'Treme' to Premiere on April 11

HBO's series The Wire has been called the greatest television series ever. Over the course of its five-year run, the series attracted many fans, including President Obama, who called the series his favorite on television. So how will creator David Simon follow up this small screen masterpiece?

Well, Simon worked as the creator of 2008's miniseries Generation Kill, but his return to a full-on series will come with Treme, a new series for HBO centering on the people of New Orleans. Treme is set three months after Hurricane Katrina, in November 2005. It will center on various occupants of the city struggling to rebuild the city and retain their unique culture in the aftermath of such destruction.

Like most HBO shows, the premiere of Treme has been unknown by viewers for quite a while. However, it's recently been confirmed that the series will premiere on April 11, 2010 (that's a Sunday) with an eighty-minute pilot episode titled "Do You Know What It Means." The first season (hopefully one of several) will consist of ten episodes total. TVOvermind's Spoiler Guy has found several episode synopses for early episodes of the season, and will post them soon.

Treme has been sitting on HBO's shelves for a while; the pilot episode was filmed on March 9, 2009, a year ago. Polish director Agnieszka Holland, who directed two episodes of The Wire, directed the episode.

Treme boasts very few familiar faces, which may boost a more realistic feel to the series. Steve Zahn and John Goodman are the only two easily recognizable names on the cast list. Others on the cast, according to HBO, include:

Wendell Pierce as a trombonist trying to make ends meet in a struggling music scene; Khandi Alexander as his ex-wife, who runs a bar; Clarke Peters as the chief of a tribe of Mardi Gras Indians returning to rebuild his home and culture; Rob Brown as his son, a well-known musician; Steve Zahn as a DJ and music scene regular; Kim Dickens as a chef trying to keep her restaurant afloat; Melissa Leo as a civil rights lawyer; John Goodman as her husband, an outspoken professor; and Michiel Huisman and Lucia Micarelli as young street musicians searching for their big break. (Created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer; executive producers, David Simon, Nina K. Noble, Eric Overmyer and Carolyn Strauss; co-executive producer, David Mills; producer, Anthony Hemingway.)