Besides highlighting Ruffins as an artist, the show will bring with it tens of millions of dollars in spending, dozens of jobs and national exposure for the city's music and culture as it continues to recover from Hurricane Katrina's damage. A pilot episode written by "The Wire" creator David Simon and co-creator Eric Overmyer was shot in March and April. HBO wasn't expected to decide the show's fate for several more weeks, but the rough cut of the pilot that Simon delivered � minus final soundtrack music, which will play a major role in the series � was enough to sell HBO on the series, who have now given it the greenlight!

The series' first-season story will begin several weeks after Hurricane Katrina and follow its characters � based on real-life models Kermit Ruffins, Donald Harrison Jr. and Davis Rogan, among others � at least through the first Mardi Gras after Katrina. Each season of the series would advance the story one year further from the storm. Ruffins plays himself in the pilot.