The Question, Thursday 4/4/13: Can Hannibal Carve Out a Niche at 10:00?

For new shows scheduled in questionable pairings or against particularly tough competition, it's mostly been a season of self-fulfilling prophecy. They've pretty much all flopped hard. NBC's Hannibal has both; it premieres out of ratings-challenged comedy Go On, and it's got the toughest combined drama competition from ABC and CBS in the hour (with both shows original tonight). We all hoped it would get moved, but alas, here we are. Can Hannibal carve out a niche at 10:00?  That's The Question for Thursday, April 4, 2013.

Recent NBC Drama Premieres

1.6 (The Playboy Club, 9/19/11, 1.9 Sing-Off) 1.8 (Prime Suspect, 9/22/11, 3.3 Whitney) 2.1 (Grimm, 10/28/11, 1.1 Chuck) 1.4 (The Firm, 1/8/12, 1.7 Dateline) 3.8 (Smash, 2/6/12, 7.7 The Voice) 2.0 (Awake, 3/1/12, 1.7 Up All Night) 4.1 (Revolution, 9/17/12, 5.1 The Voice) 1.9 (Chicago Fire, 10/10/12, 1.9 SVU) 2.0 (Deception, 1/7/13, 2.6 Biggest Loser) 0.9 (Do No Harm, 1/31/13, 1.9 Office)

I'm roughly repeating the same over/under I used for Do No Harm, adding an extra tenth. It was clearly nuts to think Do No Harm would get that, given that show had absolutely nothing going for it. But it's about where Awake, a concept that had at least some appeal out of the gate, probably would've premiered given this timeslot 13 months later. Hannibal should have at least some appeal out of the gate as well. Does it have markedly more or less appeal than Awake? It has a "name," but I personally preferred Awake's promos, so I'm calling it a wash.

Over/Under: 1.65.

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