I can't be the only one watching this. It just got picked up for another season, though probably in a much worse time slot. This is the kind of show I'd expect to see on AMC or HBO. The visuals are fantastic, and it's a character-driven show that probably won't do well in syndication. I love that it looks like the people involved give zero fucks about anything but the story they're trying to tell. Sidebar: I constantly confuse Laurence Fishburne with Forest Whitaker.
Less cross eyes with LF. This show is fantastic. The visuals are amazing. I know he's chopping people up and serving them but that food looks fucking fantastic. If they released a cookbook I'd buy it and start making friends with very trusting homeless people. Very engaging show
This show is really good. I hope it doesn't get canceled. The show puts you under a dark cloud, and Mads Mikkelsen is totally awesome as Hannibal.
Still watching? This show is so damned creepy. Jimmy from Boardwalk Empire plays a great pedophile. He already had the incest stuff down pat so it's good that he's expanding his acting horizons.
My beef with that guy is he is playing Gary Oldman playing Verger. He's the dude playing a dude, playing another dude. Same voice, same mannerisms. The shit he said to that kid made my skin crawl, though. I hated the first season. It was stylistically brilliant, well researched, cleverly written, superbly acted (Mads Mikkelson makes a great Lecter) but the over the top gore was distasteful and unnecessary. The biggest problem for me was how wildly it deviated from Thomas Harris' books. It takes a heaping shit on his universe and Will Graham in particular, despite how awesome Dancy plays it. Sticking with it for season 2 was the best decision. The writing got even better. The violence is pointed, now a story aid instead of the reason for a scene. So long as you divorce yourself from the idea that it has to be true to the book series, it's probably the best show on right now. The food porn is crazy. Even better is most of the preparations are fucking human body parts. This season is so twisted. There have been several scenes that blew my mind. Spoiler Lecter makes Eddie Izzard eat his own amputated leg as his last supper. How they got on network TV, no idea. Someone deserves a medal. It is renewed for a third season.
Not that I'm disagreeing with you wholly, but I really got a Heath Ledger playing the Joker vibe from him. Maybe it was just his voice. Either way, I'm glad to hear it was renewed for a third season. I can honestly say it's probably my favorite show on TV right now.
About half-way through the first season. This show is much better than I thought it was going to be. For some reason I thought it would just be another weekly procedural cop show. Its well written and well acted, and Ill agree that this is more AMC or HBO fare than NBC. CJ is right that the gore is unnecessary and Im surprised this is on network television. I love the Harris books, but as soon as I stopped comparing Mads Mikkelson to Hopkins and the plot to the books Im enjoying it much more. Mikkelson is such a bizarre guy in general (and great Bond villain), its a very interesting portrayal of Lector. Its no True Detective, but its pretty entertaining.
The second season is over. Juice, you're going to lose your ever poop-lovin' mind. The season finale was simply crazy. This is why I hate TV. I have to wait a year to find out what the funky doodle happened. Spoiler So basically everyone is bleeding to death and Hannibal pops a plane to France with Agent Scully. Which doesn't make sense because they set it up in the first season that he was going to kill her. Now she was in on it. So, explain that to me, Mr TV Producer Guy. It looks like they're f'ing with the chronology of the books. Looks like they'll (vaguely) follow the Hannibal story line instead of Silence of The Lambs. As for the efficacy of the episode, I was wound up tight as hell. Absolutely thrilling. That was some amazing TV. I was actually yelling at the screen, "OH NO GIR-FREN, DON'T GO THERE, HE IN THERE!" We really are hitting a zenith of incredible programming. No way in hell would any of this shit be on TV even 10 years ago. This was also one of the bloodiest episodes, but it had a purpose. Just sickening. I'm probably going to rewatch it soon. I want to see Fuller bring his entire adaptation to the screen. Almost seems a shame that he had to appropriate existing characters, because it could stand on its own without the source material, but I'll take it.
Sorry about bumping this thread, but I read the thread recently and it prompted me to watch the show. I am through Season 2 episode 4 and this is an amazing show. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more fanfare, though I understand it might be an acquired taste (I'll show myself out). Incredibly dark, brilliant visuals with mastercraft acting and incredible directing. Hoping the show makes it through its desired shelf-life.
The season 3 trailer is up. The show starts again in June, no reason to start a new thread. A summer time slot is probably the death knell after the damn show kicked and fought its way up the ratings ladder. Stupid. However, the teaser looks fantastic. The production value is right up there with Game of Thrones. Serious business.
It was a critical success but a ratings failure. Probably too dark for the NBC crowd. Both Hulu and Netflix had the option to pick it up if failed, so it depends if they do or not.
"Too dark". It's sad that squeamishness is the nail in the coffin for good shows. You compare to the violence of CSI or the intentionally sick and nasty Law & Order SVU, this show doesn't push the envelope as much as some might say. Sure it has cannibalsm, but the way they show it on this show is so Babette's Feast-like that I'm considering giving it a go. Delicious. I think the problem wasn't that it was too dark for an NBC audience, the problem was it wasn't STUPID enough for them. Netflix, this is your cue. Rescue this shit.
To add to that, a lot of people want/need something light and self-contained, nothing that they have to invest any time or effort or brainpower into week over week. Same goes with gaming... there's a reason casual gaming is so damn popular. Not everyone wants to invest 3 weeks into a major campaign, a lot want to just go and play a stupid Flash game for 10 minutes as a break from life. Couple that with the fact that the major networks show a shit-ton of commercials, and you're easily taken out of the story during the episode. Binge watch it on Netflix or watch it commercial free via a torrent, and you stay immersed in the episode, and it's easier to follow and you get more wrapped up in it.
The ending of this show was really fucking good. Visually astounding and exciting. If you've seen any of the show it's definitely worth finishing it out, even though it has been cancelled.