UPDATE: It's official. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production has been shut down on "Ben and Kate" midway through shooting its 16th episode, with two episodes in its original order left unfilmed.
It looks like "Ben and Kate" has been canceled.
The freshman comedy has been removed from Fox's schedule, a rep for the network confirmed to The Huffington Post.
"Ben and Kate" star Echo Kellum, who played Tommy on the series, tweeted in response to the cancellation:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Ben and Kate," which aired at 8 p.m. EST on Tuesdays, will be replaced by a second episode of its lead-in "Raising Hope" as of Tuesday, January 29. Beginning on March 12, "Hell's Kitchen" will air at 8 p.m. EST, before "New Girl" and "The Mindy Project," which seem to be staying put.
"Ben and Kate" -- which followed a young single mom (Dakota Johnson) and her kooky older brother (Nat Faxon) -- generated good buzz at the start of the 2012-2013 TV season, but failed to bring in the ratings. "Ben and Kate" debuted with a 2.0 rating in the key 18-49 demo but fell to averages a 1.4 average rating in the demo and 2.9 million viewers per episode, according to THR.
"Ben and Kate" received an order for an additional six episodes in October, bringing its total to 18 episodes. A rep for Fox did not yet know when and if the remaining five episodes would air.
The show's original executive producers Garrett Donovan and Neil Goldman left the series in September, citing creative differences. John Quaintance and David Feeney were upped to co-showrunners on "Ben and Kate" in November.
