Happy 6th Anniversary to Hannibal!

[abby82]

 

I know I tend to only pop up to commemorate an anniversary in Hannibal land, but hey, it's such an under seen gem that I can't help but bang the drum on the oft chance someone will hear me. So this is me, banging the Hannibal drum.

Today is the show's 6th anniversary of its premiere back in 2013. The show was sold as a procedural to the very procedural friendly NBC. Reviews were good but it did so-so in the ratings. Season one is very procedural and certainly the most accessible of the show's three seasons, but it was a procedural with a twist. It was obvious that the show didn't want to be a procedural and the creatives behind it weren't all that interested in telling procedural stories. They became a necessary evil to keep the powers that be at NBC more or less complacent. It was far easier to market a show with elaborate murder tableaus then it was to market the psychological horror show Hannibal wanted to be. So the show gave us some unsettling but beautiful murder scenes. They were often gothic and usually improbable but visually arresting. They provided a framework for the the first season while allowing the Hannibal and Will relationship to slowly build in intensity. 

The series premiere is a favorite of mine and it usually gets regular rewatches. In rewatching it today, it's fun to pinpoint the series hallmarks that were present from the very beginning. 
 

• Visceral crime scene reenactment from Will
• artfully shot blood splatters
• Professor!Will
• Jack Crawford being an asshole
• Will saying something that can be construed as inappropriate
• Will's 20,000 7 stray dogs
• Team Sassy Science being sassy from the get go
• Protective!Alana
• Hannibal ominously lit
• Goldberg Variations
• Hannibal being an asshole
• Windsor knots in Hannibal's neckties
• Twitchy, overwhelmed Will
• Hannibal cooking sequence
• Hand porn
• Hannibal being an asshole
• Will being rude to Hannibal
• Smitten Hannibal
• Hannibal feeding people "protein scramble" to unsuspecting companions
• Will covered in blood
• Hannibal being an asshole