HBO’s hot new anthology drama True Detective opened solid in the ratings Sunday night, while comedy Girls returned to a series-high audience.

Despite facing the Golden Globe Awards, HBO’s freshman drama debut had 2.3 million viewers — the biggest HBO series opening since Boardwalk Empire in 2010, and just barely edging out the series premiere of Game of Thrones from 2011. True Detective‘s first replay added another million viewers to the tally. True Detective stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as Louisiana detectives hunting a serial killer. Check out Jeff Jensen’s in-depth analysis of the first episode.

Meanwhile Girls returned to a series-high 1.1 million viewers, up 28 percent from the season 2 debut. Guess that TCA question #ragespiral fight about Lena Dunham’s nudity didn’t hurt the show’s popularity (and might have even helped). EW’s recap here.