Yes, spring is finally here (or thereabouts, anyway), and that brings warmer weather and, very fortunately, a slew of new and returning television series.
Over at The Daily Beast, you can check out my latest feature, "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring," which includes a look at such series as Mildred Pierce, Game of Thrones, The Borgias, The Kennedys, Camelot, The Killing, Body of Proof, Upstairs Downstairs, and returning series such as Nurse Jackie, The United States of Tara, Treme, Doctor Who, Top Chef: Masters, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and the NBC premiere of the final season of Friday Night Lights.
What are you most excited about that arrives on the airwaves between now and May? Head to the comments section to discuss.
Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.
Kristen Bell, movie mogul? The former Veronica Mars star told The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg that she would self-finance a feature film version of her dearly departed CW/UPN noir drama... if Warner Bros. would release the rights to Veronica Mars. "It's a business and the sad truth is that ... they're not going to relinquish the rights to something and let us do it," said Bell. "We really have to do it with them because they own it... At this point, Warner Bros. can make it but like any studio they have research that tells them whether or not they'll make their money back," she added. "And that's what we've been told: That it's just not there. So my duty, because I wanted this movie made from the minute our show got canceled, is to a) do it before I'm 40; and b) to prove to Warner Bros. that there is an audience. You already have 3 million who watched it every week hardcore fans that will see it -- you can only build from there." Bell went on to say that she was open to doing a web series but is holding out hope of a big screen version of Mars: "" would be down with doing a Web series," she said. "I think, and I don't speak for anyone else but myself, but I think that they want it grand because it is deserving of being on the big screen. I think that maybe our creators would settle for that but I think that we all really want to push for the movie if it can happen." (Hollywood Reporter)
Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Jon Seda (The Pacific) has been cast as a series regular in Season Two of HBO's New Orleans-set drama series Treme, where he will play "a politically connected developer and venture capitalist from Dallas, who becomes involved in the renewal efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans." [Editor: Prior to the first season launch, co-creator David Simon told me that he wanted to create a role for Seda. Looks like he was able to.] (Deadline)
Lone Star creator Kyle Killen has written an open letter on his blog entitled "You're Invited to Our Stunning Upset," in which he pleads with viewers to tune into his FOX con man drama series, which is--after one episode--on death watch after premiering to staggeringly low numbers on Monday. "Here we are. Still alive. A little groundhog peeking out of a bomb crater to see if there's six more weeks of nuclear winter or if, perhaps, something can grow in this hole. And that's where you come in," wrote Killen. "For us to survive we're going to have to pull off a minor miracle. Statistically, new shows tend to lose viewers in their second week. We're aiming to gain them. In fact, screw it, let's just double our audience. The good news is, our audience was so small that if my Mom AND my Dad watch it we'll pretty much be there." (The Letter Eleven)
E! Online's Watch with Kristin has an exclusive first look at a photo of Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski facing down supermodel Karolina Kurkova in Monday night's episode. "I have to admit I got beat up by a girl. Yeah, that's what happened. See this is what happens when you hang out with girls. Girls beat you up," Kurkova told E! Online. "We're gonna be in a fashion show, on a fashion runway. I throw her onto the runway and I start beating her up like seriously beating her up—there's a whole choreography. I'm gonna have a knife, and it's serious girl fight." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)
Fancast's Matt Mitovich is reporting that former Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku will guest star in at least one episode of CBS' The Big Bang Theory, where she will play "an FBI agent assigned to conduct a background check on Wolowitz (played by Simon Helberg) when he needs high-level clearance for a new project." Dushku will appear in the seventh episode of the current season, which launched last night. (Fancast)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has been cast as the male lead in USA drama pilot Necessary Roughness, opposite Callie Thorne (Rescue Me). (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
The New York Times's Dave Itzkoff has a tongue-in-cheek post about whether NBC's Thursday night comedies are becoming the same show as Community, 30 Rock, and The Office all returned "with similar jokes that can only point toward their convergence into one identical show." (New York Times's ArtsBeat)
The CW has ordered six additional scripts for Hellcats and One Tree Hill, both of which had been ordered with thirteen-episode commitments this season. Elsewhere, Lifetime renewed Army Wives for a fifth season and Drop Dead Diva for a third. (Variety)
History has ordered eight episodes of Pawn Stars spin-off Rusty Nuts, which will focus on restoration expert Rick Dale as he "brings trashed treasures back to life." Series, from executive produced Brent Montgomery, will launch on October 25th. (Hollywood Reporter)
Change is afoot at Reveille, where Howard T. Owens will serve as the shingle's sole managing director, while Mark Koops will exit the company, which is now overseen by Shine Group Americas CEO Emiliano Calemzuk. Meanwhile, Robin Ashbrook has been hired as the head of nonscripted entertainment at the company. (Variety)
The Hollywood Reporter's Kim Masters is reporting that Lauren Zalaznick "has declined to extend her contract, even though the NBC Uni brass have entreated her to do so for months," leading Master to believe that Bonnie Hammer could soon gain more oversight if Comcast had to choose between one of the two top executives. "Lauren brings in edge, Bonnie brings in money," said an unnamed source. "If one has eight things to oversee, the other one gets eight ... Whatever list comes out, it's all about, 'Am I up above her?'" (Hollywood Reporter)
Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Sean and Bryan Furst have teamed up with Richard Shepard to launch a new television production company named Olé, which has already set up two series, including Showtime black comedy Corkscrew and an untitled CBS medical drama from writers Jennifer Levin and Sherri Cooper. (Deadline)
MTV has hired two development executives, hiring Shannon Fitzgerald for East Coast and former Hills co-executive producer Colin Nash for the West Coast. (Variety)
"Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful." - Lao Tzu
Water has been at the heart of HBO's criminally under-appreciated series Treme since the beginning. After all, it's a series that recounts the lives and passions--both physical and intellectual--of New Orleans inhabitants several months after Hurricane Katrina. Everywhere one turns there is evidence of the power of water, from the stained and mildewed walls of the homes to the changed waterfront, dramatically altered after centuries due to failing levees and now-missing structures.
