Are You Afraid to Watch TV's Hannibal?

May 12, 2013
By: O. J. Cunningham

38 current TV shows have been canceled.

50 current TV shows have been renewed.

1 current TV show's fate remains undecided -- ONLY ONE.

The undecided show is Hannibal -- Thursday Night 10pm -- NBC.

Hannibal is an American thriller television series developed by Bryan Fuller for NBC. The series is based on characters and elements appearing in the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.

Do you watch Hannibal?

It focuses on the relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist destined to become Graham's most cunning enemy.

I know why Hannibal is the last TV renewal decision to be made.

First . . . Let me be upfront and let you know that I have not seen the program.

I want to watch. I taped the first episode. I'm a member of the Hannibal Lectner fann club.

I even have a T-Shirt.

But . . .

My wife said . . . "NO."

She told me . . . "We're not watching it."

She told me . . . "You're not taping it."

She said . . . without hesitation . . . "I won't have it in my house."

I can't imagine that mine is the only house with "issues" as far as Hannibal Lecter is concerned. I remember when the first season of Dexter was released. Viewers were slow to cozy up to the weekly graphic bloodletting.

But I think Hannibal Lecter is the one character to which all other graphically violent television and movie characters are compared. And I think that there may be more households (than just mine) that suffered an adverse, knee-jerk, negative reaction to the newest Lecter character portrayal.

The highly promoted series received a 13 episode order for its first season and, unlike most U.S. network shows, any future seasons will also feature 13 episodes. David Slade executive produced and directed the pilot. The series premiered on NBC on April 4, 2013. Generally, ratings have not been good.

This is not the first portrayal of the often carnivorous Dr. Lecter.

There were two movies . . . Hannibal in 1991 and Silence of the Lambs -- ten years later -- in 2001. I saw them both. My wife saw them both. But all she remembers is the eerie butterfly on both the DVD and the movie's advertising poster, the gross scene where Dr. Lecter bit someone's tongue off and the truly unsettling scene where Lecter fed Ray Liotta his (Liotta's) own brain.

It was horrific -- the highest pinnacle of monstrosity.

HERE'S THE SYNOPSIS FROM WIKIPEDIA: Hannibal is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from Thomas Harris' novel of the same name.

It is a sequel to the 1991 Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs that returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore co-stars, taking over for Jodie Foster in the role of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Clarice Starling.

Lecter takes Starling to Krendler's (Ray Liotta) secluded lake house and treats her wounds. When Krendler arrives for the Fourth of July, Lecter subdues and drugs him. Starling, disoriented by morphine and dressed in a black velvet cocktail dress, awakens to find Lecter cooking and Krendler in a wheelchair seated at the table set for an elegant dinner.

Weakened by the drugs, she looks on in horror as Lecter removes the top of Krendler's skull, cuts out part of his prefrontal cortex, sautees it, and feeds Krendler his own brain.

Consider that this is the first time Dr. Lecter has been beamed into our homes via Television.

A couple of movies -- ten years apart -- might be tolerable.

But . . . every week? . . . for 13 weeks??

That's why NBC is dragging its feet on the decision to renew or cancel Hannibal. They (NBC) know it's good TV. Yet, no one is watching. (Because they're afraid to tune in.)

They're afraid to see what Dr. Lecter might be having for lunch.

HERE'S THE FULL LIST OF CANCELLATIONS . . .

Stay tuned . . .