Is Aquarius the First True Detective Clone?

NBC has begun assembling it’s new detective drama, Aquarius, which takes place during the 1960’s Charles Manson spree. Originally announced in March, Aquarius is shaping to look more and more like True Detective. NBC has not been shy about coping ideas lately; Black List plays out an awfully like the original premise of Hannibal. The best ideas are staked out by those who arrive first, so regardless if Aquarius‘ has been floating around as an idea longer than True Detective, in will inevitably be compared to it. That’s something NBC might be counting on. The series is currently on order for 13 episodes, which is around the same episode count for many of the other more grizzly network shows. Dark and tortured sounds par for the course on this one.

To make things a bit more interesting, TV Line has reported that David Duchovny will be one of the two detectives on the case. We’ll make sure to cross him off our dream list for season 2, which, by the way, currently has Gillian Anderson. If marketed correctly — and assuming that it’s of quality — NBC could successfully siphon off some of the True Detective audience. Duchovny does have his own pull, after all. Television has an endless amount of room for originals and, well, not-so-originals, so we’ll just have to wait and see how much of Aquarius truly parallels True Detective.

With the limited information we have so far, it’s looking to be more than a passing resemblance.