However, water was never so front and center on Treme as it was with last night's episode ("Wish Someone Would Care"), written by David Simon and George Pelecanos and directed by Dan Attias, the season's penultimate installment, which began with a lover's quarrel between musicians Sonny (Michael Huisman) and Annie (Lucia Micarelli) at the water's edge and ended with a fateful ferry ride into the Gulf of Mexico for one character.
In between was another storm, one not as savage as Katrina but one which also erased the foundations of life for another character, signifying the very end of their life in New Orleans, washing away the ties that bound them there, the never-ending war between life and one's city.
Water might be about permanence but it's also a quixotic substance. It can't be contained, nor can it be counted on. It, like Life itself, has a mind and a method all its own.
When I was writing a feature about Treme for The Daily Beast before its launch, I interviewed HBO's Michael Lombardo and told him that I believed that if you're at all interested in human beings, you will be interested in Treme, that the series delved into the universal human concerns we all have. While the characters' situation may be far removed from our own (unless, of course, you live in post-Katrina New Orleans and lived through the storm), their needs are the ones that we all have: food, shelter, companionship, love. Their lives are inextricably intertwined with the culture and cuisine of New Orleans: music is the oxygen they breathe.
I stand by that description, as the first season of Treme is about to come to an end next week, that it's pleasure that keeps us going in the face of unspeakable adversity, that music and culture are the things that make us--and keep us--human, and that to lose that intangible thing is to lose one's grasp on what essentially makes us human.
John Goodman's Creighton Bernette seemed to offer a prophecy for this episode while sitting at his keyboard, typing a line of his never-ending, in-progress novel, writing that the rains came and continued into the next day. Sure enough, an unexpected storm does arrive, on the same night as a party hosted by Davis (Steve Zahn) at his house, one that brings together "musicians and hot women" (and his gay neighbors, with whom he has buried the hatchet)... even as Janette (Kim Dickens), uninvited to this soiree, loses everything, from her new business (one borne from the ashes of her failed restaurant) to her home. Yes, the water takes it all once more, washing away what had one stood so strong.
It's fitting that Janette would want to throw in the towel now. Yes, she survived the storm, kept her restaurant going as long as she could, but there's only so long that one can fight. And the fight has gone out of Janette now. Seeing her in the torrential downpour, tripping and landing in the muck, I knew that she had had enough of New Orleans, had lost her battle with the city. She'd lost the music. It's what she admits to Davis the following morning in bed, that she wants to try her hand in New York, to see if she can make it there.
Davis chides her for the moments she'll be missing, the impromptu second line, dancing with her neighbors, the infusion of culture at every corner of New Orleans life. But Janette's right: those moments are just that, they're moments, rather than a whole life. For her, they don't make up for the rest.
But it's the moments, meanwhile, that Creighton is struggling to hold onto. To a goodbye kiss with his wife Toni (Melissa Leo), a compliment to his daughter, a gracious tip to street fiddler Annie ("for the pleasure"), one last great meal at his favorite establishment. I've been worried about Creighton all season, with his godlike wrath, his anger towards everyone who had failed New Orleans and its inhabitants, his unendurable writer's block.
Creighton's righteous indignation seemed to be a reaction to the blaseness of everyone's reactions to Katrina. The nation had moved on but New Orleans had not. He made polemical YouTube videos, he ranted to a documentary crew and to NPR, yet his own freshman lit class was just as entrenched in apathy. Unable to reach them with his lesson on Kate Chopin's groundbreaking work, "The Awakening," Creighton is shocked to see that his class just doesn't care. They're lazy, unimaginative, and disconnected from both their own histories and that of the written word.
To them, "The Awakening" is "a really old book" that just happens to be "short." They don't see Edna's experiences as a cautionary tale, nor do they see the work as a naturalistic representation of the ebbs and flows of every day life, just as Treme itself is. Is it the final straw for Creighton? Has the storm taken everything from him, stolen his creativity and his identity? Even though his wife and daughter might represent something to cling to?
Creighton follows in Chopin's heroine's footsteps. After embarking on a personal tour of New Orleans, to eat the food, hear the music, to say his goodbyes to all of the pleasure it has afforded him, he stares into the deep blueness of the Gulf of Mexico, a borrowed cigarette at his lips.
