True Detective

Over the course of the first season, Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) smokes 49 cigarettes and drinks 8 beers on camera.

To prepare, Matthew McConaughey created a 450-page analysis, the 'Four Stages of Rustin Cohle', to study his character's evolution over the course of the story.

Series creator Nic Pizzolatto wrote the entire first season by himself, without any input from a writing staff (which is unusual for a major American TV series).