‘Zero Hour’ Canceled After Three Episodes

Well, that was quick.

ABC’s freshman drama Zero Hour has been canceled after just three episodes. The series is the latest victim of the network’s Thursday 8 pm timeslot, which most recently claimed the military drama Last Resort. Shows in that time slot are up against The Big Bang Theory, which pulled a series high of 20 million viewers for its January 10 episode, “The Bakersfield Expedition.” Since then, the series has averaged around 18 million viewers per episode.

Zero Hour premiered to 6.38 million viewers, a number that dwindled over the next two episodes. The most recent episode dropped more than a million viewers to 5.05 million with a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, now that Zero Hour has been pulled from the schedule effective immediately, ABC will air encores of Shark Tank for the next two Thursdays until Wife Swap starts its seven-week run on March 21. Wipeout will return to the timeslot May 9.

Zero Hour‘s cancellation may spell good news for another series that was axed after only a handful of episodes. Even though 666 Park Avenue was canceled back in December, there is the possibility that the series can come back now that Zero Hour is gone. ABC retained the option to revive the series if Zero Hour or Red Widow, which premieres March 3.

For the time being, it is unclear when the remaining episodes of Zero Hour will air, but they will most likely air over the summer. Zero Hour joins NBC’sDo No Harm andCBS’s The Job as the latest midseason debut to get sent to the chopping block.

Are you surprised that Zero Hour has been canceled?