Treme

Treme is not The Wire. It's not Caprica, and it's not Battlestar Galactica.

I bring up Caprica and Battlestar as an example of two television shows, both made by the same people, both excellent, but very different from each other. Battlestar was more a drama than a space opera, but there was always the possibility that you'd get treated to a space battle or two. Caprica has no space battles, yet still manages to be entertaining because of the drama between the characters and the story that it's just beginning to tell.

Treme and The Wire have a similar relationship. Both are David Simon products featuring excellent casts, writers and stories of poverty and struggle. The Wire also had its share of action. It didn't happen often, but there was always the possibility that a gun fight would break out. Treme has none of that, and the most violence that's happened so far has been a single justified beating of a lowly thief.

So why watch Treme? With the possibility of violence almost gone and an apparently complete absence of special effects, what's in this show for you?

The music.

In order to like Treme at all, you have to either like or at the very least appreciate jazz. You have to possess some reverence for the city of New Orleans and her culture if you want to relate at all to Treme. The show will spend a significant portion of time devoted to featuring the stylings of many different musicians of New Orleans. Between the music, and the subtly-told storylines of the varied and increasingly complex characters, this is not a show for everyone. Like The Wire, Treme demands that you pay attention for its entire hour and rewards you with the best TV show at the moment.

If it's not for you, then it's not for you and that's alright. It's not a stigma to dislike jazz, and if you don't like jazz then you will hate Treme. Jazz is integral to the experience and the two are solidly intertwined. If however you are a fan of jazz or open to music in general, you owe it to yourself to check out Treme.