Fox Pulls Plug on ‘Chevy’ : Television: Unable to compete with Letterman and Leno’s ratings, late-night TV talk show is canceled less than six weeks after its premiere.

“The Chevy Chase Show” became the first casualty of the late-night TV talk-show wars Sunday when the Fox Broadcasting Co. announced that the show has been canceled less than six weeks after its Sept. 7 premiere.

In addition to being skewered by critics, the show had fallen dramatically in the ratings since it began, coming in well-behind the network late-night talk-show competition of CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

Fox chairman Lucie Salhany told The Times Sunday that, “We just realized it wasn’t happening. It was the ratings, they weren’t getting any better. We had worked very hard to try and improve.” Fox had tried to rescue the show with new writers and consultants.

Salhany praised veteran actor-comedian Chevy Chase, much-maligned for his talk-show hosting abilities. “Chevy was very committed, but I think that you look at it and you wonder if you ever can turn those audiences around once they have made their decision,” she said.

Viewership had eroded since the premiere week, which featured such big-name guests as Whoopi Goldberg and Chase’s pal, Goldie Hawn. The first night Chase attracted 5.4 million households, narrowly beating Letterman and Leno; the first week Chase received a 4.4 rating (each ratings point equal to 942,000 homes).

But recent surveys placed Chase well behind Letterman and Leno with a 2.2 rating, despite a half-hour head-start at 11 p.m. to the other shows’ 11:30 p.m. Letterman and Leno each had twice as many viewers, with Letterman leading the race. Chase’s guest list had waned, too. Last week’s lower-profile guests included Perry King and Jim Varney.

Chase, known for his slapstick and offbeat humor, commented in a press release issued Sunday: “I’m very proud of the comedic elements that we were able to intersperse throughout the otherwise very constraining format.”

The network will broadcast repeats of “In Living Color” in Chase’s old time slot, 11 p.m.-12 a.m., starting tonight.