Fox Cancels ‘The Visitor’ for Low Ratings

The Fox network is canceling “The Visitor,” a heavily promoted new TV series from the producers of the blockbuster feature film “Independence Day.”

Fox is expected to televise the five remaining episodes already ordered but will not extend the series beyond that point. The network has yet to say what will occupy the program’s Friday night time slot.

Few of the three dozen new prime-time series scheduled by the networks have caught on thus far, though only a handful have been officially canceled. Many, however, have been temporarily pulled due to low ratings, including two of Fox’s three other new programs, “Between Brothers” and “413 Hope St.” On Monday, NBC decided to preempt one of its dramatic programs, “Sleepwalkers,” after just two telecasts.

The networks have generally sought to exercise greater patience with new programs, both because of the risk involved in making changes and the fact that they began the season with a dearth of backups. Still, such considerations must be balanced against the pressure to generate results during the November ratings sweeps, which local TV stations use to determine advertising rates.

Friday’s episode of “The Visitor” garnered the program’s lowest rating yet and finished a distant third in its time period.