On a night that featured the Boardwalk Empire Season 4 premiere and the second-to-last episode of The Newsroom Season 2, HBO gave viewers their first look at True Detective.

The unique drama will debut in January and run an eight-episode opening season that focuses on a pair of law enforcement officials: Matthew McConaughey's Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson's Martin Hart. The series will chronicle their intersecting lives over the course of a 17-year investigation into a Louisiana serial killer.

Opening in 1985, the show will take fans up through testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case has been reopened.

Watch now and decide if you'll give True Detective a shot:

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.