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.
Just about the time I’m getting ‘into’ a show, it’s cancelled!
Frustrating at best! The Firm is a good show and should be given a chance!
We love this show…It’s fun, intense, and very interesting. Keep it rolling!
I love, love, love The Firm! Like many other viewers have said, it’s one of the good shows – not trashy like what’s mostly on TV these days. The cast is great, the suspense is even better! Please don’t cancel this show!
The cast really is amazing. So why would you cancel the show? Oh, I get it….not enough filth or nudity or foul language. For your information, most people are sick and tired of the trash that’s on all the networks. Keep this one!!!!
Has any john grisham book just taken off? Not that I recall and there are only a couple I haven’t read. So give the show a chance to take off.
My husband and I are really enjoying the court room action as my husband is a paralegal. I love that Mitch is honest, a family man and has integrity. This show needs to be on to give those with values a show they can enjoy watching.
Please allow others to get a chance to love this show. Advertise it more and give it a chance.
Save THE FIRM!!!!!! I hate investing my time in these great shows and then the networks just cancel it..why?? based on low ratings??? People don’t even watch tv anymore…they stream tv shows online….so why don’t those ratings count?? It’s a great show…give it a chance!!!!!
This is so right. I watch The Firm online. I’m a college student who doesn’t have cable or an antenna and it wouldn’t matter if I did because I work nights. There’s no way I can watch it when it first comes on. But, at the same time, there are about five shows that get over 12 million people to watch them every time they air a new episode. So there are still plenty of people watching tv. They just aren’t watching this one. So while I haven’t seen a post yet on here of anyone saying they dislike the… Read more »
Please NBC give The Firm a chance. The cast is amazing, it is very well written and the story line is super exciting. I think if you have the patience, gave it a fixed time slot and do some promotion people will find it and love it as I do… Remember the early ratings for Seinfeld, not great, but someone at NBC believed in it and gave it a little time and look what happened
We (and all our friends!) LOVE The Firm!!! As so many other comments have said it is one of the best shows on TV currently! It is suspenseful without being a show I have to turn off if my child is in the room. Please please please don’t cancel this show! Listen to your viewers not the ratings! We need good TV…not all the trash that’s out there!
I really love this show . We have watched every episode and can hardly wait for the next week to come. This is one of the few NBC shows I actually watch. Why can’t they keep the good shows?
This is our new favorite TV show. I can’t believe it may be canceled with all the dumb shows that are allowed to stay on.
It is way too soon to make the decision on this show. I have really enjoyed it with one exception….the actress playing Abby is horribly miscast. I’d never believe her as a match for a hottie like Josh Lucas. But beyond that it’s almost as good as a Grisham novel, and that’s saying a lot. Stupid programming people. Geez.
I like the show and do not think it should be cancelled. It is so much better than
most of the other shows that you have on NBC. Hopefully, another network will
pict it up.
This is a very exciting show. Please do not cancel. It is a shame that the most exciting shows are considered low rating while others are kept. I am thinking of “The Playboy Club” vs. PanAm which is boring. Now this? Keep it going…
I love the show. I was into every episode and waiting to see what happens next. Sad to see it moved to saturdays.
We are so upset….finally find a show to get interested in and it may be done. We picked it up on demand and were looking to watch tonight but the show has moved to Saturday. We liked the plot lines for each show and the continuing story. A nice family and a good lawyer and teacher. We need to know how it develops.