First Two Weeks, Hannibal

WEEK ONE
NBC's Hannibal kicked off its run with 4.36 million viewers and a 1.6 demo in the network's hallowed Thursday 10/9c slot. Usually a 1.6 is total DOAsville, but... 1) it faced competition from potent 10/9c options Elementary and Scandal; 2) it had a horrible lead-in in a 1.1 from Go On; and 3) it's in what has become known as the "cursed" NBC Thursday 10/9c slot. So this was a much better showing than your average 1.6, and it couldn't yet be ruled out.

WEEK TWO
The show's brutal situation cleared up somewhat in week two as Elementary and Scandal both went into repeats. Hannibal was able to capitalize, picking up 6% to a 1.7 and becoming just the second new show this season to grow in week two. As you might expect, the situational advantage meant this 1.7 was Truly worse than the premiere's 1.6, but not by much; it dropped from 2.04 to 1.92 in True2, or a loss of just 6%. Even -6% would be a very solid week two.

PROGNOSIS
In the short term, this show's situation will continue to brighten; Parks and Recreation at 9:30 should provide at least a little more lead-in juice than Go On, plus Elementary and Scandal are sitting out again tonight. While week two ranked just behind the recent True2 averages of NBC's "fab five" dramas, it's still well ahead of almost everything else scripted on NBC. It'll be interesting to see where it goes in May sweeps when all the competish is back, but relative steadiness and a lot of cushion mean I have to say Renew right now.

"First Two Weeks" is my look at... the first two weeks of a new scripted broadcast show's ratings. I also line up all of the premiere and week two drop numbers together.