--- description: It's the latest move of gamesmanship in an awards contest where miniseries are dramas and dramas are miniseries (unless they're comedies) title: True Detective to Compete in Drama Emmys for HBO image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5b2d09dec429cb/6986873badae442d12542253/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [awards](/tag/awards/) ## awards Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # True Detective to Compete for Emmy As Drama, Takes Aim at Breaking Bad by [James Poniewozik](/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 26, 2014 2:19 AM CUT  HBO by [James Poniewozik](/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 26, 2014 2:19 AM CUT Look out, Bryan Cranston. Matthew McConaughey wants to capture your Yellow King. (Statuette, that is.) According to reports in industry trades, [HBO is planning to enter _True Detective_ in the drama series Emmys](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/emmys-hbos-true-detective-compete-684153 "undefined") rather than the miniseries category. The surprise move means that, rather than potentially sweep the weaker miniseries contests, HBO’s Louisiana Gothic murder mystery will go up against the likes of _Mad Men_, _House of Cards_–and the last season of _Breaking Bad_. The move is the opposite made by FX’s _American Horror Story_, which has entered each of its self-contained seasons as miniseries. Had _True Detective_ gone this route, it was widely expected to clean up. The mysteries of Emmy strategery are myriad, but HBO’s gambit has a few implications: \* Though HBO has dominated movies, and often miniseries, it hasn’t had a best drama winner since _The Sopranos._ It would like one, and it must see _True Detective_ as its best shot this year–more so than _The Newsroom_, _Boardwalk Empire_, or _Game of Thrones_ (an excellent series but the Emmys seem to be allergic to fantasy). \* All this sets up a colossal showdown with the last season of _Breaking Bad_. I’d give _Breaking Bad_ the Emmy over _True Detective_‘s season–not that anyone’s asking me–but McConaughey could be the irresistible force that dislodges the immovable object of Bryan Cranston. \* Meanwhile, Jon Hamm–who should have won for _Mad Men_‘s fourth season, at least–is now an even longer shot to win an Emmy as Don Draper. I guess [that’s what the money’s for](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPcFyhDMpk "undefined"). Above all, though, this is yet more proof of how increasingly arbitrary it is to divide TV series into categories. The _True Detective_ news came just after word that Showtime’s _Shameless_ would enter as a comedy rather than a drama–the [same decision that Netflix’s _Orange Is the New Black_ made a while ago](http://www.buddytv.com/articles/shameless/shameless-and-orange-is-the-ne-53063.aspx "undefined"). Now, _Orange_ is a funny show, but so is _The Good Wife_, which can often be the funniest show any given week it’s on; it’s a drama nonetheless. Meanwhile, the comedy category is also jammed with cable half-hour shows that can easily be as dramatic as they are comedic (_Girls_, _Nurse Jackie_). Maybe the 13-episode _AHS_ is a miniseries, because it’s self-contained! Maybe the eight-episode _True Detective_ is a series–a lot of British drama series are even shorter! The fact is that as TV gets more varied and ambitious, it’s harder to fit into neat categories. The real reason to separate hourlong emotional-but-funny shows from half-hour funny-but-emotional shows is less about any real distinction of genre than the need to have multiple categories so that the same show doesn’t win everything. This decision, at least, gave us some suspense on that score. Next August, it’s The One Who Knocks vs. [The Michael Jordan of Being a Son-of-a-Bitch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKf8FBWZi2g "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/38081/true-detective-hbo-drama-emmy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/38081/true-detective-hbo-drama-emmy/"},"headline":"True Detective to Compete for Emmy As Drama, Takes Aim at Breaking Bad","datePublished":"2014-03-26T02:19:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:57:56.057Z","description":"It's the latest move of gamesmanship in an awards contest where miniseries are dramas and dramas are miniseries (unless they're comedies)","url":"https://time.com/38081/true-detective-hbo-drama-emmy/","keywords":["awards","HBO","breaking bad","True Detective","Matthew McConaughey","emmys"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5b2d09dec429cb/6986873badae442d12542253/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Poniewozik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5b2d09dec429cb/6986873badae442d12542253/truedetective02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"True Detective","caption":"","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/38081/true-detective-hbo-drama-emmy/","name":"True Detective to Compete for Emmy As Drama, Takes Aim at Breaking Bad"}}]}] ```