10 Best Single TV Seasons Ever

8. True Detective - Season 1

True Detective The Long Bright Dark
HBO

It's easy to point out how True Detective's second and third seasons didn't live up to the hype generated by the show's debut year, but one also has to consider how high the bar had been set with that inaugural season.

Not just was True Detective's first season an entertainment highlight of 2014, it holds up as one of the finest single seasons of TV ever. Of course, taking an anthology approach and dedicating each season to a certain set of characters within that season's own unique narrative helped put a nice bookend on Season One, but we've seen before how anthology shows can fall flat on their face.

For this debut outing, the action is based in 1995 Louisiana as detectives Rust and Marty initially start delving into the murder of a prostitute. In Rust, we have a man battling his demons in the bottom of a bottle, while married Marty's problems often come from his wandering eye and infidelity. There's drugs, religion, warring partners and a brilliant dollop of mystery and intrigue to this first season, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are on phenomenal form as Rust and Marty, respectively.

Then again, everything about True Detective's first season is on phenomenal form, and it's just a shame that the bar set by this debut season was unable to be matched by the seasons that followed it.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.