On Time Tuesdays: Is "Hannibal" already feasting on leftovers?

I really wanted Hannibal to turn into a great show. But we're 4-ish episodes in, and it's already turning into another formulaic procedural drama with a little more gore. Criminal Minds has already ripped off the best of Thomas Harris for weekly installments; to work, Hannibal needed to focus on something other than increasingly farfetched serial murders that could be solved in the span of an hour. After episode 3, I was hopeful that it was turning in that direction. But then, the latest episode aired and I'm feeling pretty cynical towards the show.

On Time Tuesdays: Is "Hannibal" Worth Sitting Down With A Glass of Chianti?

NBC's new series Hannibal has aired two episodes now, giving some hints at what the show might be leading towards and setting up its cast of characters. For those who are even more behind than I am, Hannibal is a prequel to the original Hannibal Lecter trilogy made most famous by the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. The original three novels and corresponding movies all take place after Hannibal has been caught and incarcerated (a later fourth book, Hannibal Rising, examines Hannibal as a child and young man, but is rather disconnected from the original trilogy), and although we get snippets of Hannibal's original crime spree, the new series is the first narrative to show Hannibal when he was an uncaught serial killer.

On Time Tuesdays: Walking Dead Season 3 in Review

Last Sunday was the season 3 finale of The Walking Dead, AMC's zombie thriller that I have discussed previously as one of the better examples of horror TV at the moment. Season 3 was fairly strong overall, but it still had its ups and downs as it constructed a new societal system for the main band of survivors and developed a conflict between their group and another community nearby. I hope the show will continue to strengthen in season 4--I wonder if some of the difficulties they've faced haven't been due to the transition from a six episode format in the first season to a more traditional thirteen and sixteen episode arc in seasons 2 and 3 respectively. Season 1 was all action; with more episodes, the show had more time to spend on exposition and character development but it didn't always seem like it was sure where it was going. (If you haven't yet seen Season 3, spoilers follow.)

On Time Tuesdays: Bates Motel Drinking Game

It's only been two episodes but there are already a few patterns in Bates Motel. Since this show is shaping up to be delightfully nutty buckets, why not come up with a game to make the watching experience even more social?