OT: is anyone still watching True Detective?

Submitted by 93Grad on
At first I thought it was just a little slow and overly complicated. It turns out that it's just a terrible, awful show. I am seriously amazed at how bad it all is. And like a bad movie or sporting event I am now invested and have to see it through.

Unicycle Firefly

July 20th, 2015 at 10:40 PM ^

I thought the first couple episodes were great, then it started drifting, and now it's just a mess. The star-studded cast is working against the show this year. There just isn't enough time to fully develop these characters and still pull together a coherent storyline.

I also thought Taylor Kitsch's character could have been one of the most interesting aspects of the season when it first started. Instead, he's just an absolute train wreck.

mGrowOld

July 20th, 2015 at 10:43 PM ^

No. 

No one is watching it except you and that is terribly disapointing to the HBO executives who were sort of hoping to get an audiience of greater than one person given the cost of the acting talent they assembled.

Cali Wolverine

July 20th, 2015 at 10:43 PM ^

Ballers sucks, True Detective sucks, only thing that I stumbled onto during the FIFA debacle, that is somewhat amusing, is Oliver's show. Otherwise...just a waiting game until GOT.

RobM_24

July 20th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^

John Oliver is a genius. I wish his show was an hour long. His research is so in-depth, and his presentation is amazing. It being on HBO and having relaxed rules makes it better than any show like it.

I Like Burgers

July 20th, 2015 at 10:43 PM ^

Oh boo hoo, its not the greatest fucking show on TV. WAAAAAAAA

Guess what, the first season wasn't that awesome either.  Its first half was just as slow and complicated, there was a big shootout at the end of episode 4, and the best episodes were all at the end.  Just like this season.

I Like Burgers

July 20th, 2015 at 11:19 PM ^

They are at least half as good.  I mean, Jesus, people are reacting like this is Teen Mom 3 or something.  Its still good TV.  And I don't think McConaughey or Harrelson's parts were that much better written than many of the parts this season, I just think they were parts taylor made for those actors, and actors made the writing seem phenomenal.  McCounaughey is perfect for the spacey cop with a bad side.  And Harrelson was perfect for the cop that's kind of a dick.  Its essentially the same types of parts those two always play and it was written right into their wheelhouses.

Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch are all doing well in their roles -- not at the same level of Harrelson or McCounaughey, but they were both nominated for Emmys, so that's a pretty high bar.  I agree that Vince Vaungh is out of place.  That was a miscasting.  As much as I love him, he's just not a dramatic actor.

I just think a lot of the handwringing over this season compared to last is revisionist history.  There were a lot of slow, confusing, and just plain bad parts of season 1, but people forget about them.

cbuswolverine

July 20th, 2015 at 11:55 PM ^

Nope.  The only revisionism going on regarding season 1 is coming from you.  I can go back through the threads at other forums that I regularly visit and find almost unanimous praise for season 1 from beginning to end.  Also, to even begin to imply that the clownshow shootout from episode 4 of season 2 can hold a candle to the one from season 1 is a joke.

ijohnb

July 21st, 2015 at 8:54 AM ^

season of True Detective was a revelation.  It was so good at times it seemed almost surreal, and had moments that surpassed Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wire...... name the show - episodes 3-6 of True Detective season 1 was better.

That being said, people are being unreasonably hard on season 2.  It is a well-acted(almost uniformly which I will get to in a minute), well shot, well directed, and has had some really powerful moments.  The writing has been suspect, but not catastrophically bad as some have asserted.  It is a good police procedural that has created a tense and compelling world of its own.  It is far from great, but people are specifically pissed at it because it is not season 1 and in doing so are completely trashing the show without good cause.

Vaughn was a mistake.  That is clear.  He has had successul dramatic roles, he was really, really good in Into the Wild.  I think that he and they believed he was up to the role but it is not within his range.  He has to try to hard to be taken seriously as a gangster that he has completely lost his grip on the other facets the character is supposed to have.  Kitch has been solid but was simply an unnecessary character unless there is a drastic turn of events with his character(not out of the question).

Farrel has been close to spectacular and may be nominated for best actor in a drama series next year.  The show is not making television history and it is a far cry from season one but it is watchable to the point of being hypnotic at times and has had some really good moments.  I think it is a solid B and certainly good enough for it to hang around for another season.

Plegerize

July 20th, 2015 at 10:47 PM ^

Yeah it started out hella slow, but the last episode was promising.

Just like others have said though, I don't think it is enough time to see these characters properly developed. 

I guess we will see where we end this season...

Hotel Putingrad

July 20th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^

Yes, there are a few major plot holes (namely how they just skipped past an extreme gunfight with civilian casualties), yes the writing is often overwrought (especially everything uttered by Frank). But I am really enjoying Colin Farrell's performance, and maybe it's merely a consequence of its limited run format, but I find myself genuinely curious how the story will conclude.

MoJo Rising

July 20th, 2015 at 10:51 PM ^

But hard to repeat what season 1 was.

Are you watching Hannibal? Now that's a fun and twisted show! And to boot, the bad guy in True Dective Season 1 plays a twisted surgeon/cook in Hannibal in the last two episodes. He gets his face cut off by Hannibal. Fitting for sure. 

xxxxNateDaGreat

July 20th, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^

Bottom line: it just wasn't pulling in enough viewers for NBC. If it had been on cable? Sure! But not for one of the major ones. Only reason it lasted this long is because it cost NBC almost nothing to broadcast it, since it was an international production. So it was less of a "This is bleeding money" and more of a "This is costing us potential profit from a more mainstream viewer friendly show"

I definitely give NBC props for going this far and I really hope Amazon will either pick it up or sell the rights to Netflix, cause they are aching to add the show.

WestQuad

July 20th, 2015 at 11:02 PM ^

I think I'll see it through, but the writer is definitely trying to hard.  The first season was good for a lot of reasons, but the relationship between Woody and Matthew really drove it. MM was messed up, but then it turned out that Woody was even more screwed up.  They each kept getting worse.   None of the characters in this season have any kind of a relationship with each other or anyone else that you care about.  The writing is too overhanded.  Hoping it pulls together, but it won't.

CRISPed in the DIAG

July 20th, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^

This last episode of TD was better than anything from GoT last season.

As an aside, HBO would not air drek like The Brink if not for their need for content. Netflix as an original source of programming is slowly compelling HBO to take shows it used to pass.

ToledoWolverine

July 20th, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^

But Sunday night HBO is the only TV I look forward to all week. Great mix of shows that I enjoy from True Detective all the way through Last Week Tonight. I think the last few episodes of True Detective are going to be a whirlwind. That shootout was absolutely crazy. I do however agree that there is, to this point, to much disconnect between the characters.

gmoney41

July 21st, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^

Mr robot on USA is better than anything that HBO has done this summer.  Hannibal is finally really clicking and is awesomly insane.  The only show on HBO i can really sink my teeth into is Game of Thrones, everything else is kind of overrated on that channel.  I am looking forward to Westworld, but that won't come out until next year.