Hannibal hasn’t even completed its second season, but with good ratings and a strong critical response, NBC has shown the good taste (pun intended) to pick it up for a third. The show has produced enough twists and turns and a few WTF moments to keep any audience satisfied.

Hugh Dancy plays FBI profiler Will Graham, who is entrapped in the serial killer’s games. This is good drama and the byplay between Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) is worth the time and effort.

Hugh Dancy reflects on his character and the challenges of doing Hannibal.

The Flickcast: Can you talk about getting into the head space of Will because he’s a terribly troubled character?

HUGH DANCY: Yes. He’s not the happiest character I’ve ever played. Well, there’s obviously – other than Bryan’s [Fuller/Executive Producer] scripts, there’s Thomas Harris’s book, Red Dragon, that I went to before we started filming the first season, and that’s been the template ever since.

It was just, as a description of a character from the inside of his head, the most rich material that you can hope for as an actor.

Breakfast with Hannibal. That’s not what the NBC press reps were calling it, but the journalists present for the early morning Q&A panel on the show had a field day speculating on the possible culinary choices. Unfortunately the breakfast menu was the normal hotel convention food, but thankfully the panel made up for it.

Hannibal, now in its second season, is based on the Thomas Harris novel, Red Dragon, which investigates the early journey of forensic psychiatrist/serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy).

Hannibal is probably one of the most well know psycho villains in the world. We all know what’s going to happen…eventually, but the road trip to reach that final act is fascinating, startling and sometimes very disturbing. It probably also says a lot about us, the audience, as well. We are the ultimate voyeurs.

Mads Mikkelsen is an excellent choice for this early version of the pervasive serial killer. After the panel he thoughtfully answered more questions from the press.

The Flickcast: Do you think Hannibal hits all of the points of being a psychopath, or what is he?

That’s not even me being sarcastic, as I have been known to be. Who were the people, aside from the ones who made money directly from it, hoping for the return of Heroes? I could maybe understand Jeph Loeb looking for a comeback, but he’s busy with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, so I can’t pin this one on him.

When talking about Heroes with the many geek friends and acquaintances I have, the common thread is that it started strong and by the second season had fallen apart. After that, popularity, ratings and the fandom waned.

In the end during what we thought was the series finale, everything got wrapped up in a trite and contrived little package that most of us hoped would stay sealed away with our HD-DVD box sets of season 1. The plot holes, hanging threads and characters that devolved could all be laid to rest and we’d all be better for it.

Mina is finally home and has received an invitation to Grayson’s demonstration of the resonator.  Lucy is avoiding the sun, telling her mother she isn’t feeling well and insisting on not seeing any doctors.

Mina goes to see Harker to give him back his mother’s cross necklace, but Harker does not want it back.  Harker tells Mina how Grayson ruined his life and career, and that he has done some vile things.  Mina cannot swear that she doesn’t love Grayson.

The best seer available arrives in town to help search out Dracula and all of his nests of vampires.  He brings a major Christian relic, the blood of Christ.  This will help him snuff out the locations of all of the vampires in town.  The seer finds a nest right away, and hunters are dispatched and kill two vampires.

After two days in hiding, Harker finally returns to work, confessing to Grayson that he murdered Lord Davenport.  Grayson doesn’t let on that he already knew, and urges Harker to carry on as usual as best he can.  Harker walks away smirking, letting us know that a plan has been set off.

J.J. Abrams was supposed to talk to the press to promote his new NBC series Believe, but we couldn’t resist asking him questions about some of his other projects…such as Star Wars VII. Getting any good responses out of him isn’t easy as we all remember with the secrecy regarding the last Star Trek move. Mr. Abrams is a master of obfuscation, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t try.

QUESTION: Where are you on the Star Wars script? Is it done?

J.J. ABRAMS: Yeah. We’re working really hard. We’ve got our script and we’re in deep prep. We’re full steam ahead. We’re working real hard on it and it’s quite a thrill.

Q: What are some of the craziest rumors you’ve heard?

ABRAMS: God, there have been so many of them. Honestly, I don’t know. It’s amazing to see how many there are. It’s really remarkable. But it’s sweet because it shows that there’s an interest in this movie that we all obviously know is there. It is an incredible thing to see how many crazy things get thrown out that people then often write commentaries about how happy they are or how disappointed they are about something that’s completely false. But it’s a lot of noise, frankly.

We’re glad to see Community is back and we’re liking it so far now that Dan Harmon is back at the helm. Tonight is an all-new episode, featuring awesome guest star Walton Goggins, so we’ve got previews for it for you.

In addition, there’s a new episode of Parks and Recreation tonight too and yes, we’ve got previews for that one too. Both shows are really funny and hopefully both will survive the often fickle TV audience who loves a show at first and then vilifies it later on for no real reason other than, we suspect, boredom. These shows deserve better.

Anyway, check out the previews after the break. Look for things to kick off first with Community tonight at 8/7C on NBC.

It’s a bit hard to believe that Community, NBC’s little comedy that could, is about to debut its fifth season. Because it started out so strong, and so different, from a lot of network comedies, we were almost positive it wouldn’t last this long.

