3) Hannibal
What more can be said of a series so lost in conversation with itself that calling it a show doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of Hannibal’s essence? Psychological stage play? Crime fiction fairy tale? Audiovisual nightmare? Hannibal wore many masks through its run, particularly during this final season, which split the difference between material fresh and familiar. If the show’s sharp transition from prequel to direct adaptation of “Red Dragon” proved bumpy at times, you wouldn’t know to look at it.
By ending in the spectacular fashion that it did, Hannibal extinguished the strongest example of television that’s as visually refined as it is expressive. What creator Bryan Fuller accomplished over three seasons of bloodletting drama was nothing short of a resurrection, not just of a franchise name or a stock TV genre, but of the idea that network television can be just as daring and uncompromising as anything else out there.
Santé, arigatou, and ciao, Dr. Lecter.