In what is probably not a last-ditch effort to give the show the millions of extra viewers it would need to survive its death sentence, NBC has banished Hannibal to the ratings wasteland that is Saturday. At least it won’t be alone in its misery, though, as Variety is reporting that its former Thursday night buddy, Aquarius, is also being dumped to Saturday. This makes sense for Hannibal—as unfortunate as that may be—since NBC has already killed that show, but it’s a little confusing for Aquarius. Its ratings are no better than Hannibal’s (which are awful) and it lacks the critical acclaim of Bryan Fuller’s serial killer show, but NBC picked it up for a second season at the end of June. Our only guesses are that NBC is actively trying to sabotage Aquarius, or it just didn’t want Hannibal to get lonely.
Variety also notes that this schedule change was supposed to happen in August—so it has been in the works for a while—but now the network has made the move “effective immediately.” That’s just how eager NBC is to get rid of Hannibal. It can’t even tolerate one more second of gorgeously gruesome murder on its precious Thursday night.