Missed the first half hour but it’s on the DVR. There wasn’t a single scene that I didn’t want to watch again. I didn’t have any trouble with the dialect – didn’t notice much, actually. Are there a lot of different New Orleans accents? I read or heard somewhere that there are about 30 “authentic” accents.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a plot, but I’m fine with that. These are interesting people and it’ll be cool just to spend time with them. I’ve never been to New Orleans so I don’t know if they’re capturing the flavor, but it seems like they are.
Coonass is considered by polite society to be a derogatory term for Cajun. We have reclaimed the phrase, however, and only we can call each other by that word.
Actually the greater Houston area, due to the oil industry, has long had Louisiana natives migrating there…since right after WWII, well before Katrina.
Can someone who knows more about New Orleans culture than I do explain what the deal is with the chiefs and the crazy flowery indian outfit? I was a bit lost then (and I agree, it will be hard not to call that character Lester Freamon and that other character Bunk).
Very very entertaining, though, although it took me a while to get into it. My total lack of interest in Jazz probably doesn’t help.
I love Bunk’s constant minor hustling of the cab drivers.
At the risk of appearing uninsightful, I thought the premiere dragged a bit in places. It definitely wasn’t bad, and I’ll continue to watch—it took a few episodes of The Wire before I was truly hooked.
I expect it will pass, but in an odd way I was distracted by the “hey, it’s him again!” factor, seeing actors from The Wire and Deadwood reappear. At least initially, it made it harder for me to concentrate on the new character (more so than if it had been an unknown actor in the role).
I really liked the far shots of the city – if I hadn’t known that David Simon did this, those shots would have told me.
My favorite scene was Clarke Peters in the feathers – the way it started, just a few sparkles in the dark (fireflies?) and the way the light shone around the edges of the feathers, they glowed like fire. And then he started to talk – lord knows what he was saying, but it was very powerful. He really got into it.
ETA: NPR had a story yesterday about some colleges (Duke, Harvard) teaching The Wire.
Two questions: The older, heavier DJ – was he anyone? I got the vibe of a musician or some such making a cameo. Also, I haven’t seen Steve Zahn in anything for a long time – has he always been channeling Crispin Glover?
I lived in Treme (Gov Nicholls/Claiborne). I lived it, I don’t need to watch a TV show about it. Left for NYC after a man attacked me with a crowbar one night while leaving work.
Cajuns (Coonasses) live more out West, around Lafayette. It’s a misconception that New Orleans is filled with them. New Orleans is more Creole, and Treme is a historically Creole area of the city.
Yes, there are multiple NOLA accents. A real native could probably identify more, but I know of at least the Garden District accent, ‘Yat’ accent, etc.
Haven’t gotten to watch this yet but I did just get back from my first visit to New Orleans and now I can’t wait to see this series. I was already excited about it as a David Simon fan (The Wire is the greatest show in the history of television, in my opinion) and now I’m even more eager to get into this one.
Didn’t see it mentioned here but while I was in NOLA, there was a front page story about the show already getting picked up for a 2nd season. It opened to pretty decent numbers… Something like 1.2 million for the premiere, compared to the roughly 800k per episode that The Wire averaged.
Just signed up for HBO today, and am planning on watching the first episode when I get home tonight. Can’t wait!
Also, I asked my cab driver about how to pronounce “Treme” as we were driving through that neighborhood - He said that Treh-MAY or Treh-MEE are both correct and both are used pretty interchangably down there.
I figure it’s almost time for episode 3, so open spoilers for 1 and 2.
Got a kick out of seeing Slim Charles again (the fake David Brooks). I assume his appearance isn’t a one-off – he probably knows something about the man they’re searching for.
I liked what they did with the three young white Christian tourists. For once, it was the native who acted like a jerk. Loved the violin music and will try to find out who that was.
Did Lester kill that guy? I think he did. Not sad for the dead guy so much as sad that Lester apparently has an uncontrollable temper.
They were volunteers, not tourists. But, yeah. Reminded me of that one Peter Arno cartoon. Young woman is sitting in a Paris cafe, wearing a miniskirt, a ton of eyeliner, and a leering guy’s arm, while smoking a cigarette in a holder. Her aghast friend (twinset, pearls, ponytail) stands by the table: “But Mary Lou! You mean you’re not coming back to Bryn Mawr ever?” I’d been hoping the whole time that that would be the reason they didn’t come back. Glad I was right.
Nope. NO has been an entitled poop pile for a long time, yes pre-Katrina, and some airy-fairy romanticized jazz-infused alternate-reality enobled version is not interesting to me. Why not an ode to how wonderful, resilient Detroit or St. Louis is while we are at it?
Not sad for the dead guy so much as sad that Lester apparently has an uncontrollable temper.