Is the Secrecy Surrounding True Detective Deserved?

True Detective is one of the most guarded shows on television, but does it have a reason to be?

True Detective’s secretive, paranoid nature is infamous amongst fans and professionals. Maybe it would be more accurate to say Nic Pizzolatto instead of True Detective, but the end result is the same. Pizzolatto is the man who drives True Detective, and his own feelings concerning the press couldn’t be any more clear.

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But is this secrecy actually deserved? Even Game of Thrones, HBO’s mega-hit is more open than True Detective. We’ve heard horror stories about the paranoia present on the set of True Detective, most recently from David Morse, who recalls scripts made of special material. That’s Star Wars level secrecy for a HBO series without a continuing storyline.

True Detective is a marvelous show, but all Pizzolatto’s obsession with privacy does is create an image of a curmudgeonly, reclusive showrunner. It certainly doesn’t do the True Detective brand any favors, though it could be argued that it doesn’t necessarily hurt it either. In television, however, when competition for eyes is fierce, not helping might as well be considered hurting.

We’re chomping at the bit to find out more about True Detective season three, but it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the series doesn’t have the same rabid fanbase as Game of Thrones. It’s impossible to know Nic Pizzolatto’s true feelings on the matter, but some aspects can be gleamed easily enough; the man is protective of his baby, and he doesn’t want it seen until he deems it ready.

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That’s not an unreasonable demand. His version of it just happens to be a bit more hostile than others, and he’s currently in complete shut-down mode. Pizzolatto runs True Detective with an iron fist, for better or worse.

Right now it just feel more for the worse.

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