A couple months ago, NBC premiered a new legal TV series from David E. Kelley called Harry’s Law. The series started out decently in the ratings but has fallen quite a bit since then. Tonight is the season finale. Will it be back for season two or end up cancelled?
Harry’s Law revolves around Harriet “Harry” Korn (Kathy Bates), a cranky former patent lawyer. She’s abruptly fired from a big firm, forcing Harry to search for a fresh start. She finds it when she meets Malcolm Davies (Aml Ameen), a college student who desperately needs her help and ends up working for her. A young legal hotshot named Adam Branch (Nate Corddry) accidentally hits Harry and gives up his corporate job to join the team. With the help of Harry’s footwear-obsessed assistant, Jenna (Brittany Snow), they open for business as Harriet’s Law and Fine Shoes.
The NBC series debuted in January with a 2.2 rating in the prized 18-49 demographic and 11.07 million viewers. That was an improvement of nearly 50% in the demo when compared to the last original episode of Chase, the previous timeslot occupant and NBC has had a hard time filling that spot for quite some time. The second episode only came down 5% to a 2.1 rating and 10.43 million. Week three held steady. It was looking like NBC had a hit — or as close as the network seems to get these days.
Then, the fourth installment took a big tumble, dropping 19% to a 1.7 demo rating and 9.22 million. It stayed at that level for a couple weeks, popped up to a 1.8 rating, and has most recently been holding steady at a 1.6 rating. That’s pretty close to what Chase had been doing and that’s all but cancelled.
Tonight marks the twelfth and final episode of the season and Harry’s Law is averaging a 1.8 rating and 9.54 million viewers. It’s the 10th highest rated scripted series on the network, tied with Chuck. On the other big networks, the series would certainly doomed but NBC has lots of ratings problems.
In truth, based on the demo numbers alone, NBC shouldn’t bring back this series for a second season. However, though it ranks towards the bottom of the demo rankings, it’s the most-watched TV show on the network. Though that doesn’t count for much, considering the state of NBC, it may be enough to get Harry’s Law a renewal.
On the other hand, with David E. Kelley likely having another series on NBC next season — the new Wonder Woman — network execs might prefer that he focus on that one and let Harry’s Law go. If they don’t like the Wonder Woman pilot, that may be enough to save Kathy Bates and company.
NBC probably won’t reveal the fate of Harry’s Law until the advertiser upfronts on May 16th. We’ll keep you posted.
What do you think? Should Harry’s Law be renewed or cancelled? If it does comes back, how would you suggest they change it to attract more viewers?
Image courtesy NBC.
While we’re discussing Harry’s Law – why does NBC have only three episodes available for online viewing??
Back to google to see if there’s any more recent info – they should at least bring this back for this summer !
The writing and actors are excellent. Please keep the show on. It was up against Castle on Monday’s so I watched the episodes on Saturday night. It gave me something to look forward to all week. I wish they would replay it this summer. I didn’t see anything on the website to know if it’s going to be on for sure in the fall. Hopefully we’ll see more!
cathy bates is an awesome actress! this show was great! why do you want to cancel the great ones and keep the nasty’s like 2.5 men? the plots were great. it used real life situations. it was a show that people could really relate to! please don’t cancel!
Please, please bring back Harry….I truly loved the show….it’s a shame when such a talented lady is put on the back burner…maybe a different time slot, or better yet remove some of the idiotic reality shows and put in place shows with substance, like Harry’s Law.
we love harry law’s and who does not love Kathy Bates the cools woman every.
PLEASE renew Harry’s Law. My husband and I love it. It’s a refreshing concept -quirky, funny, exciting, attention-grabbing with great cast in great character personalities. There isn’t much on TV that I care about, but we watched Harry’s Law loyally and we miss it. David Kelley had another winner here. Please bring Harry and her crew back.
My husband, 86 yo mother, and I LOVE Harry’s Law! Please keep it on! It is so engaging and well written-Kathy Bates is fabulous and so convincing in this role.
Love the show! Hope it comes back.
Per usual David Kelly has had the incredible insight and courage to strike at the nasty bigoted underbelly of America. And has done so with humor and compassion. Cannot say enough about the cast. Kathy Bates is certainly one of the finest actors in our country. Her supported cast appears perfect. Loved !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the show, very disappointed that it stopped.
NO I like harry law
bring it back we loved it
I don’t know who these people are but I love, love love the show. David E. Kelly has done it again. His writing is so magnificent. He always writes just what your thinking. Maybe white people didn’t like the show this season because she was helping a lot of young black males, you know the people that fill the jail cells. Maybe white America doesn’t feel compassionate about black males and the office is in a black neighborhood. Maybe white America doesn’t like that. They only want to see themselves on the screen AGAIN… Boring. I love the fact that… Read more »
Me and my daughter absolutely love this show. Working in a law firm I know this stuff doesn’t go on, but it was such great entertainment.
Please keep this show going. My husband and I enjoy it so very much. We were looking forward to it coming back on the air.
Please keep Harry’s Law on the air! There’s so little quality TV these day. Kathy Bates is wonderful with a great supporting cast.