The Silence Of The Lambs, with FBI Agent Clarice Starling still grappling with the trauma she endured tracking down serial killer Buffalo Bill. She is forced to see a psychiatrist, who makes a ing reference to Lecter in the pilot without actually naming him.
Due to complicated studio rights, Clarice is unable to even mention Lecter's name, let alone feature him in any real way. Without Hannibal's presence, Clarice is simply another stock crime procedural, devoid of the central relationship that made the story so compelling and unsettling in the first place. A version of the series that featured Hannibal could have a lot of dramatic potential, but as it currently stands, the series feels oddly incomplete.
The obvious analogy is Batman and the Joker - the immovable object and unstoppable force of good and evil. Batman fights other villains, of course, but the relationship with the Joker defines him even when the "Clown Prince of Crime" isn't around. The Joker's pure, chaotic evil haunts Batman and makes him wonder if his mission can ever really be won. Hannibal's psychiatric depravity hangs over Clarice's head in a similar way. The tension of that relationship is what makes both characters work to such brilliant effect in Silence Of The Lambs, and the notion that Clarice no longer has to actively worry about Lecter in the CBS series renders it somewhat toothless. If Hannibal's not at least lurking about in the background, it feels like a typical CBS procedural show in Silence Of The Lambs cosplay.
Despite this, there may be a bit of hope for Clarice in the long run. The late, great NBC series Hannibal proved the character was still interesting without Clarice; his twisted relationship with Will Graham was a more than suitable stand-in for his obsession with Clarice. That said, the show also had the advantage of being produced by Bryan Fuller, who made the horror elements strikingly beautiful, unlike anything else on television at the time. After one episode, Clarice seems to lack any of Hannibal's artfulness, with Clarice being surrounded by a rather stock group of ing characters.
Clarice was always facing an uphill battle as an adaptation of a classic movie and following a beloved cult television series. The fact it has to operate without Hannibal Lecter - and with no visual or stylistic flair to separate it from the crime drama heap - means the effort is going to be all the more herculean. The dynamic between the characters is a defining element of The Silence Of The Lambs novel and movie, and just like a Batman TV show that found itself unable to mention the Joker for some reason, it's missing a key ingredient.