Cornered

David Mills, who liked to poke Whitey with a stick, has died of an apparent brain aneurysm on the set of the new HBO series Treme at the age of 48. Mills, a light-skinned black journalist, was in an ideal position to explore race relations on some of the best television of the last decade, including The Corner, where he won two Emmys, NYPD Blue, where he wrote about Andy Sipowicz’s prickly relationship with his black commanding officer, ER, where he created the character of Rocket Romano and his collaborations with David Simon: The Wire, and Homicide: Life on the Streets and Treme, which premiered tonight.