Fox has pulled its freshman comedy "Ben and Kate" from its schedule, effective immediately, the network said Wednesday.
The series, which has aired 13 episodes so far and aired Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., will return at a later date to be determined, the network added.
For the time being, one-hour installments of "Raising Hope" will run Tuesdays at 8 p.m. to cover the programming hole through the February sweeps (except for Feb. 19, when a "New Girl" repeat will air at 8:30).
The season premiere of "Hell's Kitchen" will air Tuesday, March 12 at 8 p.m. The Gordon Ramsay reality hit will occupy the Tuesdays at 8-9 p.m. slot from there on in, preceding "New Girl" and "The Mindy Project."
"Raising Hope" will air its season premiere with a one-hour episode on Thursday, March 28, following "American Idol."
The series, which stars Dakota Johnson as Type-A single mother Kate and Nat Faxon as her laid-back brother Ben, who moves in with his sister to help care for her daughter, premiered in September with a lukewarm 2.0 rating/6 share in the 18-49 demographic most important advertisers and 4.2 million total viewers. Its most recent episode, airing this week, posted a 1.2/3 -- a modest improvement over the previous week -- with 2.6 million total viewers.
During the Television Critics Association winter press tour in January, Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly expressed disappointment that the network's Tuesday night comedy block hadn't been a bigger ratings hit so far, noting that he believes in the quality of the shows but that audiences may need time to find them.