We were particularly concerned when creator and showrunner Dan Harmon was kicked off the show. But still, it kept on going and miraculously, NBC realized they had made a mistake in letting Harmon go and brought him back for season five.

That brings us to now with the January return of Community just around the corner and we couldn’t be happier about it. Naturally, we’ve got a preview for you.

Check it out after the break. Look for Community to return on Thursday, January 2 at 8 on NBC.

That’s right, it’s Friday. Fortunately, as bad as the week can sometimes get, we can always look forward to this day showing up to help us end the week correctly and get ready for the weekend.

One way Friday helps do that is by providing us with brand new episodes of some of our favorite shows: Grimm and Dracula. And to get you ready for tonights new episodes, we’ve got previews. Duh, of course we do.

First off with Grimm, it’s a bit of domestic bliss as Monroe and Rosalee learn to live together. But all isn’t roses as Nick must do battle against an evil mermaid Wesen. Yep, mermaid.

Then on Dracula, an old friend drops by to cause complications for Greyson. And, of course, Dracula is up to his old tricks again too. We’ve also got a preview for this weeks’s Saturday Night Live with musical guest/host Lady Gaga.

Check out all the previews after the break and look for all the action to start tonight at 9/8C with Grimm.

This week on Dracula we begin with a flashback that shows Grayson chained to a pole and fighting several members of the Order. Apparently he did something to disobey them. They slit his throat, and he is surprised to wake up chained in a dungeon. They turned him into a vampire.

Grayson receives notification that the transfer of Lord Laurent’s stock to him has been finalized, and Grayson is now the majority stockholder of British Imperial Coolant. Harker and Renfield go to an office and use their newfound power to get special treatment and resources for their projects. Renfield gives Harker a list of names of people that Grayson wants him to become friendly with.

Lady Jayne visits a doctor at a mental hospital to get some drugs to help her seers. This doctor needs to get the serum from Van Helsing, who insists on knowing who it is. Grayson tells Van Helsing to give her what she wants, or else they’ll get it from someone else that they have no control over.

Lord Davenport (or it may have been the higher up that’s always talking with Lady Jayne, it’s hard to keep track of everyone) meets with Lord Laurent. He asks Laurent if there is anything he should know about the sale of the stock, or else he will face swift punishment. Laurent refuses to say anything, and will be brought before the Order.

Nick is at the doctor’s office doing the typical TV doctor’s office visit test – running on a treadmill with all kinds of wires on him. No matter how fast he runs, his heartbeat and blood pressure do not change. The doctor figures there is just an issue with the equipment.

Monroe and Rosalee are out to eat, and Monroe awkwardly asks Rosalee to move in with him. They profess their love for each other, and she accepts. The chef sends over some beef and truffle tarts to the table, but Rosalee eats them both, as Monroe is apparently now a vegetarian. A couple comes over to say hi to Monroe for no apparent reason.

As in all TV shows, nothing ever happens “for no reason.” Two people have died under gruesome circumstances. They climbed up into a tree and their stomachs exploded. At least one of them was a Blutbad. Nick and Hank find out that the two “victims” ate at the same restaurant.

Hank and Nick talk to the chef at the restaurant who assures them he has no health violations. Nick notices that the chef and his whole cook staff are Bauerschwein, basically pig people.

A flashback is shown in 1881 Romania of Van Helsing waking up Dracula. He has to convince Dracula to work with him to eliminate the Order of the Dragon. They killed both of their families, and he has the means to fight them. This is basically a five-minute version of the one line they told us last week. So we already knew this, but got a recap video anyway.

Van Helsing is drawing some blood from Grayson. Grayson tells him that the Order knows there is a vampire in town, all because Grayson killed Clive, and the huntsman. Van Helsing is working on a drug for Grayson that will allow him to go out during the day.

Lucy offers her colors to a man in a fencing competition. He promptly loses to Lord Davenport’s son. I get the feeling that Lucy is trying to break up Harker and Mina, but I can’t figure out exactly why. She has an evil feeling about her. And she keeps doing things to remind us that he’s poor.

Lady Wetherby wants to hunt the vampire herself. Even though she says this, she tries to hire to coked out looking people to find him. They have some sort of visionary powers, but Grayson can sense they are watching him, and thwarts them.

Nick is running crazily through the woods as Monroe and Hank are trying to track him. He sees a family coming home and chases after them. He breaks into the house and corners the father of the family. Hank and Monroe get there just in time to lure Nick out of the house.

Nick chases them into a barn, and they are able to trap him inside. Captain Renard, Rosalee, and Juliette arrive as the father shows up with a gun. They manage to get the man back into his house, and head into the barn to help Nick. Captain Renard and Monroe woge, and eventually Rosalee is able to inject Nick with the antidote. They take Nick away before the cops arrive.

When they get Nick back to the spice shop, they give him a second dose of the antidote. Nick is flailing around, so they handcuff him to the bed. Nick eventually wakes up, but does remember anything after fighting the Baron in the shipyard.

Captain Renard receives a text from his informant saying that the job has been done. Renard checks the news online to see that his brother was killed in a car explosion in Vienna. Renard’s informant is on a train headed on vacation as instructed. Something tells me Eric is not really dead, but I guess time will tell.