HBO Picks Up Detective Series Starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson

Now that they’re done renewing “Girls” and “Veep,” continuing the life span of blog posts on what it’s like to be a woman living in New York City and MY GIRL: ALL GROWN UP, HBO has announced an eight-episode, direct-to-series order for “True Detective,” a cop drama starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. (First mentioned here.) And I’m not going to check Twitter for at least a week, for fear that I might punch the first person who makes a “First True Blood and now True Detective? I thought this was HBO; not TruTV” joke.

“True Detective,” which sparked heated bidding after it was taken out to the top cable networks earlier this month, is descried as an elevated serial narrative with multiple perspectives and time frames. It centers on two detectives, Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. The investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 is framed and interlaced with testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case has been reopened. The concept is for the 8-episode first season to resolve the mystery at hand, with subsequent seasons using same structure but new characters and story. (Via)

The premise is appealing (serial killer!) and Woody and Matthew, whose stock has risen now that he’s seemingly finished with making sh*tty rom coms, are enigmatic actors, but I feel like “True Detective” would be better if it were called “Hart of Rust.” TNT would have been all over that.