It’s been a rough road for Mitch MicDeere. Now, it’s come to an end — at least on NBC. The Firm has been cancelled after one season of 22 episodes.
The Firm picks up years after the young attorney (Josh Lucas) made his deal with the mob to take his old crooked law firm down. He and his family have come out of hiding but their problems haven’t gone away. The show also stars Molly Parker, Callum Keith Rennie, Juliette Lewis, Natasha Calis, Tricia Helfer, Martin Donovan, Shaun Majumder, and Paulino Nunes.
The series represented one of NBC’s biggest launches of the season but it misfired right from the start. The two-hour premiere brought in a dismal 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with just 6.32 million viewers.
When The Firm moved to its regular timeslot on Thursdays a few days later, the numbers got even worse. Week two dropped 29% in the demo and the ratings kept falling in subsequent weeks. After hitting an embarrassing low for a primetime show — a 0.8 demo rating with 2.97 million viewers — NBC sent it packing to Saturday nights.
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The numbers have been awful since that move — even for a Saturday night show. It’s frequently outperformed by movies and crime drama reruns on the other networks.
To date, The Firm has an average of a 0.7 rating in the demo and 2.10 million viewers. On our NBC Ratings Report Card, which measures the relative demo success of shows on the network, the show has a “D-” grade — even after low viewership is taken into account.
On the positive side, 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 eOne 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.
Not surprisingly, The Firm won’t be back on NBC (according to TVWise) because the network has opted not to renew its deal with Sony and eOne. The series could continue to be produced for other markets however and even possibly be picked up by a cable channel here in the US. There’s been no word on the show’s fate beyond NBC so, for now, we’ll have to wait and see.
There are 22 episodes in the first season of The Firm and tonight’s marks the 17th. Right now, the finale is slated for June 23rd. If a second season isn’t going to be produced, hopefully the last episode will supply enough closure for the few million faithful viewers who’ve kept watching.
What do you think? Are you sorry that NBC isn’t continuing the show? Would you watch on another channel or purchase season two on DVD?
Image courtesy NBC.
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Our whole family loved the firm. I hope it comes back on a cable channel. We will definately be watching!!!!
Yes I am disappointed that the firm is being cancelled. I will watch it on another channel and purchase the 2nd season on DVD.
What a shame! I guess it’s not a reality show.
I am so disappointed that a good show is being cancelled. It is one of the better shows to come out for a very long time. Unpredictable. Guess it is not the usual humdrum TV show. Aaaahhh well. Its all ratings.
VerY disappointed that The Firm was cancelled. It was very thought provoking as you tried to figure out what was going to happen next. Hope another channel picks it up.
First NBC changes the night, moves it to Saturday – then doesn’t show it when it says it will in the weekly listings, and now lets The Firm disappear. We’ve found it well worth staying in for on Saturday nights – and the story and acting is among the best. And then NBC wonders why it can’t hold audiences?
To answer the question, we’ll CERTAINLY watch it on any other channel it shows up on – and appreciate that channel all the more for keeping The Firm going.
The Firm had it in for itself. The show was so awful, no one should be disapointed that it left the airways. I expected as much from this load of bee’s wax. I have seen another show, Terra Nova, which got Xed to share the same fate.
The Firm could have been something, but it choose the wrong path. The final plot centered on ex-army secret gangs which really is something we don’t need here, especially with our nations forces coming home. It paints a bad picture and the acting wasn’t that great either.
No one should spend any more time on this show, Terra Nova is a Million times better.
I really liked the firm, it has been one of the best drama series on t.v. for awhile! I was susprised when it moved to Sat. night. But I still DVR it to watch later. I feel every year there is a good series on t.v. it gets cancelled, like Rubicon, was a huge fan of that also!
I LOVE The Firm! I am hugely disappointed it is being cancelled. I hope it is picked up by another Cable Network and they continue with Season 2. I record the show on DVR and watch it later, no matter what night and time the show airs. Great story, plot and I am always excited to see what will happen next.
We look forward to watching The Firm every week and are so happy to see something with substance on television without an agenda within the program as we are SICK of this. We feel it is a good family type program. The problen with the channel we watch is they are always pulling the program on scheduled night to show what we are sick of as the reality shows or other shows. Leave our program on and put other shows on at other times. Enough already.
It’s one of the few shows that has any substance and thought to it. Too bad the only thing people want to watch is reality tv. I’m sorry that The Firm was cancelled.
I watch it every week. Put it on the channel with Burn Notice.
The Firm is a great program. We also record it and watch it when we can. I would certainly hate to see it cancelled. SWe are hoping someone reconsiders and we can watch one of our favorite shows again.
I work on Saturday nights, but every Sunday morning I watch it on In Demand, Too bad. Sure hope someone else picks it up!
The Firm is one of the best shows we’ve seen in a long time … the best show since “24″ by far. I’m very surprised that cancellation is even being considered … switch it to a better night for viewers and see what happens. We record on DVR, so I don’t even remember which night it airs … all I know is that we look forward to watching it each week because it is that good.
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