David Simon, creator of the classic crime drama The Wire, is teaming up with Crash director Paul Haggis for a new six-part miniseries for HBO. Starring Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero will focus on racial tensions in America and will have its premiere in August.

Oscar IsaacOscar Isaac stars as the mayor of a midsized American town in Show Me a Hero

Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin, the series will also star Catherine Keener, Alfred Molini, Winona Ryder, LaTanya Richardson-Jackson, Bob Balaban and Jim Belushi.

The show stars Isaac as the young mayor of a medium sized American city, who receives a federal court order mandating the building of a number of low-income housing units in the white areas of the town. His attempt tears the city apart and destroys the mayor and his political future.

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As with The Wire, Show Me a Hero will explores ideas surrounding race and community through the lives of elected officials, bureaucrats, activists and ordinary citizens.

The show will have its premiere on August 16, with the subsequent six parts to show Sunday August 23 and 30 and September 13, 20 and 27.

Its familiar territory for Simon, whose grounding as a crime journalist in Baltimore led to his first series Homicide: Life on the Streets and then The Wire. Celebrated as one of the finest writers in the business, Simon continued his success with Generation Kill, an account of the opening days of the Iraq war, and Treme, the critically acclaimed series which looked at a post-Katrina New Orleans. 

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