True Detective season 3 finale airing opposite 2019 Oscars
Yesterday, we reported that the Mahershala Ali series is making the incredibly risky move of airing opposite the Super Bowl, arguably the biggest rating vacuum of the entire year. Because of that and that alone, you have to wonder if HBO is going to release the next new episode early so that they can capitalize on some of the momentum that they have built and ensure that viewers don’t forget about them in the midst of the big game.
This morning, HBO revealed the official synopsis for Sunday’s new episode — since we didn’t have it for our preview yesterday, you can now check it out below:
Wayne (Mahershala Ali) finds himself in a no-win situation as new clues emerge in the Purcell case. Roland (Stephen Dorff) wrestles with how to keep evidence secure as lawyers demand a new investigation. Amelia (Carmen Ejogo) finds her relationship with Wayne imperiled by her writing aspirations and his jealousy.
Written by Nic Pizzolatto; directed by Nic Pizzolatto.
Odds are, you heard going into this season that Pizzolatto would be directing on this season, so seeing this in the press release cannot come as much of a shock to anyone. Here’s where things actually get shocking — not only is True Detective airing a new episode on February 10 opposite the Grammys, but they are also airing the finale on February 24 opposite the Oscars! That means that for the better part of next month, this show will be airing against three of the biggest pop-culture/ratings events of the entire year. That’s a lot for any series to live up to and our heart goes out to anyone hoping that the live ratings will stay constant.
Clearly, this is HBO playing the long game with True Detective and recognizing that multi-platform viewers are what matters to them more than anything — live ratings plus also DVR streams, HBO NOW views, repeat airings, and more. They recognize that this is a show that will probably also continue to find an audience in the months to come. They care about subscriptions even more than ratings and if season 3 ends up drawing some more attention to this network in a financial sense, there is a lot that they are going to be happy about … even if we’re not happy about their February schedule.
What do you think about True Detective season 3 being scheduled against so many prominent television events, and do you think that this will hurt the show? Be sure to share below. (Photo: HBO.)