Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson in "Behind the Candelabra."

Credit: HBO

In the time before "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City" and all that followed, HBO's prestige came from its movies and miniseries. In the '80s and '90s, when those formats were still wildly popular for the broadcast networks, HBO managed to distinguish itself with great dramas about social issues (the AIDS epidemic epic "And the Band Played On"), ruthless satire (the Wall Street comedy "Barbarians at the Gate") or even straight-up comedies (the minor league film "Long Gone," which some hardcore baseball fans prefer to "Bull Durham").

On "Hannibal," Jack (Laurence Fishburne) and Will (Hugh Dancy) discuss their latest victim with the team.

Credit: NBC

A review of tonight's "Hannibal" coming up just as soon as I criss-cross the state line of regret...

Fixin' for a bloody outcome one last time with "Deadwood" season 3.

Credit: HBO

It's that time once again, boys and girls. The broadcast network TV season ended last night at 11, and now we move into the summer, which will be a mix of leftover network programs (set your clocks now for the return of "Zero Hour"!), cheap foreign imports and co-productions (ABC's "Motive," NBC's "Crossing Lines"), and a bunch of cable series to be excited about ("Breaking Bad"!), nervous about ("The Killing"!) and some combination of the two ("The Newsroom"!).

As always, I'll be mixing and matching in terms of what shows I'm writing about — will I have enough new things to say about each "Newsroom" episode? — and as usual, I'll also be revisiting a classic TV season from the past, one week at a time. And that season is (in case you couldn't tell from the picture and its caption)...

On "Modern Family," Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) has his day in court.

Credit: ABC

A review of the "Modern Family" season finale coming up just as soon as I spend a summer at the nation's smallest B'nai Brith chapter...

Billy Crystal will star in an FX sitcom pilot called "The Comedians."

Credit: AP

Nearly 30 years since his one season on "Saturday Night Live," Billy Crystal is returning to television, as star and producer of a comedy pilot for FX called "The Comedians."

Anne Heche in "Save Me."

Credit: NBC

Bob Greenblatt was hired as NBC's latest would-be savior because of the success he had at Showtime, which went from HBO's ignored rival to a buzz and awards magnet under his leadership, which yielded "Dexter," "Nurse Jackie" and other success stories. Other than a brief window back in the fall, his tenure at NBC hasn't been any more successful than the last bunch of entertainment presidents — and in some ways has been worse — but what's interesting is how little connection his programming taste has had between his old job and his new one.

"Hannibal" star Hugh Dancy as Will Graham.

Credit: NBC

As I noted last week, the fate of "Hannibal" remains very much up in the air at NBC, which has to factor in 1)The strong quality of the show and the stellar reviews, 2)The very modest (if that) ratings, 3)The reduced cost, since the show is an international co-production, and 4)Where they might put it next season, given that they've already ordered several mid-season shows that don't yet have timeslots.

But the show continues to be great, and this week's episode (airing, as usual, Thursday at 10 Eastern) puts the focus back onto Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, whose gift for thinking like a serial killer (or, rather, like all serial killers) is taking a greater emotional cost with each new case. In this exclusive clip, Will goes to Mads Mikkelsen's Dr. Lecter for guidance after he loses time while visiting another grisly crime scene. Enjoy, and we'll have more to talk about after "Trou Normand" airs on Thursday night.

Laura Linney in "The Big C: Hereafter."

Credit: Showtime

Showtime's "The Big C" — or, specifically, the concluding miniseries titled "The Big C: Hereafter" — came to an end last night, and I have a few thoughts coming up just as soon as you don't take cash...

In the "Rectify" finale, Daniel (Aden Young) stops by the local diner.

Credit: Sundance

Some thoughts on the finale of "Rectify," and this entire first season, coming up just as soon as it's time we got into yarn...

Scott Foley, TJ Miller and Becki Newton in "The Goodwin Games."

Credit: FOX

I hear it a lot: I don't want to waste time watching a new show that might be canceled; if it's a success, I'll try it. On the one hand, I get it: I've been frustrated (and, in some cases, sad) when a show I invested my time and energy into got canceled in the early stages, and in some cases might have preferred not to have seen it. On the other, I'm grateful for even the one season I got of "Freaks and Geeks" and "Terriers," and I know plenty of Bryan Fuller fans who revere "Wonderfalls" even though FOX pulled it after only four episodes.

That said, "Freaks and Geeks" is a classic, and was very clearly one from the first episode. The harder call is making an investment in a show that has potential it hasn't realized yet, and that might not be on the air long enough to figure itself out — or, in the case of a show like FOX's "The Goodwin Games," that will never have that chance.