And then, like Edna Pontellier, he leaps into its dark embrace.
Despite the fact that I've been waiting for several weeks for Creighton Bernette to end his life, the fact that he did so--off-screen--with nary a splash or a suicide note cut me to the core. But it was the final shots of the episode, the scene of domesticity played out by Toni and Sofia (India Ennenga) at their home, unaware of Creighton's death, and the haunting shot of the lone car at the ferry terminal, unclaimed and empty, that stuck with me.
Will they ever know or understand why Creighton chose death over them? Toni sought to bring closure to LaDonna (Khandi Alexander) by investigating the particulars of David's death in lock-up, but it doesn't matter in the end to LaDonna; her brother is dead and nothing will bring him back. But for Toni and Sofia, the questions are just beginning. Why did Creighton kill himself? Why weren't they enough to keep him going? How could he abandon him in that way?
Unlike LaDonna's David, Creighton wasn't bludgeoned to death. There are no villains, only victims here... and likely no answers that will remove the ache and hurt that follows in the wake of his suicide.
Next week on the season finale of Treme ("I'll Fly Away"), Toni’s concerns about Creighton turn to anger; Albert and the Indians suit up for St. Joseph’s night; Antoine gambles away a big payday; Davis tries to convince Janette to stay put; Annie weighs her future options. A funeral procession offers its mourners a chance to reflect on the events of the last year in New Orleans.
Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.
It took just one episode, apparently, before HBO ordered a second season of New Orleans-set drama series Treme, from creators David Simon and Eric Overmyer. "We would have picked up this show last week," HBO president Michael Lombardo told The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd. "We've seen the first nine episodes it's as strong as any show we've seen. Much like The Wire, the audience is so passionate and so invested. We're about servicing our subscriber base and I believe that people will become addicted to this show. We have to be a place where this kind of excellence is giving space to continue." According to Lombardo, Season Two of Treme is being targeted for a spring 2011 debut, where it will likely be paired with the first season of fantasy drama Game of Thrones. "They should be ready about the same time," said Lombardo. "[Game] looks beautiful, the compelling scripts are just fantastic, we're doing reshoots but nothing major. The show is there." Production on Treme's second season will begin this fall. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)
The Wrap's Josef Adalian, meanwhile, talks to Lombardo in a Q&A-style interview about the Treme renewal. "The first season of True Blood we picked up in the first week. Whether it was after the first day, I don't recall," Lombardo told Adalian. "But I must be candid: We knew we were picking this up (before the premiere). We were actually trying to arrange a phone call with David before we got numbers, but because of David Mills' funeral, that was just impossible. We were sure early on in a way that was unique." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)
Variety's Stuart Levine is reporting that Monday night's season finale of FX's Damages may wind up being the series finale, after all. "Despite a meeting in the next two weeks between Sony Pictures Television and DirecTV to discuss the possibility of the Glenn Close skein changing networks, insiders say it doesn't look as though the drama is a good fit for the satellite provider," writes Levine. "Sony, of course, wants to see Damages continue, but the studio would have to take a substantial license-fee reduction. With what would be the fourth year of the show, and cast and crew expecting salary increases, it would likely be difficult -- though not impossible -- to cut costs." If Sony was able to broker a deal with DirecTV, their Channel 101 would want to take the first window of Damages' fourth season, which could be a problem for FX, which co-produces the legal drama. [Editor: I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that something could be worked out but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the finale as much as I possibly can.] (Variety)
Good news for Mad Men fans: Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Jared Harris has been promoted to series regular for Season Four of the period drama, which returns to AMC this summer. "Harris joined the Emmy-winning drama in Season Three as Lane Pryce, Sterling Cooper’s new financial officer (installed by UK parent company Putnam, Powell, and Low)," writes Ausiello. "In the finale, he became a founding partner in SCDP alongside Don Draper, Bert Cooper, and Roger Sterling." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Elsewhere, Ausiello also has a spoiler-laden interview with 24 executive producer Howard Gordon about this week's shocking twist... which I won't spoil here, but I will say that Gordon is candid about the decision they made and much more. "It was an incredibly emotional day," said Gordon about the final day of shooting on 24. "I’m just so incredibly proud to be a part of it... This has been an incredibly strong season. I can [only] judge it in terms of what my own opinion is of the show and what I hear about it anecdotally from the people who are friends and family, but I feel very proud of this year. Kiefer is very proud of this year. People are happy to be ending with such creative vigor." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) has been cast in ABC comedy pilot Southern Discomfort, where she will play Haley, described as "a recent Harvard graduate who returns to her Texas hometown to reunite with her old boyfriend." She'll star opposite Don Johnson and Mary Steenburgen in the pilot, which hails from Sony Pictures Television, Tantamount, and ABC Studios. Bush's casting is said to be in second position to her role on the CW's One Tree Hill, which has yet to receive a pickup for another season. (Hollywood Reporter)
Elsewhere, Ben Browder (Stargate SG-1) has joined the cast of the CW's drama pilot presentation Hellcats, where he is set to play football coach Red Irvine. (Deadline.com)
