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A while back I called The Wire:
My favorite TV show ever. It presents a vivid and believable world of Baltimore drugs, police, politics, etc. … I findThe Wire’s world unusually consistent with everything I know. … “The overall moral of the story seems to me largely libertarian.
Though I was puzzled that its producer, David Simon, didn’t agree with me about its overall moral. If The Wire was the best show ever, then it was quite unlikely that Simon’s new show, Treme, would nearly as good. And after watching six episodes now, I can assure you it isn’t. (Newsweek agrees). Oh its better than average, and I’m sure it is cutting-edge and ground-breaking in many ways. And in terms of the details of personal lives, Treme may be even more realistic than The Wire.
But in terms of the larger social forces, Treme seems to be setting up a standard political fantasy: colorful warm-hearted salt-of-the-Earth plunky outranged citizens “take back their town” from corrupt leaders. Oh they may well fail and get squashed in the end, but their idealism and passion toward their heart-warming noble cause is way way over the top.
Treme Dissapoints
I know this is an old post, but I'm curious if you have any other TV shows you have particularly enjoyed? I too found the Wire a fascinating portrayal of both institutions and individuals, and desperately looking for more.
Supposedly someone once asked Joseph Heller why he was never able to match the greatness of his first novel Catch 22, to which he replied, "Who has?"
Treme lacks the immediacy and accessibility of The Wire, which was built on an extremely familiar foundation of cops vs. criminals. It's hard to grab people's attention with "Musicians in New Orleans" as your building block. But I think it's worth giving Simon a pretty long leash here, especially if you believe, as Robin does, that the show is better than average. The first few episode of The Wire were pretty engaging, but the real payoff didn't occur until later.
For anyone desperate for more Wire-caliber TV, the closest thing I've found is the Canadian TV series Intelligence. It's similarly patient in developing its stories and detailed in exploring institutions, with a large cast.