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.
Keep it going please. Love the show. It seems that if my husband and I like it it is destined to be cancelled. Enough with the reality shows. They suck!
PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL THIS SHOW!!!! I love Josh Lucas and the gang, get more shows like this AND NO REALITY SHOWS!!!!
Please dont cancel the show, I love….
I really love this show. It was definitely my favorite new show of the season. The show is exciting to watch and the characters have depth. The writing is also very good as I am always surprised at the twists and turns in addition most shows on TV are pretty predictable but not this show. NBC will be crazy to cancel this show. The networks just don’t let people have enough time to get into a show. NBC please don’t cancel The Firm.
LOVE this show please don’t cancel it. Can”t take it with any more reality show.
I love the Firm. I think it is one of the best shows on tv. It is enough like the movie thsat it ties in, but different enough to stad on its own. The cast is excellent and you don’t feel compelled to compare them to the cast of the movie. The show is action packed ad keeps you on your toes in anticipation of what is going to happen next. The story lines are well planned and thought out. I think the proble with the show is that NBC really never promoted it properly. I never saw it advertised… Read more »
This is one of the better tv shows. I can’t believe it got cancelled compared to some of the ones that were renewed.
Love this show – cannot believe a show with all that talent, good writing is going to be cancelled. Give it a chance!!!!
Love this how – cannot believe it is going to be cancelled what with all the junk that is on TV.
I love the show The Firm. The actors Have great chemistry don’t know what the proplem is, but i certainly want it to stay on. Please, please i love to see it stay on sat. evenings
Maryann
Please dont cancel!!!! LOVE this show!!! Stop with all the reality shows, the firm gives us entertainment not mind numbing stupidity!!!
This is an awesome show, well written, well developed, interesting! Why would the cancel it????
This is an awesome show, I can not figure out why it would be cancelled??? Please do not cancel!!!
Love this show! We look forward to it each week!! So sad next week may be the last show!! Someone needs to pick this up! Hope to see it again…have not been so excited for a tv show each week in…. I don’t know how long! It would be a shame to see it go!!
I was not impressed with the first episodes but I am a big Josh Lucas fan so I continued to follow the series when it was transferred to Saturday nights. I feel that it has gotten better and better. Sometimes it takes time for a cast to gel and for the writing and story line to find it’s nitch. I think this began to happen half way through the series. It wasn’t given enough of a chance. I hope that it will get picked up for another season. Please do not cancel it. I want to see more!
Please DON’T cancel, we LOVE it!!!