More wrestling is coming to Syfy, following the conclusion of a multi-year deal between cabler Syfy and World Wrestling Entertainment to bring Friday Night Smackdown to the sci-fi channel beginning October 1st. As part of the move, Syfy will shift its traditional Friday night programming block of originals--which includes Caprica, Stargate Universe, and Sanctuary, among others--to Tuesdays. "WWE is the ultimate in imagination-based sports entertainment," said Syfy programming president Dave Howe. "The fantastical thrills of Friday Night SmackDown provide an ideal addition to the Syfy slate, as it targets the younger male and female demographics, which are the fastest-growing categories for WWE." Syfy's current wrestling series, NXT, will wrap up its run in October. (Hollywood Reporter, Variety)
Naren Shankar is said to be leaving CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, stepping down from his role as executive producer/co-showrunner on the procedural drama in order to focus on his development deal with CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)
Kevin Eubanks will depart NBC's Tonight Show on May 28th and will be replaced, beginning June 6th, by American Idol's Rickey Minor, the musical competition series' music director. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed, Variety)
Looks like Glee star Lea Michele injured her knee while filming an upcoming episode that features the music of Lady Gaga. (Specifically, it was the glee club's take on Gaga's "Bad Romance.") "I'm directing that episode and I did more coverage on that song then we've ever done in the history of the show," co-creator Ryan Murphy tells told E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos. "It's a big number. It's like, big and athletic and hard. And those girls and Chris [Colfer] I think did it for six hours straight." As for Colfer, he too was amazed that he wasn't injured shooting the show-stopping number. "I almost died just trying on my getup," Colfer told Dos Santos. "Literally, I probably almost died because I wear 10-inch heels and those take some getting used to. They're like stilts walking around. They're platform, stick stiletto heels. And I had to dance my ass off in them [laughs.]" (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)
In other Glee-related news, FOX has released the Sue Sylvester "Vogue" video from next week's "Power of Madonna" episode of Glee. The video, a shot by shot remake of Madonna's "Vogue," can be seen in its entirety below:
BBC has confirmed that it will not be going ahead with a third season of post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors. "The BBC is committed to making a broad range of varied and ambitious drama, but in order to achieve this we do have to move on from some pieces in order to allow new work to come through," said a BBC spokesperson. "After two series, Survivors will not be returning." (Daily Telegraph)
Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that Wizards of Waverly Place showrunner Peter Murrieta will depart the Disney Channel comedy should it be picked up for a fourth season. (Deadline.com)
Arthur Smith and Kent Weed's reality shingle A. Smith and Co. is developing a reality series based around Aussie magician James Galea and will pitch the project--which mixes comedy, illusion, and sleight of hand--to networks. (Variety)
Looks like Carrie and Co. will be walking in their Manolos over to E! and Style, according to a report by Alex Weprin in Broadcasting & Cable. Comcast Entertainment Group has signed a deal to acquire off-net and ancillary rights to all 94 episodes of HBO's Sex and the City beginning in January 2011. (Broadcasting & Cable)
Warner Bros. Television has hired ICM agent Tom Burke as SVP/head of casting for the studio, where he will oversee all casting both for WBTV and offshoot Warner Horizon. (Variety)
Now that HBO's new drama series Treme has premiered, I'm curious to see what you thought of the series' 80-minute pilot episode, which aired last night.
But now that Treme has premiered, I'm curious to know just what you thought of the new series. Did you find the characters engaging? Were you turned off by Steve Zahn's Davis? (And don't worry if you were: I found him shrilly irritating until about Episode Three.) Did you like the juxtaposition of culture--music, cuisine, tradition--and survival? Curious about what happened to Daymo? Shocked at the Mardi Gras Indian costume coming out of the darkness? What did you think overall? Did it grab you or leave you cold?
And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week?
Talk back here.
Next week on Treme ("Meet De Boys on the Battlefront"), Albert takes the law into his own hands; LaDonna gets news about her missing brother.
I caught up with Simon, Overmyer, and HBO's Michael Lombardo to discuss the series, set three months after Hurricane Katrina, its characters and influences, and why it's not The Wire.
Treme launches Sunday evening at 10 pm ET/PT on HBO.
It's been nearly five years since Hurricane Katrina and the specter of loss and tragedy hangs over the American South as recovery from this disaster continues to this day. But while Katrina shifted neighborhoods and displaced hundreds of thousands from New Orleans and tales of death and destruction became commonplace, there also emerged something else from the wreckage: an eternal symbol of the ability of the human spirit to adapt and to overcome.
In HBO's new drama series Treme, from creators David Simon (The Wire) and Eric Overmyer (Homicide: Life on the Street), the clock is rewound to three months after Katrina and the audience is taken to a New Orleans fighting for its very survival in the face of insurmountable odds.
In the historic and musically significant neighborhood of Treme, we're introduced to a colorful cast of characters who are struggling to return to something akin to normalcy in the midst of chaos, bureaucratic ineptitude, and squalor. Houses, formerly under feet of water, are filled with mud and muck, roofs blown out by the storm are covered with blue tarps, and there's an eerie sense of desolation emanating from the empty storefronts and vacant homes.
