Pilots aren't always great indicators of what a show will become, and knowing David Simon's previous work there's a strong chance the series could turn extremely bleak, but each character's immovable hope and humor, and breadth of passion for a variety of things (music, food, screaming at reporters, blasting old Mystikal records, etc) in the face of losing everything almost made the events of the pilot seem upbeat. Even when John Goodman and Melissa Leo's characters were describing some of the most horrifying tragedies and injustices I've ever heard, they were fricking jolly, and not in an irreverent way. Even when Clarke Peters' character arrived at his home for the first time since the hurricane, and trudged through three inches of mud on the floors, taking in the devastation of all his worldly possessions, his steadfast determination to move forward and rebuild made the scene anything but depressing; it was brightly hopeful. The pilot was really brilliantly written in that way. It treated the events of a tragedy with due gravity and tasteful levity simultaneously, and that's impressive.

Now, on to the episode's flaws. I love New Orleans dearly and have some family there, so I'm maybe slightly overprotective, but there were some elements of the pilot that made its citizens appear slightly cartoonish when summed together. "Mmm! Red beans and rice!" was an extremely clichéd line that I wish had been saved until we knew the character who spoke it (Antoine Bastiste, played by Wendell Pierce, formerly known as Bunk from The Wire) a little bit better, for example. John Goodman freaking out about sweet potatoes is another one that was a little stock, as well. And life in New Orleans is not a non-stop jazz-playing block party, though a significant portion of the episode was. I'm sure the series as a whole won't rely heavily on these clichés, as pilots are for set-up purposes, but it was still a little irritating.

Oh, and Steve Zahn's character? Suuuuuucks. Oh man, I hate that guy. I hate that guy like I hated Ziggy Sobotka (though at least you were supposed to hate Ziggy Sobotka). Grating, flailing, Elvis Costello-badgering, expensive wine-wasting, inconsiderate neighbor, won't-shutup-about-jazz-for-two-seconds, horrible character so far. Kill. I get that he's supposed to personify some element of the artsy bohemian spirit of the city, but in this episode he played as an even worse version of Jack Black from High Fidelity, and I say that as a Steve Zahn fan.

But still, the good outweighed the bad (and most of the bad can easily be explained away as necessary pilot evils), and I remain very excited to see where all this goes. Just no more "Welcome to New Orleans! Red beans jazz trumpets Southern hospitality sweet potatoes!" intro scenes, please.

Did you watch the premiere? Thoughts?

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