Treme

'Treme' Where: HBO When: 10 p.m. Sunday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

"The Wire"may have earned plenty of honors during its five-season run on HBO, but one thing it didn't garner was a lot of laughs. The people at Funny or Die are working to fix that with "The Wire: The Musical," a short video parody of the grim and gritty drama series that has the added virtue of including several members of the original cast, includingMichael K. Williams, reprising his role as Omar. Other familiar "Wire" faces include Andre Royo, jonesing for a hit as the homeless junkie Bubbles; Sonja Sohn as Greggs the cop; Larry Gilliard Jr. as ill-fated dealer D'Angelo Barksdale; and Felicia "Snoop" Pearson as fans of "The Wire" have never seen her before.

Shooting has just wrapped for the season on HBO's "Treme," and Khandi Alexander is packing up, trying to fit Zulu parade coconuts and Mardis Gras beads into her boxes along with an overflow of bittersweet memories. "What we've gone through down here in the past few months — it seems surreal. I don't have the vocabulary to describe it," says the actress, whose inner fire and sharp-etched strength have helped make her character, New Orleans bar owner LaDonna Batiste-Williams, one of the standouts in the new show from David Simon, creator of HBO's "The Wire."

David Simon, executive producer of "Treme," "Generation Kill" and "The Wire," talks about life as a show runner on three of HBO's signature dramas. How did working as a newspaper journalist at the Baltimore Sun prepare you for being a TV show runner? There might be people in this industry who would suggest being a former journalist inhibits me. [chuckles] I'm not being facetious. It can be looked upon as an asset or a genuinely crippling factor. I'm not particularly equipped to be in the industry.

David Simon, executive producer of "Treme," "Generation Kill" and "The Wire," talks about life as a show runner on three of HBO's signature dramas. How did working as a newspaper journalist at the Baltimore Sun prepare you for being a TV show runner? There might be people in this industry who would suggest being a former journalist inhibits me. [chuckles] I'm not being facetious. It can be looked upon as an asset or a genuinely crippling factor. I'm not particularly equipped to be in the industry.

The X Games, ESPN's yearly sporting event for daredevils and adrenaline junkies, begins this week in San Francisco. From Friday through July 3, more than 450 people will compete in aggressive in-line skating, bicycle stunts, sky surfing, street luge, motocross, wakeboarding, sport climbing, snowboard big air and, of course, skateboarding--the original "extreme" sport that gave birth to this yearly event, and its name. Following is our primer for armchair athletes on skateboarding's basics.

John Goodman isn't the kind of actor who revels in the media spotlight. His default conversation is self-deprecating, his words tumbling forth in a low grumble that makes him all at once difficult to hear and curmudgeonly charming. But mention one of his most beloved topics and his voice booms with clarity. "For so many reasons, it has just never been an overachiever," he says. He's speaking of New Orleans, the adopted city he's called home for more than a decade. "Or even an achiever," he adds.

Tangled Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99/$49.99 It's a testament to how strong a year 2010 was for animation that Disney released its best non-Pixar feature in two decades yet didn't even get a best animated feature Oscar nomination. Ah, well. The studio will just have to settle for a half-billion-dollar worldwide gross and the satisfaction of having produced a new classic. "Tangled's" riff on Rapunzel sees the long-haired princess adventuring outside her tower with the help of a handsome thief in a movie full of catchy songs, clever visual gags and gorgeous computer-generated imagery.

Fans of classic TV may always look into John Goodman's face and want to cry out, "Dan!" — recalling him as the gentle working-class husband he played for nine seasons on "Roseanne." Goodman's OK with that, but lately he's been working on shifting his image with other roles, working alongside Al Pacino in HBO's "You Don't Know Jack" and in a regular part on David Simon's "Treme." Plus, with "Treme," Goodman gets to work out of his own backyard, as a longtime resident of New Orleans.

