Heeeee well from what I've seen of tumblr fandom, a lot of people are more attracted to Hannibal than a reasonable person would expect. Which, you know, it's TV. And he is devastatingly handsome.

Ha, yes, you are correct on the difference between production design and cinematography. Cinematography, generally, is anything that interacts with the camera and the film itself, which to me is the easiest way to distinguish it. I think what really sets Hannibal apart from so much else on TV is how cinematic it looks. We watched a couple episodes last night at a friend's house who has a ginormous TV, and it looked so amazing I could not.