife, LaDonna Batiste-Williams, owns a bar in the Central City neighborhood and splits her time between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where her children and new husband have relocated. Concerned over the disappearance of her younger brother David, or Daymo, unseen since the storm, LaDonna has turned to a local civil rights attorney, the overburdened and underpaid Toni Bernette, for help. The government’s inconsistent and ineffectual response to the devastation has spurred Bernette’s husband Creighton, a university professor of English literature and an expert on local history, to become an increasingly outspoken critic of the institutional response.
Tremé resident Davis McAlary, a rebellious radio disc jockey, itinerant musician and general gadfly, is both chronicler of and participant in the city’s vibrant and varied musical culture, which simply refuses to be silent, even in the early months after the storm. His occasional partner, popular chef Janette Desautel, hopes to regain momentum for her small, newly re-opened neighborhood restaurant. Elsewhere in the city, displaced Mardi Gras Indian chief Albert Lambreaux returns to find his home destroyed and his tribe, the Guardians of the Flame, scattered, but Lambreaux is determined to rebuild. His son Delmond, an exile in New York playing modern jazz and looking beyond New Orleans for his future, is less sure of his native city’s future, while violinist Annie and her boyfriend Sonny, young street musicians living hand-to-mouth, seem wholly committed to the battered city.
The ensemble cast of TREME includes Wendell Pierce (”The Wire,” HBO’s documentary “When the Levees Broke”) as Antoine Batiste; Khandi Alexander (”CSI: Miami,” HBO’s Emmy®-winning “The Corner”) as LaDonna Batiste-Williams; Clarke Peters (”Damages,” HBO’s “The Wire” and “The Corner”) as Albert Lambreaux; Rob Brown (”Stop-Loss,” “Finding Forrester”) as Delmond Lambreaux; Steve Zahn (”A Perfect Getaway,” “Sunshine Cleaning”) as Davis McAlary; Kim Dickens (HBO’s “Deadwood”) as Janette Desautel; Melissa Leo (”Homicide: Life on the Street”; Oscar® nominee for “Frozen River”) as Toni Bernette; John Goodman (”The Big Lebowski,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) as Creighton Bernette; Michiel Huisman (”The Young Victoria”) as Sonny; and classical violinist Lucia Micarelli as Annie.
The series has been in production for some time and will be premiering next month, on April 11th. HBO has finally released some footage from the upcoming series, though expect only flashes and impressions of the environments and characters. This is a big one for fans of cinema-style television, and early buzz is very positive. All you lucky fucks with HBO– don’t miss it!