‘Bringing Up Jack’ Gone Before It Was Even Here

“Bringing Up Jack,” the ABC sitcom starring comic Jack Gallagher, was canceled a week before it was to air. It was a move that stunned the cast and crew of the show and surprised even some people at ABC.

Late Monday evening, ABC executives told Gallagher, of Sacramento, Calif., and the show’s producers that they were pulling the show. They told producers they were worried it wouldn’t provide a strong enough lead-in for “PrimeTime Live.”

In a message sent to affiliates Tuesday morning, Buzz Mathesius, vice president and director of affiliate operations, said that ABC had “decided not to use the program during the regular season.”

However, in a press statement issued later on Tuesday, the network said “Bringing Up Jack” would be rescheduled at a later time, leaving open the question of whether the show would ever make the air.

The comedy series, based on Gallagher’s stand-up comedy show about becoming a father late in life, had been scheduled to premiere Tuesday night, then move to Wednesday nights for five weeks.

Veteran television people connected to “Bringing Up Jack” said they had never seen a move like this so close to air date.

Gallagher said Tuesday morning he did not know what, if anything, ABC has planned for the show now.

The cast and crew is working this week on the last of six episodes that had been commissioned by ABC.