HBO's president of programming, Michael Lombardo, has stepped up to claim responsibility for the drop of quality in the second season of "True Detective."
The sophomore season was generally received well by the audiences, but it can't be denied that the quality is far different from season 1 and Lombardo is taking the blame.
Speaking to The Frame, the executive hopes that fans should not point the finger on creator Nic Pizzolatto for how unimpressive the sophomore season turned out. He shares to the news outlet specifically why.
According to the HBO boss, he pressured Pizzolatto to produce a second season in just a short span of time, which would explain why the show was not able to follow the success of the first season.
Lombardo added that Pizzolatto had a lot of time to work on the story of season 1, which resulted in a critically-acclaimed series. In contrast, the creator was not given enough time to dwell on season 2.
"Well, you know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver. That's not what that show is," Lombardo admitted.
Lombardo also said that he was more focused on being an executive instead of letting Pizzolatto get in touch with his creative side.
"I became too much of a network executive at that point. We had huge success. 'Gee, I'd love to repeat that next year,'" he said.
After a weak season 2 performance, will there still be a "True Detective" season 3? It's likely, according to Variety, which gathered last November that Pizzolatto had signed a deal with the network until 2018. Still, HBO has to issue a confirmation about a third season.
It's a lesson learned on the part of Lombardo, who said that he will no longer rush into things. In the meantime, fans of the crime drama series should stay tuned for more updates and hope that there will be another season.
