Rejoice, fellow TV addicts! Every critic out there (including this one) absolutely despised Fox’s new comedy Dads, and the ratings weren’t great either. Now, the network has decided to pull the plug on the series, which solely consisted of Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi spouting racist/sexist/ageist garbage to unfortunate co-stars Brenda Song, Martin Mull and Peter Riegert.
Also dead are comedies Surviving Jack and Enlisted. The former, which starred Chris Meloni, focused on a father-and-son pair in the 1990s. It never gained much traction in the ratings, despite so-so reviews, and the fault for that lies more with Fox than the show. The network slotted it in front of American Idol, which has been pulling in terribly low ratings in recent weeks.
Enlisted, a comedy set in a military base, was given an even worse time slot by Fox, landing on Friday nights. The show, which starred Geoff Stults, Chris Lowell and Parker Young, was critically acclaimed, but the one-two punch of Fox pushing it to mid-season then slotting it on Friday really sealed its fate before a single episode had even aired.
Finally, though Fox hasn’t released an official statement yet, it seems pretty clear that the Greg Kinnear law drama Rake will not be returning for a second season. Out of all the shows here, Rake had perhaps the most brass approval heading into the season, but it started off with very low ratings, which only fell as the weeks went on.
With Fox opting not to renew Dads, Surviving Jack and Enlisted, Brookyln Nine-Nine becomes the only freshman comedy that the network chose to pick up for a second season. That’s a pretty terrible turn-out for Fox, especially considering that Dads actually matched or pulled ahead of Brooklyn Nine-Nine in the ratings more than a handful of times. These cancellations come on the heels of Fox axing Almost Human, an expensive sci-fi thriller starring Karl Urban and Michael Ealy.
Hopefully the network will experience better luck this fall.