I remember the moment I realized how much I love television. It was March 2, 2014, and for the first time in years, I skipped the Oscar telecast completely. I did it to watch a new episode of "True Detective," which was nearing the end of its phenomenal, influential, heavily-discussed first season. The show's grip on American pop culture that year was incredible: It won five Emmys, inspired countless parodies, and lit up the internet with theories and Easter egg hunts. People read Robert W. Chambers' "The King in Yellow" after the word "Carcosa" popped up in the show. Viewers made gifs and edits of every single shot of Matthew McConaughey's hilariously bleak protagonist. And, importantly, people in Hollywood clearly started searching for the next "True Detective."

In the years that followed the show's first season, a whole host of TV series appeared that clearly followed the "True Detective" rulebook: Slow-burn criminal investigations,...