‘Hank’ Has Been Axed

Honestly — who didn’t see this coming? Variety and just about every other TV-industry rag report that ABC has gotten it over with already and canceled the so-not-funny rookie sitcom Hank, which stars Cheers and Frasier great Kelsey Grammer in the not-so-great title role.

As a result of the recent development, viewers can kiss all unaired episodes in Hank’s ten-episode first season goodbye for the moment.

The network has yanked each and every one of them from the schedule, opting to replace the remaining five episodes with other stuff, like repeats and holiday-appropriate specials. Production of additional episodes has ceased, as well.

As Grammer fans know, this is the second comedy failure in a row for the actor, who last starred in Fox’s promising Back to You. Meanwhile, two of his co-stars from that series have moved on to very successful and wildly funny freshman sitcoms on the same network.

Everybody Loves Raymond veteran Patricia Heaton stars as Frankie on The Middle and Ty Burrell plays Phil on the ensemble comedy Modern Family. Both shows were quickly and deservedly picked up for full seasons a month ago.

Apparently, three wasn’t the charm in this case, however, and we saw the writing on the wall back then when Hank was the lone newbie left out in the cold. May better luck befall Grammer next time.