10 TV Shows Ruined By Their Own Popularity

9. True Detective

If it doesn't lose its nerve as it goes forward and actually keeps each season as a totally stand-alone crime story, True Detective has the potential to be one of the best crime TV shows of all time.

The first season had a lot going for it - Hollywood's finest stars, one director throughout the whole run and an enticing selling point of an incredible six minute long single take in the fourth episode. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were on top form as a pair of ideologically opposite cops, with the three different time periods making the mystery of their shattered relationship as intriguing as the overarching Yellow King. The only thing that ruined the first season was that it ended in the manner the way you'd expect a crime drama to finish - the cops hunt down and get the killer.

True Detective was a cracking cop serial that brought in some greater ideas of spirituality, but because it was so polished everyone expected it to bring out some narrative shockers. This show was so good, it couldn't just follow convention, could it? And so fans poured over everything, coming up with theories about Marty's family being involved in the murders and a bunch of equally convoluted ideas.

So when the ending arrived and it was the usual good guys save the day (albeit delivered in incredible fashion), people were quick to decree it a let down.