About "Treme," Episode 1
Whew.
I should've known to just trust David Simon. Mr. Simon, I'm sorry for doubting you, if only for a brief moment in time. I genuflect at your altar.
Treme is, beyond all else, a beautiful work of art. I feel like I know each and every character on the show. They all seem familiar to me. It was genuine and real, almost scarily so. I mean, does it get more New Orleans than the following dialogue exchange?
Davis: "All you want to do is get high, play some trumpet and barbecue in New Orleans your whole damn life?"
Kermit Ruffins: "That'll work."
I think not!
Here are a list of things I loved about the show, in no particular order.
-A bag of Zapps on the kitchen counter.
-The disdain expressed for Chinese crawfish.
-Everything about the characters played by Wendell Pierce and John Goodman (whose character, as previously noted, is based on Ashley Morris). Pierce especially nails it, but he is a New Orleans-born musician himself, so that's to be expected.
-The Mardi Gras Indian.
-A reference to Hubig's pies.
-Davis, the character played by Steve Zahn (whose bare ass I could have gone without seeing), working at WWOZ and blasting Mystikal to piss off his neighbors.
-John Goodman's character trying to toss the British TV guy's camera into the canal.
Did I miss any highlights?
Also, I watched the show at home, alone. I was invited to a couple of viewing parties but decided that I didn't want anything to distract me from soaking it all in. I'm glad I did that. My only regret is not flooding my apartment and hanging a model airplane from the ceiling with a George W. Bush action figure in it to, you know, set the right mood. But I got by okay.
So far this year the Saints have won the Super Bowl, the city elected a new mayor and it's recovery is now being serialized by television's preeminent genius. 2010 looks like it'll be a good year for New Orleans.
(Also, the Times Picayune's Dave Walker put together a handy guide to explain some of the show's more obscure references to non-locals.)
10 comments:
Does HBO ever put their shows online in a legit fashion? I'm dying to see this but haven't had HBO in years.
@twoeightnine...not to my knowledge. You'll have to steal it off the net...or start dating a girl with HBO. Or, you know, subscribe to it.
I thought the Davis/Kermit exchange was the least believable thing on the show -- who but some avaricious out of town yuppie would question the wisdom of Kermit's get-stoned, play-music, cook-barbecue life plan? THAT scene felt phony.
Otherwise, I loved it all, except for Zahn. You can argue he was supposed to be a dick, but he was the only character that could have been transposed to "K-ville" without an altered word.
The rest of the writing and acting was amazing.
@kevin allman...ha, I see your point. The Davis character would never question Kermit's lifestyle choice because he's essentially made the same choice himself, though lacking the talents that Kermit has to achieve stardom. I suppose that it was a device to help viewers really get some insight into the mindset of the typical New Orleans musician, though I suppose it would have been better if the question were asked by someone else, maybe a reporter from an out of town paper or something.
Kinda hard to A) Date a girl with HBO B) Subscribe to HBO when you live in a van traveling the country and don't have a tv.
Caj, as a fellow "former NOLA resident," do you feel at all weird about some of this stuff happening without you there? I mean, I loved--LOVED!--seeing the Saints win the Super Bowl. Cried and everything in front of strangers at a St. Louis bar. But part of me still longed to be back home to experience that with my friends and family. Similarly, the city appears to have elected a competent guy to run the show (waiting for Jeff. Parish to get it's shit in gear), and now a television show that seems to "get it" about this town.
Thoughts?
@mr. held over...Oh I've been thinking about moving back for a while now (See post titled "Could New Orleans become the new New York"), or at least have a place to live in both cities. That's always sort of ben my end goal. I'm inching ever closer to that.
never would've watched if not for your comments. loved it.
Reference to Carlos Marcello (Mosca's, Hwy 90) Loved it!!!
ah... i had wondered if john goodman's character is based on ashley morris. thank you for clearing that one up. i love this show. if only they could squeeze the big easy roller girls into the show...
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