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.
Great show, keep The Firm on the air.I only tune to NBC Thursday to view the show.
Show has twist amd turns that keep you interested to view the next show.
I will be watching Saturday.
It was fantastic through episode 6. Episode 7 (the most recent) was…medicore. It’s the first one not written by the executive producer, and it shows. It got dumb and obvious where it had been razer sharp Maybe this will just be a fluke, but if the rest of the series is on par with this episode, then I really don’t care if it goes away. if the rest is as good as the first six then…actually I still think it feels like it should be one season with one strong plotline, and not stretched out endlessly, but it’ll be pretty… Read more »
I love the firm!! NBC is always cancelling good shows smh.
I loved the firm why they cancelled it
The acting is terrible! No rapport between Mitch & the wife…bye bye…sorry we deserve better…
GREAT SHOW!! NBC has got to understand that these days people watch shows when they want to , not when the network schedule them… good for the viewers bad for the advertisers… most people just use their PVRs to watch shows at their convenience and then fast forward through the commercials. Keep the show going its great! Love the family story line intertwined in the legal stuff. The daughter is awesome… can see the same looks that my daughter gives me at times. Very believable!
Please do not cancel “The Firm” as it is an excellent drama
i love the firm. great actors.
We love the firm. Keep it on. Please!
“The Firm” was just about my only reason for watching NBC. I don’t watch “reality shows”, shows about “vampires” nor do I intend to watch your “smash” series, “the voice” doesn’t interest me, I could not care less about “the biggest looser”, “grimm”, or “the fear factor”. As far as I can tell you have only news. And if I watch the news at 6:00 p.m. I normally watch channel 6 (ABC) After that it’s just RERUNS at later times.
Please do not cancel this show . We love it.
This has been one of my favorite shows this season, and I think it is very well done. Hopefully the idiots at NBC will not cancel it, because I much prefer this to the stupid shows like Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, or The Office.
Please don’t cancel this Great tv show its packed with great courtroom action, its filled with lots of suspenseful twist and turns that keeps you on the edge. I enjoy it because you don’t have to watch a bunch of uncalled for sex scenes, that gets pretty old after awhile, I just want to watch a tv show packed with action but without gory violence. I truly hope this show continues.
This is a great show lots of Good courtroom action keeps you in suspense, everytime I find a great show its cancelled. Why? because it’s not filled with alot of unnecssary sex and violence? Lets keep this show going its been a long time since I found a show worth keeping up with every week. I truly hope it makes it. Great Show!!!
This is the only show that my wife and I are looking forward to watching every week. Pls. don’t cancel this show.