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.
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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.
Josh Lucas was riveting in the firm tv series. I have ordered the dvd of the complete series because I don’t have a tv. I was very disappointed that such a well acted show was discontinued. It was so well written. Big mistake not to have a season 2,3,4….
My husband and I loved it and we are really disappointed in NBC. The least you could have done is come up with a completed ending. You just left your viewers hanging. We would love a season 2. No wonder why people are turning to other means of TV programming, the networks just don’t get it. Lately all we see is shoot em up and killing shows.
Are you kidding me? We just finished watching Season 1 and were looking forward to more. I will say we enjoy watching seasonal shows better after they come out by season and we can binge watch. I can see where a show like this that goes back and forth in time might do better as a binge rather than week by week. TV producers need to reevaluate how they present series tv. Most people I talk to prefer to binge watch rather than try to keep up with what happened a week ago.
Except for the going back and forth in time, I LOVED IT, I want to see season 2
I really liked season 1, it was suspenseful. Wish there was a season 2.
Definitely do season 2 of the firm. I just finished it & it was so nice not to hear the F Word every sentence
I can’t believe there was no ending to the show, just left us hanging. I would love a 2nd season, it was a great series
More! Someone… Please!!!!!
I feel cheated it was left up in the air when canceled. I watched it on Amazon prime
I really wish the story would have at least been finished with a 2nd season my self friends and family were extremely disappointed as there was no ending
You do grow into this and then empathise with the characters. Shame not well supported when comparing to some of the rubbish that is being continued into multiple series.
I’d buy season 2 or watch elsewhere
PLEASE Renew or do a second season somehow, somewhere on any device!!!
This as the best series that I watched. I watched the whole series in 2 days
P.S. the show was excellent and deserves many more series.