Is Gracepoint a True Detective Ripoff?

By Josh Hill | Oct 22, 2014

The success of the first season of True Detective has pawned a lot of copy-cat shows that are attempting to cash in on the formula that the HBO show followed. To be honest though, the formula wasn’t created by HBO or True Detective, rather it has existed for a long time before and will continue to exist long after.

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That brings us to the FOX miniseries Gracepoint, which right off the bat sounds like a True Detective ripoff. But the series is derived from a BBC series of the called Broadchurch which cam well before True Detective aired. But the surface formula can be seen as a ripoff as True Detective as the show focuses on two very different detectives trying to solve the murder of a child.

But thinking that Gracepoint and True Detective are too similar is a bad reason to not get into the series. Gracepoint is a series that is similar yet different than True Detectice in so many ways. One reason has to do with its lead characters, as unlike True Detective, Gracepoint has a female lead character in Anna Gunn.

Additionally, the murder is more focused on a small town rather than a small community like True Detectice. The coastal town Gracepoint is set in is different than the swamps of Louisiana but still maintains that small town feel both series capture so well.

They’re not the same show, and if you love True Detective then you’d be doing yourself a solid by getting into Gracepoint as soon as possible.

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