10 TV Shows Never Better Than Their First Season

Originally envisioned as a miniseries, True Detective was turned into an anthology after the success of its first year, but three seasons in has never been able to capture the magic of its searing debut.

Starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as two haunted detectives thrust into a grisly murder mystery, True Detective's first season worked as both a bracing crime drama and a tragically twisted character study of two remarkably different men forever changed by their time together.

Dark, bleak, and acted to perfection by two actors in perhaps the best roles of their careers, the season kickstarted a franchise that has never come close to matching it. The second season, with its heavy melodrama and messy pacing, failed hard, and even in its own right wasn't anything to write home about.

The third season came closer to the quality of its first year, but still missed by a country mile, unable to recapture the meticulous pacing or compelling characterisation of its predecessor. As it stands, True Detective is a show that really should've ended early.