On the occasion of the premiere, Simon, a slow, thoughtful talker, spoke to me about "Treme," his allergy to melodrama, what he makes of most television, and "The Wire" spinoff he wanted to make.

Do you feel like the characters in “Treme” have a capacity for happiness, that maybe the characters on “The Wire” didn't?

They are not quite under as much pressure, I would say. These are not people who are standing on a drug corner with a gun. We very purposefully made a story about post-Katrina New Orleans that utilized ordinary people as characters. Musicians, cooks, a lawyer, a cop, but not people who are engaged in life on a continuously heightened basis. And that was purposeful and we thought that was the best way to tell this particular story. That has its own benefits and it also has its costs. But it’s a choice. If you take ordinary characters, sometimes you’ll end up with ordinary life rather than something hyperbolic and hyper-dramatic. I think there’s a lot of comedy and tragedy and everything in between on display in “Treme.” Happiness? Yeah, maybe.

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