After five weeks on the air, production was shut down and ABC pulled the Kelsey Grammer sitcom from the Wednesday night schedule. A new interview indicates that Grammer was at least in part responsible for the cancellation.
According to an interview with Contact Music, Grammer knew that Hank wasn’t working. He felt the Thanksgiving episode was very funny but the next one was lacking. He said, “Honestly, it just wasn’t very funny… We finished and I was like, ‘Oh boy, there wasn’t a laugh in the house on this one.’ And I called the president of Warner Brothers… and I said, ‘Listen, when can we put a bullet in this thing?'”
The actor says it was taking a lot to even drive to work, knowing what he had to look forward to. “It was just too much work and the drive here was killing me. I live in Malibu, which is only 20-something miles away but it could be two hours one way… We were rehearsing for 10 or 12 (hours) so my whole life suddenly was gone.”
ABC hasn’t announced any plans to air the five remaining episodes so it’s hard to say when TV viewers will see Grammer on the small screen again. The actor will soon be hard at work on another project though. He’s set to star in the Broadway revival of the 1983 Jerry Herman/Harvey Fierstein musical, La Cage aux Folles. Grammer will play the lead character, Georges, the cross-dressing master of ceremonies at a drag nightclub.
The show’s currently playing in London and the US version is expected to debut on April 18th at the Longacre Theatre.
What do you think? Was Grammer really responsible for getting Hank pulled or was the cancellation already in the works? Do you think the sitcom would have been cancelled mid-season or would ABC have let the 13 episodes play out?
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