Those who have stayed attempt to cling to the old ways, to the traditions that made this city great, and which will serve to feed the populace in a time of great struggle: the music, the food, the living and breathing culture of New Orleans, itself the main character in this extraordinary and provocative new series.
Many viewers will undoubtedly compare Treme to The Wire, given the presence of David Simon at the helm of this series but the comparison isn't entirely apt. While Treme shares some of the narrative hallmarks of The Wire--such as embracing the diverse strands of multiple storylines and characters, some of whom overlap, and offering a precise portrait of a city trapped in amber--this series is its own beast, bringing to life both the beauty and tragedy of life in New Orleans after Katrina.
Embodying these diverse plotlines is the remarkable cast of dozens that Simon and Overmyer have brought together here, actors that include such familiar faces as Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce, Kim Dickens, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Khandi Alexander, Steve Zahn, Rob Brown, and Michiel Huisman. (Look for the latter as well as classical violinist Lucia Micarelli to turn up in the second episode.) While most members of the ensemble don't share very many scenes together (Melissa Leo's Toni Bernette is one of the few characters who connects the various stories), there's a sense that they're not so much playing individuals as bringing to life a community that has been chugging along for years. There's a sense with all of them of being lived-in and the performances reflect that impression: each is nuanced, low-key, and lovingly crafted. And each of the characters, over the course of the first three episodes, manages to surprise.
We're introduced to the vivid world of life in Treme by the first second line parade in the city since Katrina, a raucous affair that pays tribute to New Orleans' fiery spirit and which unites each of the neighborhood's residents as the parade passes by, a signal that life and cultural identity endures even in the face of disaster. Struggling trombone player Antoine Batiste (Pierce) shows up late to the parade after agreeing to fill in for another musician; his efforts to get his life back on track comprise a strong spine for the first few episodes. Batiste isn't totally a good guy though; he's a no-good philanderer who cheats on his girlfriend and can't make ends meet for their newborn daughter, but he's entirely lovable at the same time.
Goodman's fiery English literature professor Creighton Bernette is a radical ideas man who castigates the federal and local governments for exacerbating a natural disaster and turning it into a man-made catastrophe. While Creighton seems to act as a mouthpiece for Simon and Overmyer--at least at first--he also acts as an anchor to the piece, giving it grit and gravitas, while also serving to embody another side of New Orleans: a scholarly and passionate identity that's separate from its food or its music. Creighton is married to Toni (Leo), a civil liberties lawyer enmeshed in a case that casts a sharp light on the bureaucratic blindness of life after the storm; she's attempting to locate a missing OPP prisoner named Daymo, who happens to be the brother of Alexander's spectacularly volatile bar owner LaDonna Batiste, herself the ex-wife of Pierce's Antoine and the mother to their two sons.
Wastrel Davis McAlary (Zahn) might just be the most irritating character in the pilot--he's a local radio DJ and wannabe musician--but he manages to grow on you in the first few episodes as Davis struggles to find his way while not quite managing to keep his thoughts or actions in check as much as he should. He's involved in a casual relationship with chef and restaurateur Janette Desautel (Dickens), a woman looking to feed the residents of this neighborhood but whose attempts to keep her restaurant and her life afloat are beset with problems. (Responding to Toni's question about her house--a common greeting in these parts--she offers a tart reply, "Don't ask me about my f---ing house," that sums up her frustration and pain.)
Then there's Pierce's somber and stirring performance as Mardi Gras Indian chief Albert Lambreaux, a man so grimly determined to return to New Orleans that he leaves behind his family home to move into a ramshackle old bar in order to reunite his tribe, the Guardians of the Flame, and bring back the old customs in time for Mardi Gras. His stubbornness regarding his former and future home is at odds with his son, musician Delmond (Brown), who has fled New Orleans to play jazz in New York and Paris and reluctantly returns to his former home to help keep an eye on his father. (Look for Pierce's Albert to shock the hell out of you at the end of the second episode.)
Delmond's success as a professional musician is in sharp contrast, meanwhile, to the plight of street musicians Sonny (Huisman) and Annie (Micarelli), a pair of buskers whose talents are mostly wasted on the few tourists. Annie's natural ability as a fiddler, however, soon lands her some new opportunities, much to the suspicions of boyfriend Sonny, who might just be hiding a secret of his own regarding his heroic deeds during the storm and its aftermath.
Together, these individuals create a moving portrait of New Orleans following Katrina, embodying the web of conflicting emotions in which the city's residents find themselves entangled. This isn't just a tragedy, however, but also an exploration of joy, pride, and cultural identity and how things like music and food can sustain our spirits and give us something solid to hold on to.
The series also features such real-life New Orleans musicians as Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Kermit Ruffins, and many others, given the role that the music of the city plays in the series. One of my few complaints with the series is that the music is handled with a little too much reverence: scenes with musicians just jamming or recording tend to go on for far too long and often don't impact the story, whereas other uses of music--three spring to mind in the third episode--not only offer a look into the musical heritage of the city but also advance the plot and characters. (At the risk of heresy, the former feels a bit like overkill, as though the production had actually gotten these legends to drop in and then felt like they needed to do more with them than have them just make cameo appearances.)
