The story told in the series is set three months after Hurricane Katrina. HBO has ordered 10 scripts in addition to the pilot to judge before proceeding with a full first season -- another positive sign, indicative of the network's confidence in Simon.

Supplementing his own knowledge of and affection for New Orleans with suggestions from locals has been an important part of Simon's process. Among the local consultants he has enlisted so far are musicians Donald Harrison Jr., Kermit Ruffins and Davis Rogan, as well as chef Susan Spicer.

"The overall thing has to feel like the truth about post-Katrina New Orleans," Simon said. "Not just to people down here, but to a lot of people who may have been paying attention elsewhere."

Story lines for about the first six episodes have been outlined, and the finer script-writing task is well under way. Piazza said he is pleased with the quality of the characters and stories so far.

"I'm happy to see that the level of integrity and essential seriousness (of 'The Wire') has been brought to these characters," Piazza said. "Let's face it, in some hands, in many people's hands, New Orleans culture can become a caricature very easily, and it drives us all crazy, of course, because we know this city to (have) an extraordinarily nuanced, complex, layered culture.

"There's been no compromise with that vision, of trying to match the complexity and nuance of the city with an equivalent complexity and nuance in the writing. It's got so many elements in it that you find in the city. There's music, there's food, there's smiles, there's tears. And none of it is forced or trumped up."

The Wire star Wendell Pierce is attached to star in the series.

Simon is also collaborating with Tom Fontana (Oz) on a new HBO mini-series called Manhunt that will focus on the 12 days after the Lincoln Assassination while John Wilkes Booth was on the run.

sweet.

Bunk is from there and seeing him in Spike Lee's movie... man. His dad lost the only home he'd ever owned.

I think it was the New Yorker that did a rather long piece on Simon last year right as the fifth season of The Wire was set to begin and at that time he was down in N.O., really feeling out the culture and the people. That guy's probably got more respect and admiration for the genuine depth of people and their everyday lives than any TV writer I've ever come across.
I just hope he's got enough N.O. natives as writers so they can get as neck deep in local life as he did in B'more, which is where he grew up. Totally looking forward to this.

There is a lot of talk nowadays about what will replace the dinosaur that is the daily newspaper. So-called citizen journalists and bloggers and media pundits have lined up to tell us that newspapers are dying but that the news business will endure, that this moment is less tragic than it is transformational.

Well, sorry, but I didn't trip over any blogger trying to find out McKissick's identity and performance history. Nor were any citizen journalists at the City Council hearing in January when police officials inflated the nature and severity of the threats against officers. And there wasn't anyone working sources in the police department to counterbalance all of the spin or omission.

I didn't trip over a herd of hungry Sun reporters either, but that's the point. In an American city, a police officer with the authority to take human life can now do so in the shadows, while his higher-ups can claim that this is necessary not to avoid public accountability, but to mitigate against a nonexistent wave of threats. And the last remaining daily newspaper in town no longer has the manpower, the expertise or the institutional memory to challenge any of it.

At one point last week, after the department spokesman denied me the face sheet of the shooting report, I tried doing what I used to do: I went to the Southeastern District and demanded the copy on file there.

When the desk officer refused to give it to me, I tried calling the chief judge of the District Court. But Sweeney's replacement no longer handles such business. It's been a while since any reporter asked, apparently. So I tried to explain the Maryland statutes to the shift commander, but so long had it been since a reporter had demanded a public document that he stared at me as if I were an emissary from some lost and utterly alien world.

Which is, sadly enough, exactly true.

any thoughts? thought it was well shot, well acted, and the music is cool. however, am not sure the story is there to really draw me in for the long run.

Hate to admit it, but I've only seen one episode of The Wire, ever.

This is pretty accurate, although the first few episodes of the Wire started off pretty slow, so I don't want to jump to any conclusions.

yeah, I know. I'm not the type to go back and watch DVDs of TV shows that I didn't bother watching when they were on.

Yeah - I talked with a friend from N.O. and he said it was so close to the truth down there that it felt almost too local. I liked it - the music especially. Steve Zahn looks like the Ziggy type character judging from the way he acted.