While it seems like very few people were watching it, at least by traditional means, Hannibal was nothing if not loved by nearly everyone who watched it. Given the fact that it was the third time that Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon had been adapted, there was really no reason to expect it to be anything special. This says nothing about the quality of the source material, nor does it say anything about the previous iterations of the story. Still, there was no reason to expect this series to be good, let alone transcendent.
The only reason I ever gave it a chance in the first place was its creator, Bryan Fuller.