10 Bad TV Shows With Great Opening Title Sequences

The creative team behind True Detective had a unique set of challenges going into the second season. They had to recapture the same haunting intrigue that characterized the first season, while at the same time feeling fresh and original. The show that followed... tried. Unfortunately, it ended up perpetuating the worst tendencies of the first season, winding up as a stuffy, pretentious, and convoluted Chinatown wannabe.

But somehow, they managed to capture the perfect balance with the opening title sequence. Instead of sticking with the same haunting guitar music from the first season, season 2 opted for a pulsing rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Nevermind", juxtaposed against winding overhead shots of California.

This sequence perfectly captures the dynamic that the tragically miscast Vince Vaughn fails to play up in the season: The struggle of someone getting caught in a seedy underworld full of your past demons. And it does so without ever telegraphing the painfully awkward pacing and ham-fisted storytelling the show would devolve into over the next 10 episodes.