It’s been a rough road for Mitch MicDeere. Now, it’s come to an end — at least on NBC. The Firm has been cancelled after one season of 22 episodes.
The Firm picks up years after the young attorney (Josh Lucas) made his deal with the mob to take his old crooked law firm down. He and his family have come out of hiding but their problems haven’t gone away. The show also stars Molly Parker, Callum Keith Rennie, Juliette Lewis, Natasha Calis, Tricia Helfer, Martin Donovan, Shaun Majumder, and Paulino Nunes.
The series represented one of NBC’s biggest launches of the season but it misfired right from the start. The two-hour premiere brought in a dismal 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with just 6.32 million viewers.
When The Firm moved to its regular timeslot on Thursdays a few days later, the numbers got even worse. Week two dropped 29% in the demo and the ratings kept falling in subsequent weeks. After hitting an embarrassing low for a primetime show — a 0.8 demo rating with 2.97 million viewers — NBC sent it packing to Saturday nights.
 Loading ... |
The numbers have been awful since that move — even for a Saturday night show. It’s frequently outperformed by movies and crime drama reruns on the other networks.
To date, The Firm has an average of a 0.7 rating in the demo and 2.10 million viewers. On our NBC Ratings Report Card, which measures the relative demo success of shows on the network, the show has a “D-” grade — even after low viewership is taken into account.
On the positive side, 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 eOne 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.
Not surprisingly, The Firm won’t be back on NBC (according to TVWise) because the network has opted not to renew its deal with Sony and eOne. The series could continue to be produced for other markets however and even possibly be picked up by a cable channel here in the US. There’s been no word on the show’s fate beyond NBC so, for now, we’ll have to wait and see.
There are 22 episodes in the first season of The Firm and tonight’s marks the 17th. Right now, the finale is slated for June 23rd. If a second season isn’t going to be produced, hopefully the last episode will supply enough closure for the few million faithful viewers who’ve kept watching.
What do you think? Are you sorry that NBC isn’t continuing the show? Would you watch on another channel or purchase season two on DVD?
Image courtesy NBC.
What a terrible ending on tv series The Firm. I thought it was a fantastic series, until the last 10 minutes. I’m so disappointed that there isn’t a second season.
A friend recommended this and I was immediately a fan. I wish they would bring it back and finish it. The way they ended it was crazy.
It’s ridiculouis to cancel the firm. One of the best series we watched! We urge you to produde season two!! I watched it on Amazon and it was outstanding!!!
We love this tv series!! Please have a 2nd season, it is one of the best series we have ever watched! We watched it on Amazon Prime.
Please produce a 2nd Season of The Firm. It’s the most entertaining show I’ve watched in a long time. I want to see more!!!!! I watched it on Amazon Prime
STUPID STUPID STUPID MOVE NBC!!!! First you didn’t advertise this show, and SECOND you moved it to a WEEKEND!!!
STUPID!! We only found it by chance on Prime Video YEARS LATER!!!!!!
Oh my goodness… they’ve left us hanging! We have binged watched on Amazon Prime and we want it to continue! We want to see how the McDeers get the Russian!! Help please get the Firm back on air!
We binge watched this on Amazon Prime, we loved it, would give it 5 stars, not 3! We are bummed that there won’t be a season 2. We love Grisham novels, and all the movies based on them. More, please! We would watch it any way we could, the cliff hanger left this wide open for MORE…….
I have been hooked on this show and can’t believe that it isn’t going to have a second season. But I watched it on Prime. They left us hanging!
I loved the show and hope for many more seasons. Please do it.
I know it’s been a long time since The Firm was cancelled on NBC and Amazon Prime took it off the air, however, I agree with those below that watchers should have a final conclusion and not left hanging.
Then don’t show if not gonna do a season two. What is wrong with people. Some people really enjoyed the show.
The Firm was well written with excellent characters and now that it’s been out on Prime Video I’m sure it will gain a much larger audience. Bring it back!
It was a great series! Not sure why NBC’s ratings were poor; perhaps it’s NBC. Regardless, the series ended with a clear message that there was a lot more to come and apparently NBC lead the writers to believe there would be a second season. Hopefully P{rime Video will pick it up.
YES I would pay for another season of the Firm. It didn’t come to an end. Total cliff hanger. Not fair to John Grisham or us, the viewers.
I am Mad. We watched all 22 episodes and they didn’t finish it! Totally left us hanging! Please have a second season to at least finish it. I would be ok without a second season if they had finished the first one
I totally agree !I loved the show and was so disappointed that the last show didn’t wrap up all the loose ends
Remind me never ever to watch a show by these guys again. This really sucks.