In the first season of “Treme,” John Goodman’s character was found dead in the Mississippi River after he jumped off a ferry and drowned himself. In a disturbing turn, Michael Showers, who played police Capt. John Guidry on the HBO drama, was found dead in the Mississippi, not far from the French Quarter in New Orleans. He was 45. No cause of death has been determined; his girlfriend stated that he left for a drink on Tuesday and never returned.

“Treme” creator/showrunner David Simon released this statement:

“Michael Showers was a fine actor who contributed his talents to our drama in the warmest and most professional way. We enjoyed his work—and working with him. Going forward, we’re going to miss having him as part of our production. All of which seems of little import in light of the loss of a man’s whole life, and what that loss truly means to him, his family, his friends. Our respect and condolences go to them, especially.” [via the AV Club]

Showers also had a small role on “Breaking Bad,” and his other credits included “The Vampire Diaries,” I Love You Phillip Morris, Traffic, The Tree Of Life, and Colombiana. Out of respect for the dead, I will relegate my tasteless punchline to the comments section.

Remember when the Attorney General joked about how he wanted a sixth season of “The Wire,” and David Simon was all, “I’ll make it if you stop the misguided, destructive and dehumanising prohibition of drugs”? Well, it turns out that Simon was TOTALLY in on the joke and was being just as facetious as the attorney general. In fact, his sense of humor is so sharp that he wrote a bitchy letter to the Baltimore Sun about it.

I accept that a certain amount of snark is my due, now and then.  And I accept that for a couple years now, [Sun writer] Laura Vozzella has been no friend of mine, given some previous arguments.

But a certain amount of integrity is required in this dynamic.

It is one thing for Laura to pretend, for the sake of a blog item, that my tongue isn’t in my cheek when I tell the AG that he needs to end the drug war to get another season of a television show.  And it is one thing for her to omit in that item the tone and tenor of the AG’s initiating remarks to me:  That he was “ordering” a sixth season and that he was a “very powerful man.” Obviously, this is playful provocation and just as obviously my reply is delivered within the same context.

It goes on from there (you can read the whole thing and Vozzella’s explanation here), but the words start bleeding into each other and all I hear in my head is a whiny voice that drones, “Nyah nyah nyah.” I love Simon’s work, but somewhere inside him is the bitchiest mom in the PTA.

Last week, while speaking to some cast members from “The Wire” in front of the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder praised the acclaimed HBO series and jokingly asked that creator David Simon make a sixth season of the show. It’s a story that I didn’t cover, because I don’t consider lighthearted off-the-cuff remarks to be news — not when there are exciting new YouTube videos of dogs that I need to review.

But David Simon, being David Simon, responded in his usual self-serious manner:

“The Attorney-General’s kind remarks are noted and appreciated,” he wrote. “I’ve spoken to ["Wire" co-creator] Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition.”

Simon further claimed that the government’s current anti-drug policies are “nothing more or less than a war on our underclass”. [Digital Spy]

Oy. I mean, yes, drug laws are unfairly severe, and they disproportionately punish and imprison the poor. It’s a very serious matter, and at a certain level I’m impressed with Simon’s integrity and dedication to his beliefs. On the other hand: Dude. It was just an off-hand compliment to your TV show. Let’s not kid ourselves about some magical utopia where drugs are legal and “The Wire” runs in perpetuity and my girlfriend is a bisexual lingerie model, okay?

Here’s the extended version of the newest teaser for Season 2 of HBO’s “Treme.” It features New Orleans resident Gian Smith reciting a portion of his poem “O Beautiful Storm” while the camera cuts to scenes in the coming season (which premieres this Sunday). Leave it to the stubbornly intellectual David Simon to advertise his show with a poem. “So, Mr. Simon, shall we highlight some of the dramatic tension and action in the coming season?” “No no no, I’ve hired this local troupe of mimes to act out the bureaucratic red tape in the aftermath of Katrina. It may not get us more viewers, but at least it’s honest.”

Full text of “O Beautiful Storm” below. Despite my joking, it’s actually pretty badass. You know, for a poem. (Not quite as badass as a tattoo of Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib,” but what is?)

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Here’s a new teaser for Season 2 of “Treme,” which premieres Sunday, April 24th. There’s not a whole lot revealed here — it’s just snippets of the characters we met in Season 1 — but it’s still a nice reminder that there’s always a good television show just around the corner.

A lot of people complained that the first season of “Treme” moved too slowly, but I thought it was worth the time solely for the music and the outstanding acting by everyone from Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon from “The Wire”) to Oscar-winner Melissa Leo to Khandi Alexander and her spectacular rack. Besides, those complaints were issued before “Rubicon” aired. “Treme” is a Michael Bay movie compared to “Rubicon.”