Fox pulls 'Ben and Kate' from schedule

A critical darling Fox comedy has been pulled, effective immediately.

Freshman comedy “Ben and Kate” will be replaced on the schedule by new, back- to- back “Raising Hope” episodes beginning Jan. 29. The “Raising Hope” two- fer will run Jan. 29, Feb. 5 and Feb. 26, and the one- hour season finale with air March 28. “Hell’s Kitchen” will air March 12 at 8 p.m. Tuesday and then going for. “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project” will not see any changes.

“Ben and Kate” was a semi- autobiographical comedy from creator Dana Fox (“What Happens in Vegas”). Dakota Johnson played responsible Kate, and Nat Faxon played her wild- card brother Ben. Lucy Punch, Echo Kellum and Maggie Elizabeth Jones rounded out the cast.

Original executive producers Garrett Donovan and Neil Goldman departed in November, citing creative differences, and John Quaintance (“Whitney,” “Perfect Couples”) and David Feeney (“2 Broke Girls,” “Love Bites”) were named co- showrunners.

“Ben and Kate” debuted with a modest 2.1 rating In adults 18- 49, with 4.2 million viewers. The ratings dropped following that. The show’s season to date rating average is 1.4 in the coveted adult demo, and 2.9 million viewers.