Ranking Every HBO Drama Series From Worst To Best

David Simon’s longform followup to The Wire - here co-creating with Eric Overmyer - is simultaneously similar and very different to its lauded predecessor. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, Treme is often a supremely angry show, raging at governmental incompetence and corruption at the highest level, with so many residents, especially the poorest, left dangling after the disaster.

But it’s simultaneously a celebration of everything New Orleans, a joyous show about community and art. Many of the main characters are musicians - Wendell Pierce’s roguish trombonist, Steve Zahn’s good natured guitar slinger - or are otherwise engaged in Louisiana culture, its cuisine, its carnivals.

Beyond that, Simon paints a portrait of mostly good people trying to improve the city. Melissa Leo plays a civil rights lawyer; John Goodman barnstorms as an early blogger railing against injustice.

A darkness pervades the show but this is a more hopeful affair than The Wire. While it moves at a stately pace (sometimes to its detriment), when it captures you with its music, atmosphere, and warmth, it’s incredibly effective.