The Season's Best New Show


"It's always good to have an old friend for dinner." — Hannibal Lecter, "Hannibal"

The biggest gamble of the 2012-2013 TV season was "Hannibal," a prequel to the movies and Thomas Harris novels about the cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Most wondered how it could work as a series — after all, we already know what he is — and how it could work on network TV.

The fact that the network that took a chance on "Hannibal" was NBC was viewed as odd and predictable all in one. Odd because "Hannibal" doesn't fit the NBC mold and predictable because when you don't have any viewers, you reach out to grab anything splashy.

Personally, I view "The Silence of the Lambs" as one of my favorite films and one of the best films ever made. That made me leery of the show. How would it work? How could it really be a weekly series?

But that's the brilliance of the show. It defies expectations, it's brilliantly written, and the performances are incredible. It is the perfect set up to the films, and Mads Mikkelsen has found a way to make the role of Hannibal Lecter his own. In short, despite all my skepticism, "Hannibal" is the best new show of the season, though hardly any people are watching.

But as much as I like the show, I could do with a few less dinner scenes... Again, that might be the power of the show.

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