Additionally, there's a subplot involving the law enforcement and National Guard presence in New Orleans after the storm that felt a little too one-sided to me, though this could change in subsequent episodes. Given the way that Simon and Co. showed both sides of the drug war (and politics, the media, and the school system) in The Wire, I was hoping to get at least one character directly involved with the police force to see their perspective on post-Katrina New Orleans and their struggle to keep order in a city beset by chaos. It's the rare viewpoint that's missing in an otherwise broad spectrum of perception.
It's a minor quibble but one that I hope is addressed as Treme's ten-episode series gets further underway. In the meantime, prepare to be swept away by the very human dramas that these compelling and memorable characters bring with them and the issues of class, race, gender, and politics that their struggles bring to the surface. Treme might not be The Wire but that's more than just okay: it's a neighborhood I'm more than happy to visit each week.
Head over to The Daily Beast, where you can read my latest piece, "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring," where I round up fifteen new and returning series airing this spring--from Doctor Who, V, Nurse Jackie, and Fringe to Treme, Peep Show, and Top Chef Masters, among others--as well as some major events like the end of ABC's Lost in May.
What are you most looking forward to this spring and what's caught your fancy as your latest television obsession? Head to the comments section to discuss.
Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.
CBS has given second season renewals to freshman dramas The Good Wife and NCIS: Los Angeles. "Two great new series, fronted by talented stars on one big night of television," said Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment in a statement. "We're proud of these shows and what they've accomplished on Tuesday night." The renewal news comes on the heels of pickups for fellow froshers Glee at FOX and Modern Family, The Middle, and Cougar Town at ABC. (via press release)
While still in the pilot stage, buzz continues to build for HBO's fantasy project Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's series of novels. HBO programming czar Michael Lombardo indicated at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour yesterday that Game looks very likely to get a pickup and that the dailies look "fantastic." "I would be surprised if it doesn't (get a green light)," Lombardo said following HBO's session. "It has everything going for it." [Editor: fingers crossed.] If ordered, the series could be on the air as early as March or April 2011. (Hollywood Reporter)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that former Sopranos star Dominic Chianese has signed on to FX's legal drama Damages in a multiple-episode story arc this season. Chianese is set to play "a shady associate of the Tobin family, the clan at the center of Patty’s new case" and will make his first appearance in the third season's sixth episode. In other Damages casting news, Craig Bierko (Boston Legal) has also joined for a multiple-episode arc, where he will play Terry Brooke, described as "a character with ties to Frobisher (Ted Danson)." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
HBO has set a launch date for David Simon (The Wire) and Eric Overmyer's New Orleans drama series Treme, which will bow on April 11th. "This is a city essential in the American psyche," said Simon at yesterday's Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. "It's coming back on its own terms as best as it can." Treme stars Wendell Pierce, Clarke Peters, Khandi Alexander, Kim Dickens, Melissa Leo, John Goodman, and Steve Zahn and is set three months after Hurricane Katrina. (Variety)
While confirmation of a Conan exit agreement might come as early as today, The Wrap's Josef Adalian reports that his likely agreement may include a clause allowing him to begin a talk show at a rival network as early as this fall. "One scenario being floated would have O'Brien able to launch a new show as early as the fall," writes Adalian, "most likely late August or September -- a seven-month cooling-off period." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)
ABC has given a pilot order to an untitled multi-camera romantic comedy from writer Shana Goldberg-Meehan (Friends). Project, from Warner Bros. Television, revolves around two sisters, one of whom is in a long-term relationship and one who must marry her boyfriend when she gets pregnant. (Variety)
The Wrap's Josef Adalian is reporting that last night's Jamba Juice shout-out on NBC's 30 Rock wasn't a case of product placement. "Whenever 30 Rock has a product, people seem to think it’s automatically a deal, but tonight is a good example of the other way," executive producer David Miner told Adalian. "I'm sure our writers felt that to use a fake name in this context would have been distracting and ultimately just less funny." (The Wrap's TVMoJoe)
TVGuide.com's Natalie Abrams spoke to Grey's Anatomy star Kevin McKidd about last night's shocking Cristina-Teddy-Owen plot twist on Grey's. (TVGuide.com)
Science Channel has unveiled six-part documentary Rebuilding Ground Zero, which will air in 2011. Project, from DreamWorks Television, is executive produced by Steven Spielberg and created by architect Danny Foster and director Jonathan Hock. It will focus on the reconstruction of the former World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. "Doc, shot in 3D and high def, will examine the partnership of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, politicians and various construction crews and engineers in putting the pieces together for a project of such a large magnitude," writes Variety's Stuart Levine. (Variety)
TNT has given dramedy Men of a Certain Age a second season renewal, with ten episodes on tap. (Hollywood Reporter)
BBC One has commissioned eight episodes of futuristic space drama Outcasts. From creator Ben Richards (Spooks) and Kudos Film & TV, Outcasts is follows the lives of a group of people who are survivors from Earth that are looking to start anew on another home planet. "Set in 2040, Outcasts begins on the day the last known transporter from Earth arrives, prompting great excitement on the new planet: Who is on board? Friends and loved ones? Important supplies and news from Earth? But also many questions: Will the new people bring the problems of Earth with them? Will the mistakes that destroyed Earth be repeated? Will the arrival of a new, would-be leader, rock the fragile and precarious equilibrium of our fresh, unified and courageous new world?" (BBC)
