I was reading this thread and was thinking of recommending Treme.

I would say that if you watched The Wire and liked the way that David Simon used each season to look at different facets of heroin crime in Baltimore, then Treme offers something similar for post-Katrina New Orleans. The difference is that you get the different lenses on New Orleans from start to finish, as the story follows characters who embody different facets of the city.

Because each episode tells a few minutes of each of these stories, and the stories focused on music (which is obviously very important to understanding New Orleans) need to take the time to play whole songs, it's a very slow-moving show. I watched it when it was airing and waiting a week to advance each story just a bit was agonizing. Maybe bingeing it feels faster.

The acting, writing, and direction are all very good.