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.
My 26 yr old son and I love the Firm….We also Loved Harry’s Law! In fact dozens of our friends love Both Shows! Please bring BOTH shows back someway! We are so sick of the useless realty shows……they are garbage! Stop listening to the stupid Nielsen people….they numbers are not correct!!!
Who is the Moron that keeps changing shows so that no one knows they are there….then as soon as people notice them they are cancelled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Firm is brilliant!! Canada LOVES IT!!!! Twists, turns, suspense, edge of your seat plot, every episode! Writing, directing, and acting all superb, so unique from no mind, low intellect reality shows. Please give us more credit, and give us quality television! NBC, give your head a shake, sit up and recognize a quality show when you have it. Were we Canadians included in your “ratings”? Another network should pick up this show, see it blossom, and leave you crying the blues. Listen to your viewers, and sign up The Firm, for a season 2.
I love The Firm. Please keep it on. Great writing and great acting. I love Juliette Lewis’ character although at first I felt like she didn’t fit. Now I love the scenes she’s in and love her like Penelope on Criminal Minds, another favorite!
I think The Firm is one of the best shows on television. It is very well written and acted. It really keeps you interested and in suspense. I hope there is some way it can be renewed.
Does anybody know what they’re doing at NBC?
The more they cancel shows like Firm and Harry’s Law,
the less I watch NBC
Love the show! It figures it’s getting cancelled. It’s something different than a stupid reality show! That’s all they can come up with!
i love the firm, keeps me on the edge of my seat.
I am very sorry to see that The Firm may not be picked up next season. I think it is one of the best shows in a very weak season. I will be hopefully looking for it!!
I love the show, trying to anticipate what is going to happen next. hate to see it cancelled
The Firm has been one of our best tv series to watch. I am so disappointed if NBC decides not to pick up a season 2. Most of the tv series (in my mind) have not been worth watching; so my husband and I rent from redbox and watch movies instead. The Firm has brought us back to TV watching. But if it’s cancelled, everyone buy stock in Redbox!
The Firm is one of the best shows I have ever watched. We watched it as a family. We do hope u will bring it back for another season… At least finish the series…
I think that the show has appeal, good characters, suspense and ACTION. We have recorded each of the last episodes to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Glad to see that the nineteenth show will be this month. Keep it coming!! What’s wrong with NBC??
We watch this show religiously–taping it just to make sure we don’t miss anything. Since we were never too sure where to find it, this was our best bet to make sure
we got all the episodes. I think the show should continue no matter what NBC thinks.
I hope you change your mind. My husband and I really like this show and have seen all episodes, PLEASE KEEP “The Firm”
How the Firm could not have gotten good ratings beats me. At least finish the series, put it on NBC at 4:00AM or something. It was very exciting and the music was terrific. Sometimes there’s a screw loose. How could it have gotten any ratings with a Sat night time slot. I want to see the rest of the episodes, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!