Los Angeles Times' Matea Gold has a fantastic interview with Golden Globe-nominated Nurse Jackie star Edie Falco. "I tried comedy," Falco told Gold, referring to her guest turns on 30 Rock and Will & Grace. "I have never been further out of my comfort zone. I fall to the ground in reverence to the people who do that stuff, because I can't. I couldn't find the muscles." (Los Angeles Times)
HBO has ordered an untitled documentary from filmmaker Spike Lee that will serve as a follow-up to the 2006 Emmy-winning documentary When the Levees Broke, which will debut this summer, the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. (Hollywood Reporter)
Discovery and Hasbro have announced the name for their joint-venture children's network: the Hub. "A hub is a place where great things come together," said president/CEO Margaret Loesch at yesterday's Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour of the joint venture cable channel, set to launch this fall. (Variety)
IFC's culinary-themed block of programming--which includes episodes of Dinner With the Band and new series Food Party--will air on Tuesday nights beginning April 27th at 10 pm ET/PT. (Variety)
Former New Line Cinema executive Kent Alterman is heading back to Comedy Central, where he will oversee the cabler's original programming and production. Alterman will be based in Los Angeles but will oversee the development teams on both coasts and will report to Michele Ganeless. (Hollywood Reporter)
E! has ordered eight episodes of docusoap Holly's World, which will follow Girls Next Door star Holly Madison as she heads to Las Vegas. Series, from Prometheus Entertainment, Alta Loma Entertainment, and Fox Television Studios, is expected to launch this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)
CKX has signed a deal with American Idol creator Simon Fuller under which he will remain on board Idol as executive producer (as well as So You Think You Can Dance and upcoming online series If I Can Dream), while also launching an production company and consulting for 19 Entertainment parent company CKX. (Variety)
Brooke Burke will host Season Three of TV Land's reality competition series She's Got the Look. (Hollywood Reporter)
HBO's Richard Plepler and Michael Lombardo took to the stage yesterday at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Pasadena that HBO had locked in its entire current Sunday night lineup for additional seasons next summer.
The pay cabler has officially renewed True Blood for a third season, Hung for a second season, and Entourage for a staggering seventh season. All will return to the lineup next summer rather than premiering earlier.
"True Blood, Hung, and Entourage will all be coming back next summer and we're very excited about it." Lombardo told the press. "So stay tuned for next June."
The duo, in an executive session at the aforementioned TCA panel, also relayed information about HBO's other crop of series and whether we could expect to see them return or not, with the fate of several series still very much up in the air.
Curb Your Enthusiasm returns September 20th with a new series and will be slotted together with new comedy Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, and Zach Galifianakis, which will launch on the same night.
Lombardo wouldn't give any details about Evan Rachel Woods' appearance in Season Two/Season Three of True Blood. "Alan Ball would kill me," he said emphatically.
As expected, Big Love will be back in January. HBO expresses their disappointment that Big Love's talented cast didn't net Emmy nods for the truly amazing third season. (Editor: personally, I agree with them completely. Egregious error.)
Also on the subject of the Emmys, which announced yesterday that they would cut eight categories--including movie and miniseries awards--from the live telecast and instead film them separately and air edited versions of the winners' acceptance speechs, Plepler shot back at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "For an awards show that seems to celebrate TV," said Plepler, "it seems odd that you would minimize categories that have huge viewership."
Flight of the Conchords isn't quite as dead as it appeared a few months back, with Plepler and Lombardo stating that the future of the series was squarely in the hands of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. "When they are ready, we're ready," said Plepler about a potential third season of Flight of the Conchords. "The challenge is of course they're not only writing a television show but have the added challenge of writing an album. So it's double the pressure. But we're waiting and as soon as they tell us they're ready, we'd be thrilled."
Things are looking less certain for a second season of the critically acclaimed drama series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which HBO co-produces with the BBC. "We're actually in conversations now and try to figure out the next step on that show," said Lombardo. "That show has been a challenge creatively as you know because the creative vision behind that show, Anthony Minghella, unfortunately passed away after the pilot was done." Fingers crossed that they can reach an agreement to bring Jill Scott's Precious Ramotswe back for a sophomore season...
And things are still very uncertain for a third season of In Treatment. "We're trying to put it together," said HBO. "It was adapted from an Israeli series, which had two seasons, so we would have to create new scripts from whole cloth but we're working to see whether that's possible." As for a final word on the series' fate, the duo said: "Gabriel is very interesting in doing it again so stay tuned."
Meanwhile, Little Britain USA is dead. But HBO said that they are in talks with creators/stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams about doing a series of specials featuring new characters and new situations. But don't hold your breath for these; at the very earliest the first special would air on HBO at the end of 2010 or shortly thereafter.
Fellow comedy Eastbound and Down, however, will return for a second season next year. The series "found young, passionate audience... There was no way we weren't bringing it back." Season Two of Eastbound will shoot at the end of winter or beginning of spring next year.
