With Aquarius and Hannibal struggling in the ratings, NBC is moving the pair of summer dramas from Thursday night to Saturday. They will air Saturdays at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively, beginning this week, with Dateline Thursday Mysteries filling their time slots from 9-11 p.m. on Thursdays.
The news was first reported byThe Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint.
The move comes less than three weeks after NBC renewedAquariusfor a second season. The series, which stars David Duchovny as a detective hunting down Charles Manson in 1960s Los Angeles, drew just a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demo and 2.5 million viewers for its most recent episode on July 9. Aquarius made all of its episodes available for streaming following its May 28 debut, the first broadcast series to do so. The show’s digital performance played a role in its renewal, as NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke said at the time, “it’s driven some record numbers for NBC Digital and helped us reach viewers who might have otherwise overlooked a great summer drama.”
Hannibal, currently in its third season, was cancelled by NBC back in June. Its most recent episode July 9 drew a 0.4 in the demo and 1.4 million viewers. While Amazon and Netflix have passed on reviving the critically-acclaimed drama, series creator and executive producer Bryan Fuller said during a panel at Comic-Con Saturday they were looking at the possibility of a feature.
