'Aquarius' and 'Hannibal' banished to Saturdays

NBC likes Aquarius enough to commit to a second season -; but not enough to have the low-rated drama bring down its Thursday primetime block. The network is moving Aquarius and its equally-challenged neighbor, Hannibal, to Saturday nights.

Effective immediately, the rest of the drama's respective seasons will air at 9 an 10 p.m. on Saturday nights, with a two-hour block of Dateline Thursday Mysteries airing in their place on the more competitive night.

The news comes just a few weeks after Aquarius earned a second season at NBC touting strong streaming numbers for its initial non-linear release and Hannibal getting canceled. The drama's current third season will be its last on the network, and creator Bryan Fuller has been open about the fact that he's yet to secure a new home for his critical darling.

"It's no secret that the way people watch television is evolving, so we took a unique approach to how we delivered Aquarius and it's driven some record numbers for NBC Digital and helped us reach viewers who might have otherwise overlooked a great summer drama," NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke said of Aquarius at the time of its renewal.

No streaming stats have been release for the show, but it and Hannibal have languished in their live-plus-same day showings. And time shifting has not been terribly kind to either series. With the latest live-plus-seven day ratings released on Monday, Aquarius is only improving to a 0.9 rating in the key demo of adults 18-49. Hannibal only grew to a 0.6 rating.

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