I love it. The cast members that had already showed up in the Wire or Generation Kill sometimes yank me out but besides that i really like it. I feel in many ways there is much more optimism in this series which i missed from the Wire. To my suprise the VC Nelson Hidalgo is not portrayed as stereotypical cuban cigarsmoking evil capitalist. I was worried about it because of Simon's politics. John Seda plays a charming and intelligent man who is primarily interested in making money. I loved the scene when he talked to the city official in the last episode i saw. He was like is it smart for you to buy those cables on that price. The other guy gave the: You wanna screw up our cartel? look. Here is a fairly recent interview with David Simon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHPxofaCpMY I am in at the end of S2 and loving it.
I've watched it here and there because the setting has intrigued me, but I could never fully commit to it. I found John Goodman's character to be rather unlikeable which turned me off some, and I've seen some of the latest season which looks quite good.
Maybe I'll give it another chance some day. The same thing happened with Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother and those two have grown on me a lot since then.
Watched the first two seasons, waiting for the premiere of the third. It's not bad - one of those shows I forget about when it's not on and yet enjoy a lot when it is. A bit unfocused but solid stuff.
I'd say I've seen 70-75% of the episodes. I LOVE what they do with the music. The show does not mess around when it comes to this and consistently gives great performances by some of the great, and barely heard from, N.O. mucians. In an episode in the first season one of the characters made a phone call and the outgoing message on the machine he reached was playing "Meet de Boys" by Wild Tchapitoulos. Great. The show gives the full scope of the very diverse New Orleans sound. Some of the storylines I like, some I am meh about. I don't care much for the "Big Chief" character UNLESS he is being the chief. Loved the episode a cople of weeks ago when his gang, dressed in full Mardi Gras Indian ragalia, has the "friendly" confrontation with the rival gang. Pure New Orleans stuff. These confrontations have been known to result in violence. I didn't care for Antoine in past seasons, but like him a bit more since he has become a school music teacher. I'm about two episodes behind this season so far.
In which episode was Nelson Hidalgo watching a cartoon with a naked chick? That was the weirdest thing i had ever seen on TV. Maybe his one night stands harass him and he tries to convince them he is crazy.
I really like Nelson Hidalgo. He's clearly not written to be one of the show's most sympathetic characters (generally his aims are contrary to everything Treme stands for) but he's just so damn upbeat and preppy and enthusiastic about the whole damn thing. As far as being 'meh' on some characters and storylines go, yeah, I feel that. I can never bring myself to care about the Dutch guy, and Steve Zahn's character can wander into some pointless directions and the series loses interest whenever it slips into tourist travelogue mode, which was far too often in the first year... although Albert Lambreaux's endlessly simmering and cantankerous and often heartfelt and genuine anger and running the gamut of emotions that makes him both a notoriously difficult father and a passionate advocate of the disadvantaged is a lot of fun to watch. Sure I was inclined to like Lester Freamon to begin with, but Lambreaux is a character who's been compelling on his own terms.
I found Macalary annoying at first then i warmed up to him. The Dutchman's original girlfriend is so damm cute i just wanna take her home from the screen.
He is a character who gets some great bits and it was interesting as the show went on for it to kind of get to the relatively decent person behind his obnoxious New Orleans junkie exterior (he treats the Dutchman's girlfriend a lot better than the Dutchman did). With his kind of hopeless angry passion he's obviously one of the characters the show seems to identify with the most - the obverse of Nelson Hidalgo, if you will - but he can still grate a fair bit.
Just finish ed season 2. I am really curious where they go with Hidalgo. His last dialog about him being a real estate speculator was really good.
I wonder where he will end up in the end. He starts to like New Orleans, but all he does is make deals with cronies and destroy valuable property. I woinder if he will end up at a moral crossroad in S3...
Just started 3. Does the chief get rid of that stupid Snoop Dog look at some point. He should whack whoever did that to him.
Yeah, he passes through that phase, though I won't say why exactly since it's a fairly large plot point in season three. I started watching late in season one. The overall story is good, but I mainly watch it for the music, which is outstanding. I've never been much of a jazz fan, but I really enjoy how them music and culture of the area works into the show.