NBC has cancelled the Thursday airings of their low-rated legal series, The Firm, and sent it packing to Saturday nights at 9pm beginning February 11th.
The Firm follows attorney Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas), his wife Abby (Molly Parker), and their daughter Claire (Natasha Calis), as they emerge from the witness protection program after 10 years. They relocate to Washington, DC to restart their lives but problems from the past quickly resurface. The show’s cast also includes Callum Keith Rennie, Juliette Lewis, Tricia Helfer, and Shaun Majumder.
NBC had high hopes for the legal drama but it stumbled in the ratings right from the start. The two-hour premiere of The Firm registered just a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 6.32 million viewers. The numbers got even worse once the show moved to Thursday nights and, for the past two weeks, has only mustered a 0.8 rating with fewer than three million total viewers.
It’s no surprise that NBC is banishing The Firm to Saturday nights with ratings like these. Grimm repeats will fill the Thursdays at 10pm timeslot for the immediate future. Starting March 1st, the peacock network’s new drama Awake will take over.
While it looks highly unlikely that NBC will purchase a second season of The Firm, it seems certain that viewers will get to see all 22 episodes of season one.
If The Firm had been a typical network show, the episode order probably would have been cut down to 13 installments because of the low ratings. However, NBC’s deal for The Firm is unique and a bit more like the one the network had for Merlin, the supernatural drama produced by the BBC.
Sony and Entertainment One partnered to produce The Firm, primarily for the overseas market. Thanks to pre-sales and Canadian production tax credits, the cost of producing the series was already paid for and NBC was able to pick up the show for a greatly reduced licensing fee, just like any other secondary buyer.
If The Firm had been a big success, NBC would have made quite a profit on the series. As things worked out, the network may still be making some money on the deal or at least hasn’t lost much.
Will there be a second season? That depends on Sony and Entertainment One, not NBC.
What do you think? Do you like The Firm? Do you think it should continue?
Image courtesy NBC.
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Love this show….PLEASE don’t cancel.
Liked this show very much. It was a little slow in the being, but after a few shows I became a faithful watcher. Better than some shows they keep on renewing. Want a second season.
Finally…. a show that has foresight, intellect, and keeps you on the edge of your seat! Not just another reality TV show. Thanks for a great season…looking forward to what’s next
Love the show. Hope there will be another season
Absolutley love the show! So addicted even got my boyfriend into!! Please don’t cancel it I love it!!!
My family and I love this series, please don’t cancel it. We can’t wait till next episodes, all series we like were cancelled (SGU, FlashForward,theV,4400) don’t make it happened again, we won’t survive this!!
greetings from PL!
My husband and I love the firm we hope to see a second season!!! We recorded it and got so interested we would stay up watching several episodes at a time.
Please do not cancel. I love the show
I sure hope The Firm doesn’t get cancelled!! My husband and I LOVE it!!!
P.S. could the ratings on TV be low because more and more people are watching o n the net or mobile….
blackkats4 » Sure but it wouldn’t be just The Firm’s numbers that were affected.
Why do all the good shows get cancled and the crappy sitcoms stay on. There has not been a good sitcom since the Cosby Show… At least put it on the internet… as allot of the companies do. The shows on tv have become so bad that I watch what I want on the net. So if you would keep the “SO called” low ratied ones that we all like on the net we would gladly watch… and you could see in page hits how well it is liked.
Would hate to see it go….
up
Keep it! best suspence show on tv…. we love it…….
Very disappointed to see this pulled. Was one of most suspenseful new shows to come along in a long time. Other good one pulled was Harry’s Law.! Any good show with good writing is being pulled in favor of foolish Reality based programming! Another dumbing down of American entertainment.
please continue this show. It is one of the best shows on ABC. It will be a big mistake if it is canceled.
Please do not cancel The Firm. It is great drama & acting. I look forward to it weekly!!
Josh Lucas is great!
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