Ben and Kate‘s uncertain fate has been decided.
Two days after the freshman comedy was pulled from Fox’s Tuesday lineup, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that production on the 20th Century Fox Television produced series ended Friday.
The current episode will not finish shooting, and the final two episodes of its 18-episode order will not be completed. Six episodes remained, only three of which completed filming.
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Fox said Wednesday that Ben and Kate‘s remaining episodes would be pushed to a later date. The move coincided with a decision to apparently nix the Tuesday two-hour block of half-hour comedies launched at the start of the 2012-13 season. After several weeks of doubling up on original episodes of Raising Hope in Ben and Kate‘s 8:30 p.m. slot, the network will bring Hell’s Kitchen to the night.
The series’ end comes on the heels of particularly low ratings, averaging just a 1.4 rating with adults 18-49 and 2.9 million viewers so far this season. And what Ben and Kate lacked in Live+Seven Day viewing, it did not make up for in DVR returns. The series, from creator Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas), had especially modest growth after seven days of time-shifted viewing, growing just 21 percent in the key demo.
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Comedies, particularly those on Tuesday, have not fared especially well on any network this season. Ben and Kate‘s cancellation comes on the heels of ABC pulling the plug on Tuesday laugher Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23. That series’ former lead-in, Happy Endings, is under a similar threat.
And NBC’s Tuesday comedic offerings, Go On and The New Normal, recently pulled numbers similar to Ben and Kate‘s, having lost a lead-in from The Voice.
Ben and Kate starred Dakota Johnson (Kate) and Nat Faxon (Ben) as adult siblings raising Kate’s young daughter (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) together. Lucy Punch and Echo Kellum also starred.
There’s no word on when the remaining completed episodes might air, though a small summer run is likely.
Email: Michael.OConnell@THR.com; Twitter: @MikeyLikesTV
