Why was True Detective Season 1 such a success?

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Chemistry between the leads

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Woody and McConaughey were just perfect leads and there was just no way you could replicate that without breaking the bank

Season two went with way too many leads. Could have easily canceled out Kitsch and given us more Vince Vaughn.

Season three they went a little smarter in making it only two leads, but Dorff was so outmatched by Mahershala

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Dem titties

writer had the time to develop the scripts exactly as he wanted, no studio pressure or rushing
outstanding director and crew
awesome setting and atmosphere
great leads

first 5 episodes are as good as tv gets. last 3 meh to bad. season 2 bad, season 3 i didnt even watch

Because it had talent, was well made, and had an interesting story. Season 2 was rushed.

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It had a great mystery in legit world building with great style/cinematography as the presentation tool. It fell apart due to being unable to end it and the characters being more caricatures which didn't leave any support for the dull ending.

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This. Had the misfortune of being the first of its kind and only running 8 episodes so the last episode or 2 felt rushed. The plot and mystery were excellent, the writing and filmmaking superb, and the acting was legendary. Truly the culmination of a story brewing for decades which is why season 2 played out like a complete caricature; had no time to marinate and develop

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it’s perfectly fine when you rewatch the show and understand it’s about Rust, Marty, and the entire vibe of the Louisiana bayou and delta. The plot is just a vehicle for that to shine.

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this was the excuse when everyone was disappointed with the ending. weeks of speculation and countless pages of theories and breakdowns of the plot and where things might end up, then when the ending was trash, everyone was like "it was never about the story, it was about the characters" I don't disagree that it works best as a character study, but it was hilarious how the fanbase shifted

Season1 is slightly overrated around here due to the familiarity aspect with the location and some of the references made.

I remember during the season long thread there was like 3 pages dedicated to a random reference to USL baseball or something.

But, yes, SFP nailed it, and I remember he wasn’t all-in on the show from the start.

The last 3 episodes were really weak.

Similarly, this board blasted season 2 before it even started due to the setting moving to Los Angeles.

The elements that made it a success:

Writer had years to craft the story, no studio pressure to deliver a massive hit.

Director had total freedom to shred the bloated script down to the most important elements needed to tell an engrossing story.

Two legit great modern actors with insane chemistry. Supporting actors crushed it.

For everyone talking about how disappointing the ending is, I watched it two years after it aired and loved every second of it. Loved it equally on rewatch with my wife a year after that. I thought it struck a good balance between showing how monstrous certain crimes are despite how human the actual perpetrators are. I dismissed 50% of the ethereal musings of McCaughnehey from the beginning, so I never expected some kind of revolutionary plot reveal.