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Treme


Eccles

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I'm from New Orleans (living in Houston now), and Im always weary of Television or films depicting the city. They always exagerate the accents, make it seem like everyone walking around is a fucking cajun speaking French and shit, they make it seem like the entire city consists soley of the French Quater and the characters rock searsucker suits and speak like they are southern dandys from the 1800s. Im positive all this shit is usually done by outsiders. I literally cringe when I see this shit

But, I KNOW David Simon is more then capoable of handiling the subject matter here, how good he is with diaolouge and character development. The commercials look on point as far as accents and the feel of the city. Also, Kermit Ruffin (local jazz musician) is in the show which leads me to believe the went deep for authenticity. I've always fucked with John Goodman too (word to Arachnophobia). So we'll see. Excited for this one.

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^ The David Simon piece From the Times magazine few weeks back was much stronger.

I'm actually picking up my HBO subscription for Treme. Looks like the verdict is still out on whether or not it'll be a winner. Side note: Go Harvard, Duke, UCAL Berkeley, etc for offering courses based on the Wire.

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Extremely well done. I actually did not think the pace was as slow as I expected it to be. The story clipped along at a good pace imo. As a New Orleans native I have to say everything was pretty much on point. The show caught not just the accents and the neigborhoods but the general feeling of New orleans which is extremely hard to do. And, not just the feeling...but post Katrina feeling. I know people just like teh father who was cleaning out the unliveable barn....shit fora few months I tried toc lean out my own home which was ultimately unlivable. I know people just like the broke ass musicians living from gig to gig. Then theres the people who live uptown with money like John Goodmans character, who love the city.

Show was excellent. Havent been this excited about a TV show in years. Cant wait till next Sunday. uim feeling like the first time I saw Sopranos for the first time.

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Thats one of the best things about it. The dialect is truly authentic on it. If they would've had those bullshit fake ajun accents (see Kathy Bates in Waterboy) I would've been done with it 5 mins in. One of the most unique things abouyt the city is the speech. Its a mix between french, spanish and just straight un New Orleans. Im glad they included it.

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^ The David Simon piece From the Times magazine few weeks back was much stronger.

I'm actually picking up my HBO subscription for Treme. Looks like the verdict is still out on whether or not it'll be a winner. Side note: Go Harvard, Duke, UCAL Berkeley, etc for offering courses based on the Wire.

i only read dining and wine in the times. otherwise im clueless as to what they write. I need my news/editorial easily digestible. Didnt go to college.

Also, no beef, but why even mention that vs. just commenting on likes/dislikes from the article (i'm assuming you had to have read to give the opinion)?

I really enjoyed the 1st episode. I know nothing of new orleans culture, so learning curve is straight up for me. Bunk, Lester, and Fran Boyd were all dope and Steve Zahn, Goodman, his wife, were nice for the white folks. The musician characters were good. All about Kermits world view. Also Finding Forrester being up in there is nice as well.

Also appreciate using Mystical to piss off your neighbors.

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Also, no beef, but why even mention that vs. just commenting on likes/dislikes from the article (i'm assuming you had to have read to give the opinion)?

Also appreciate using Mystical to piss off your neighbors.

No beef. If you're gonna spend 20 minutes of your life reading an article, I'm just saying your time is better spent w/ the Times piece. Luhd that Mystikal shit, even though I find Zahn's character really annoying, which is usually the last thing you'd have to worry about with a Simon show.

For up north folk like myself that need to get up on Nawlins...

http://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2010/04/hbos_treme_explained_do_you_kn.html

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kinda feel like he nailed the black music loving white guy in a black city, which by my guess, would be an annoyance to even his friends.

David Simon's TV career, while always stellar (homicide, the corner, wire), could start to get redundant if all his shows had that heavy of a hand. I have yet to watch Gen. Kill but I was glad to see there was a Jar Jar style character (Zahn) to lighten the mood in Treme.

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I mean, Bubbs was pretty JarJar-esque. Zahn's just annoying.

Meanwhile - what is the story here? Post-Katrina recovery is more of a subject than a storyline. There's no "McNulty needs to take down the Barksdale Crew" or "Rogue police Major wants to reform the city". I'm curious what the engine of the show will be.

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I would say New Orleans post katrina is plenty of a storyline, but thats just opinion. That one event opens up plenty of protagonist/antagonist plots, plus i'd expect in those months there were plenty of politics at hand that are story worthy.

Not that i want to draw comparison to The Wire, but David Simon maintained that a driving storyline for that show was Baltimore itself, the same logic applies for New Orleans in Treme.

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The opening credits contained a few hints; i remember there being a shot of a bureaucratic-type in what seemed to be a courtroom, so i think we can expect politics as well as citizen's struggle to cope with post-Katrina New Orleans?

I noticed a lot of the characters knew how to play an instrument, I have a feeling they'll all end up meeting and forming a band or something.

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Yeah you definetely need to give the show a chance to breathe here. The subject matter is obviously post Katrina and theres just a shit load of human stories that came out of that event. It looks like one of the storylines will deall with a struggling musician, lost relationships, etc.. Although the first episode was the lengnth of a film it was basically just an introduction to the characters.

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Jar Jar style character (Zahn) to lighten the mood in Treme.

This is the only thing I'm worried about. I personally wasn't too annoyed by Zahn's character, but every time I've read a review of the show, people are always blasting him and saying how annoying he is. I can see what they mean, so I hope he doesn't develop into the next Ziggy Sobotka.

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I find Zahn's character to be high strung, obnoxious and a bit of an ass hole. But thats ok with me. I also dont take that as a que to stop watching the show. I dont necesarily have to want to have a beer with a character to watch him. In fact the character of the white boy who loves black music and basically lives and breathes music although he has no real talent isnt new. Zahn just kind of brings this goofyness to it probably cause of his work on teen flicks. I dont mind it.

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I liked Zahn a whole lot. Definitely nailed the nerdy white dude. I don't have any idea where the show is going but I'm not going to fuckin write it off after the first episode considering it's from the creator of The Wire. Anyone catch that supplement that was on HBO today? It explained different aspects of NO culture that I didn't know existed.

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I have to say...I thought this particular episode moved rather slowly. And, they iontroduced 2 new characters (the french quater musicians) that I didnt think were very good actors. At least thats upon first impression. However, Carke Peters character is emerging as my favorite one. Trying to figure out of he killed that dude who was stealing or if he merely whipped his ass.

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I have to say...I thought this particular episode moved rather slowly. And, they iontroduced 2 new characters (the french quater musicians) that I didnt think were very good actors. At least thats upon first impression. However, Carke Peters character is emerging as my favorite one. Trying to figure out of he killed that dude who was stealing or if he merely whipped his ass.

Easily the best moment of the show thus far. Reminiscent of Chris beating Michael's stepdad to death. Definitely about what's not said during that moment that makes it so powerful.

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