'Hannibal' Canceled in Utah: NBC's Graphic Thriller Pulled from Programming, Is Season 2 in Jeopardy?

It looks like Utah has had enough of the dramatic crime thriller series Hannibal on NBC. According to the KSL 5 TV station in Utah, this show is too graphic in nature and it has now been pulled from airing on the station. In place of the show there will be a special news segment in the 9 p.m. timeslot. The station posted this programming change on its Facebook page, ensuring fans of the show that they could easily watch the show online. That is exactly what television needs right now: a local station promoting online viewing.

Here is the post from the KSL 5 TV Facebook page, announcing the cancelation of the NBC thriller:

"PROGRAMMING NOTE: After viewing the past few episodes, as well as receiving numerous complaints from viewers, KSL TV will cancel the airing of the NBC show "Hannibal" on Thursday evenings.
This decision was made due to the extensive graphic nature of this show. The time slot will be replaced with a special edition of KSL 5 News at 9 p.m.
NBC remains a valued partner to KSL TV. KSL is confident that with the proliferation of digital media, those who wish to view the program can easily do so."

To be completely fair, the show is INCREDIBLY graphic for network television. That is a pretty big draw for viewership, though. Just last week, NBC pulled the fourth episode of Hannibal due to the nature of the installment and the sensitive subject of the Boston Marathon bombing. Parts of the episode were split into a six-part webseries in order to bridge the gap between episodes three and four. It was weird but fans do not seem to mind.

But what does this mean for the second season of the show? Is it threatened now? Hannibal has been doing well with ratings, but perhaps this controversy will end up hurting the show.