Tonight, a Very Special "Hannibal Lecter". . . .

News of a forthcoming Hannibal Lecter TV series got me thinking about what an amazing coincidence it is that Lecter was christened Hannibal at birth so that when he grew up and became a serial killer who eats his victims, his nickname, Hannibal the Cannibal, would be obvious and inevitable. I suppose if he'd been named Peter Lecter, he'd be Peter the Purple People Eater.

Also, let me add that a Hannibal Lecter TV series is the worst idea since "My Mother the Car." Let me make a few predictions:

• The references to fava beans and Chianti will be overworked.
• There will be excessive use of that modified hockey mask Lecter wears.
• An actor who played Jack Crawford in the movies will also play him in the series (but will it be Scott Glenn? Harvey Keitel? Dennis Farina?). Jack Crawford is to the Hannibal Lecter franchise as Felix Leiter is to the Bond movies--a different actor plays him almost every time.
• Anthony Hopkins will be asked repeatedly if he watches the series and will insist he's never seen it. No one will ask Brian Cox that question.
• At least one actor or actress who starred in one of the movies will stoop to doing a guest appearance during sweeps.
• There will be the inevitable Christmas episode featuring a dream or fantasy sequence in which the characters from the show become characters from A Christmas Carol (I see Lecter as Old Fezziwig.)
• Footage used in flashbacks to Lecter's earlier life will come from the movie Hannibal Rising. It will seem brand new to viewers of the TV series because nobody saw Hannibal Rising.
• There will be a crossover episode with "Dexter."
• At least one episode will be promoted with an announcer intoning "Tonight, a very special 'Hannibal Lecter'..." while weepy piano music plays in the background.
• The show will be cancelled after five episodes, tops.