8 TV Shows That Aren't About What You Think

Perhaps one of the best first seasons in TV history, True Detective rightfully received critical acclaim when it first aired back in 2014. This was in part due to an unlikely whirlwind of fantastic creatives behind the show.

Creator and lead writer Nic Pizzolatto created a brilliant set of characters, with some excellent dialogue to back them up. While Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson expertly bring the central characters of Rust and Marty to life. All of this is topped off with Cary Joji Fukunaga's outstanding direction which helps to hone in on the atmosphere and tone of the script. It was an unlikely formation of excellence.

Ostensibly, the show is a murder mystery that is wrapped up in the classic format of a police procedural. The serial killer that Marty and Rust hunt for the duration of the show is the driving force of the narrative, and all of this is bound up in the standard plot progressions of a police drama.

This was, of course, Pizzolatto's intention. For him though, the show is actually about nihilism and exploring both of the men's world views. This explains the long monologues that Rust gives about existence being pointless, and the fact that the actual case becomes less important over time.

Pizzolatto's is quoted as saying 'nobody was going to let me make a TV series about two men riding around talking, so I put a murder in there.' He has further said that the machinery of the police procedural was used to actually get at what interests him, and that's the world views of the protagonists.