Just finished watching Season 1. Not sure when series 2 is due in the UK yet.
Overall I found it to be an interesting and enjoyable show, with perhaps a little too much focus on the music. (I am no fan of Jazz so maybe if I was the heavy focus would be less annoying? Are there really no Rock-N-Roll bands in NO?) I think this also made it very difficult to keep track of who was a real musician and who wasn't. And a host of other stuff that seemed to be "inside baseball" stuff for locals.
I found the Treme explained blog to be helpful in this respect, although I only found it after seeing the first 9 episodes (
http://topics.nola.com/tag/treme-explained/index.html)
I had no issue with the glacially slow place or the amount of characters. Sometimes it's nice to watch a slow paced show. Clearly not all shows can work to this type of pace, but I thought Treme did, so long as you were prepared to accept it.
Finally, I think it is a real shame that seemingly every single thing I've read about the show, in one way or another, compared the show to the Wire or made reference to the Wire. I get that the Wire has a huge fan base, is beloved and everything else. Clearly though, this is not the Wire and I think everyone would enjoy it more if they accepted it on it's own terms, rather than wishing it was something it isn't or comparing it to something it isn't. Really, other than the production staff and a couple actors, there's nothing to compare. I'm not taking shots at anyone on here, this is mostly an issue with the critics/journalists that reviewed and blogged the show. The Guardian series blog even had a "Wire Watch" section for crying out loud. I though the AV club series blog was a little better (and generally I like their TV Club series blogs - but not so much the comments sections.)
I look forward to Season 2 a great deal. Season 1 improved with each show and the characters mostly became more like-able through the run so the potential seems to be good for another season.