And animated comedy The Life and Times of Tim will return, with season two of the Media Rights Capital-produced series kicking off in the next few months. Ideally, Tim would be paired with the untitled animated Ricky Gervais comedy series--based on the podcast Gervais does with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington--but the latter likely won't make it on the air until next year.
As for new product, HBO said that the plan is to launch David Simon's newest series the post-Katrina New Orleans-set Treme, in April, trailing out of the end of its WWII mini-series The Pacific.
And HBO is anxiously awaiting a cut of its period drama Boardwalk Empire from executive producer Martin Scorsese and writer Terence Winter. Expectations are that once they see a cut of the pilot, HBO can order it to series and go back into production in September. "From everything we've seen it's fantastic, it's big, and it's everything we'd hoped it'd be," said Plepler.
Finally, HBO proved themselves magnanimous in success. Former HBO topper Chris Albrecht, now an independent producer, "should go where the work is and if he has something for" HBO, they are happy to take the pitch, said Plepler.
Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.
The Office co-star/writer Mindy Kaling has signed an overall deal with NBC and Universal Media Studios under which she will continue to write for and star in The Office as well as develop a new comedy project which will be a vehicle for the actress. "This is my first step in a Transformers-style way to take over the whole world," joked Kaling. "I've only ever worked for NBC, and I've felt an enormous amount of support from the executives there." Kaling says she is drawn to workplace comedies as well as buddy series such as HBO's Flight of the Conchords or projects focusing on women. (Variety)
There's still no news on the fate of NBC's Chuck, despite a massive fan-based initiative to create buzz for a third season of the action-comedy. The Hollywood Reporter's Matthew Belloni talks to Chuck co-creator/executive producer Josh Schwartz about the series' rabid fan base, Lily, the 1980's-set Gossip Girl spin-off, X-Men: First Class, Bright Lights, Big City, and more. (Hollywood Reporter)
HBO has given out a series order to New Orleans-set drama Treme, from The Wire creator David Simon and Eric Overmyer, which follows the residents of the Big Easy as they adjust to life post-Katrina. It's unclear yet how many episodes HBO has initially committed to as the pay cabler was still working out specifics of the pickup. "We don't intend to make The Wire twice," said Simon of Treme. "This is about people reconstituting their lives after their town was mostly, effectively destroyed... It's not entirely a political show. We're trying to be very intimate with people. And New Orleans is completely unique, there's nothing in the world like it." Treme, which stars Wendell Pierce, Khandi Alexander, Steven Zahn, Kim Dickens, Clarke Peters, Melissa Leo, and Rob Brown, is slated to begin production in the fall for a spring 2010 berth. (Variety)
Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent) will direct HBO fantasy pilot Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's novel series "Songs of Fire and Ice," which is slated to shoot later this year in Belfast. Joining the cast of Game of Thrones is Peter Dinklage (Nip/Tuck), who previously worked with McCarthy on The Station Agent. Dinklage will play Tyrion, the outcast brother of the queen who is shunned because of his small stature. (Hollywood Reporter)
Production has begun on three new feature-length installments of mystery series Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh as Swedish police officer Inspector Kurt Wallander, based on a series of best-selling novels by Henning Mankell. The three new installments will be shot this summer in Ystad, Sweden, and will air on BBC One in 2010. (Meanwhile, the first three will launch this Sunday on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery.) "I'm delighted to be back in Kurt Wallander's shoes for three further adaptations," said Branagh. "The character's story becomes ever more complex in these next films. Our entire team relishes the privilege of bringing them to the screen, and to an audience who proved so loyal last time out." (BBC)
Lifetime will launch the third season of drama series Army Wives on June 7th. (Variety)
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello talks with How I Met Your Mother co-creator/executive producer Carter Bays about Monday night's shocking twist. "We freaked out a ton of people," said Bays. "We've never really kept a big secret from the audience. And what secrets we do have we usually tell people and there are usually spoilers floating around. And this kind of felt like, 'Let's try and do something that takes everyone by surprise and really blow people's minds.' And I think we did it." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
CBS is said to be considering handing out pilot orders to revivals of classic game shows Let's Make a Deal and The Dating Game, which are being viewed as possible replacements for the daytime slot being vacated this fall by the cancellation of soap Guiding Light. (Hollywood Reporter)
FOX has cancelled Talkshow With Spike Feresten, which won't be returning for a fourth season this fall. The network is currently in the process of making over its Saturday late night lineup, having ordered a latenight series starring Wanda Sykes at 11 pm, which replaces the cancelled MadTV. (Variety)
Nickelodeon has renewed live-action comedy series True Jackson, VP, which stars Keke Palmer as the teenage exec at a fashion label, for a second season, with 20 episodes on tap for the sophomore season. (Hollywood Reporter)
Bravo has resigned its development deal with Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List producer Picture This Television, under which the shingle will produce unscripted series and specials for the cabler. (Variety)
NBC will air two-hour documentary Farrah's Story, depicting actress Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer, on May 15th. "This film is very personal," said Fawcett. "At the time, I didn't know if anybody would ever see it. But at some point, the footage took on a life of its own and dictated that it be seen." (Hollywood Reporter)
Yes, spring is finally here (or thereabouts, anyway), and that brings warmer weather and, very fortunately, a slew of new and returning television series.
