This image released by HBO shows Matthew McConaughey, left, and Woody Harrelson from the HBO series "True Detective," premiering Jan. 12, at 9 p.m. EST. (AP Photo/HBO, Michele K. Short)
The demand for the season finale of HBO’s True Detective was so great online, the network’s streaming service HBO GO temporarily crashed trying to fulfill all incoming requests for the closing episode.
“Due to overwhelmingly popular demand for #TrueDetective, we’ve been made aware of an issue affecting some users. Please try again soon,” HBO GO tweeted earlier Sunday night. Service was eventually restored.
The disruption reaffirms "True Detective"‘s status of a pop culture phenomenon, which it has been able to achieve in only eight episodes. It also underlines how inherently irrelevant traditional overnight ratings are with so many HBO subscribers preferring to watch online, they overwhelmed the network’s server.
Of course, the streaming difficulties could have prompted "True Detective" fans who had no intention of watching the show on TV to do so, bringing extra viewers for the finale’s Nielsen ratings.
While the first season of "True Detective" was conceived as a closed-ended arc with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, creator Nic Pizzolatto is already working on a premise for a second season with new characters and a new storyline in a new locale.
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