Does True Detective deserve credit for pioneering the Hollywood defection trend?

With the first season of True Detective, so came the ‘True Detective Effect’, which is when Hollywood talent defects to the world of television.

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As opined by Collider, the ‘True Detective Effect’ is starting to lure more and more Hollywood talents to the world of long-form television and that’s pretty incredible. But does True Detective really deserve enough credit to be the titular reason that these talents are flocking to television?

The short answer is no — this is not a True Detective effect. HBO isn’t the first network to do long-form television like this and they’re not even the most recent pioneer to do so. Shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and especially House of Cards have pioneered the long form style of television and have lured in Hollywood talent before True Detective did. Bryan Cranston did Breaking Bad, Jon Hamm did Mad Men and both Kevin Spacey and David Fincher did House of Cards.

But what True Detective gets credit for in the ‘True Detective Effect’ is that it attracted hollywood talent straight out of the gate. Cranston and Hamm became Hollywood stars thanks to their roles and House of Cards is spearheaded by Spacey and Fincher but the talent is newer after that.

It may be a detriment that True Detective operates this way, but there’s credit to be had here as shows like The Knick and others that follow after have to thank True Detective for making to so easy for Hollywood talent to do television and do it the way they are.

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