Though Fox recently gave Dads a full-season pickup, it’s now backed away from that deal like some kind of [FILL IN HILARIOUS RACIAL STEREOTYPE]. The network has released its midseason schedule and Dads is nowhere to be found after Feb. 11, as the show goes on hiatus with no set date for return. The news was just slightly better for its fellow struggling Tuesday night comedy The Mindy Project, which has a “winter finale” that is a thing now on Jan. 28, after which it won’t be seen again until April 1. Both sitcoms have struggled in the ratings, with The Mindy Project in particular seeing record lows this week. According to Deadline, the show’s staff will take this time off to “regroup” and plot how to come back strong in the April relaunch, which will hopefully involve a strategy beyond getting more celebrity guest stars for Mindy to date.
In both cases, this isn’t an official cancellation (though it obviously doesn’t bode well for future seasons). Rather, it’s a move meant to shore up Tuesday nights by putting Glee—a declining, yet relatively more stable performer—in the lead-off slot, where it will be followed by New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which continues to improve). Shuffling Glee off of Thursdays also makes room for the upcoming Rake, the Greg Kinnear-starring asshole lawyer drama that will now get the plum, post-American Idol slot, and that Fox hopes will join Sleepy Hollow in its relatively small “win” column this year.