The communities depicted in Treme include: the culinary scene-restaurants, food. The different ethnic groups-Cajun, Creole, French, white, black, and combinations of. The Mardi Gras Indians, and their customs of dancing, chanting, marching, and costume-making. And-music. Virtually every conceivable form of American music is present here (even death metal) whether country, bluegrass, rockabilly, funk, hiphop, soul, and especially jazz-every subgenre of jazz imaginable. And numerous real life New Orleans musicians and other music legends appear as themselves throughout, including Kermit Ruffins, Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Lloyd Price, Irma Thomas, Fats Domino, John Boutté, Ron Carter, Dr. The Wire has dozens of characters who alternate from leading to supporting roles, and vice versa, with some disappearing altogether and new ones being introduced from season to season. But Treme has about ten main characters given approximately equal attention, with about as many supporting roles. Their lives intertwine in ways that communities of people likely do in real life sometimes they're aware of the connections, of who knows who, and sometimes they're not. But we get to see it all. The arc of the story is not so much one of dramatic narrative escalation but rather an ongoing series of glimpses into a host of personalities who tread through various spheres of New Orleans culture, their lives entwining in unforeseen and sometimes tragic ways. The "smallness" of Treme in contrast to The Wire allows a greater intimacy to develop between the characters, and with the audience. The Wire, however, more so emphasizes that, with cynical, unflinching realism-showing the paradoxical cycle of a dysfunctional system that forces people to behave in corrupt ways in order to survive, thus perpetuating the corrupt system while simultaneously struggling to change it. While some Treme plotlines involve a crooked police department, opportunistic land developers, shady building contractors, and incompetent or corrupt politicians, it's the cultural scenes that take priority. This is fitting given the qualities of the two cities Baltimore is twice the size of New Orleans and The Wire explores numerous aspects of the city as a whole, whereas Treme, as the title implies, centers more on that specific neighbourhood. Parts of the story occur in other locales within the city, and parts are set elsewhere-such as in New York and Texas-but the scope of Treme is overall smaller than The Wire. And this is a big part of its charm. The Wire, set in Baltimore, Maryland, features that city prominently, not only as a setting but almost as a character unto itself wherein the complicated social, economic, and political systems at play are examined in fascinating detail. Likewise Treme features New Orleans, although the focus is more on the arts and cultural communities and less on the political and law enforcement systems. While Treme is less overtly political than The Wire, both shows have a gritty, realistic tone, and neither shies away from depicting system corruption. Many fans of The Wire haven't even heard of Treme, much less been motivated to watch it even if they had. And that's unfortunate, because it's outstanding in its own right. Many similarities between the two series abound, albeit significant differences as well. Treme, the HBO series created by David Simon, takes its name from real life working-class neighbourhood Tremé, in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The story starts three months after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and follows an ensemble cast of characters as they try to rebuild their homes and lives. It's Simon's follow-up to the mind-blowing series The Wire, which finished its original run in March 2008. The first episode of Treme aired two years later, and was somewhat overshadowed by the success of The Wire. Not that Treme wasn't critically acclaimed also, because it was-by the few who saw it.
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