The loss of David Mills

TV writer David Mills died yesterday at the age of 48, and if you appreciate good television, it's a loss that should matter to you.

One of the things I love about TV is that it's a writer's medium: Words still matter there, and the people who write them do, too.

For years, when I've thought of HBO, I've thought of the Davids -- Milch ("Deadwood," John From Cincinnati"), Chase ("The Sopranos") and Simon ("The Wire," "The Corner" and soon, "Treme").

Not to mention Larry ("Curb Your Enthusiasm").

And then there was David Mills, a former newspaper guy who'd worked as a writer for Milch on ABC's "NYPD Blue" and with Simon on "Homicide: Life on the Street," "The Corner," "The Wire" and most recently in New Orleans on HBO's post-Katrina drama "Treme," and who was in line to become the kind of household name those other Davids are (at least in the households occupied by drama junkies).

It could've happened a few years ago with Mills' show for NBC, "Kingpin," but then it might have been the wrong time, and the wrong network, I don't know. What I do know is that Mills -- who was also the irreverent voice behind the blog Undercover Black Man --  was a gifted writer who worked on shows where the writing truly mattered -- including the very promising "Treme," which premieres April 11 -- and that when he collapsed Tuesday on the show's New Orleans set and died of a brain aneurysm,  television lost a distinctive voice.

My friend Alan Sepinwall, who'd known Mills since his "NYPD Blue" days, shares some more personal memories here.