Could True Detective Ever Break Ratings Records?
The Walking Dead recently annihilated ratings records with its recent fifth season premiere. The Walking Dead has been able to elevate the zombie genre into something that has mass appeal, instead of something that usually only attracts horror and B-movie buffs. It’s no mean feat, and is just another example of how genre television can be successful on television today. But could True Detective ever have a shot at that kind of success?
True Detective is also a genre show, but it does’t have the same mass appeal. A healthy fandom doesn’t necessarily translate into ratings, but we’ll get to test that out when True Detective’s second season finally premieres. Whenever that may be. The Walking Dead’s ratings were much more modest when it premiered, but they were still higher than True Detective’s first season.
More from HBO
- HBO expects House of the Dragon season 2 release in summer 2024
- HBO delays three hit shows to 2025 but one big show is still coming in 2024
- Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty will end its run on HBO
- Winning Time season 2, episode 7 recap: “What Is and What Should Never Be”
- Winning Time season 2, episode 6 recap: “Beat L.A.”
The Walking Dead has the benefit of being based on a successfully comic book series, so there was already somewhat of a built-in audience. True Detective does’t share that luxury, which is also shared by the other hugely successful genre show on TV, Game of Thrones. So far, creator and sole writer Nic Pizzolatto has had to earn every ounce of accolade from scratch.
It’s possible that True Detective’s second season will provide a serious ratings bump, but the series is unlikely to ever reach the highs of The Walking Dead. And with a few episode count and possible fewer seasons, there’s even less time to achieve that goal. The current television climate might be very support of genre shows, but True Detective is not anywhere near the top in terms of ratings.