"The Wire"may have earned plenty of honors during its five-season run on HBO, but one thing it didn't garner was a lot of laughs. The people at Funny or Die are working to fix that with "The Wire: The Musical," a short video parody of the grim and gritty drama series that has the added virtue of including several members of the original cast, includingMichael K. Williams, reprising his role as Omar. Other familiar "Wire" faces include Andre Royo, jonesing for a hit as the homeless junkie Bubbles; Sonja Sohn as Greggs the cop; Larry Gilliard Jr. as ill-fated dealer D'Angelo Barksdale; and Felicia "Snoop" Pearson as fans of "The Wire" have never seen her before.

Playboy Jazz Festival When : 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday, 3 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday Where : Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. Lineup : Saturday : The LAUSD All City High School Big Band, Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, Cosby All-Stars, A Night in Treme featuring Rebirth Brass Band and Kermit Ruffins, SFJAZZ Collective, Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra, Fourplay, Terence Blanchard with the Roots, Dianne Reeves. Sunday : Pullum High School Jazz Band, Carlos Varela, Bill Cunliffe and the Resonance Big Band, An African Tribute to James Brown, Geri Allen and Her Timeline Band, Harmony 3, Naturally 7, John Scofield and Robben Ford, Lee Konitz New Quartet, Buddy Guy. Price : $20 to $150 Info : (310)

Every city has its own singular character — just ask Minneapolis about St. Paul — but there is perhaps no American city as singularly singular, as stubbornly exotic, as attached to its difference as New Orleans, that funky little cosmopolis set down in a bowl between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. A blighted town with a tourist economy, stuck in time and outside of time, conservative and anarchic, vulnerable and violent, it is the City That Care Forgot but sometimes also the City That Forgets to Care.

Tangled Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99/$49.99 It's a testament to how strong a year 2010 was for animation that Disney released its best non-Pixar feature in two decades yet didn't even get a best animated feature Oscar nomination. Ah, well. The studio will just have to settle for a half-billion-dollar worldwide gross and the satisfaction of having produced a new classic. "Tangled's" riff on Rapunzel sees the long-haired princess adventuring outside her tower with the help of a handsome thief in a movie full of catchy songs, clever visual gags and gorgeous computer-generated imagery.

Shooting has just wrapped for the season on HBO's "Treme," and Khandi Alexander is packing up, trying to fit Zulu parade coconuts and Mardis Gras beads into her boxes along with an overflow of bittersweet memories. "What we've gone through down here in the past few months — it seems surreal. I don't have the vocabulary to describe it," says the actress, whose inner fire and sharp-etched strength have helped make her character, New Orleans bar owner LaDonna Batiste-Williams, one of the standouts in the new show from David Simon, creator of HBO's "The Wire."

Fans of classic TV may always look into John Goodman's face and want to cry out, "Dan!" — recalling him as the gentle working-class husband he played for nine seasons on "Roseanne." Goodman's OK with that, but lately he's been working on shifting his image with other roles, working alongside Al Pacino in HBO's "You Don't Know Jack" and in a regular part on David Simon's "Treme." Plus, with "Treme," Goodman gets to work out of his own backyard, as a longtime resident of New Orleans.

"I've got five bands today," Blake Leyh said while standing on bohemian Frenchmen Street in New Orleans, where cameras, crew and extras including a punk on a skateboard with an upright bass surround street musicians playing "The House of the Rising Sun." As the music supervisor for "Treme," the new HBO series set in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, he's a busy man. The first episode began with the Rebirth Brass Band leading a second line and ended with the Treme Brass Band playing a funeral.

Playboy Jazz Festival When : 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday, 3 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday Where : Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. Lineup : Saturday : The LAUSD All City High School Big Band, Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, Cosby All-Stars, A Night in Treme featuring Rebirth Brass Band and Kermit Ruffins, SFJAZZ Collective, Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra, Fourplay, Terence Blanchard with the Roots, Dianne Reeves. Sunday : Pullum High School Jazz Band, Carlos Varela, Bill Cunliffe and the Resonance Big Band, An African Tribute to James Brown, Geri Allen and Her Timeline Band, Harmony 3, Naturally 7, John Scofield and Robben Ford, Lee Konitz New Quartet, Buddy Guy. Price : $20 to $150 Info : (310)

'Treme' Where: HBO When: 10 p.m. Sunday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)