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.
Season 2 yes!!Please!
Please add season 2. I loved this show.
Reminiscent of the book “The Firm” which felt to me like there should have been one last chapter. Instead, the reader turns the page and well, sorry but Grisham didn’t feel like tying up loose ends.
I enjoyed the show very much, hopefully we see a second season.
We must have a season 2!!!
It was great!
i dont see why theyre not doing a season 2 they way they ended season 1
Just got done watching on Amazon. I liked it and was looking forward to a season two. Disappointing, oh well..
What a loss to us. Excellent acting, good story line.
I watched 6 episodes at a time.
Very disappointed.
Just finished watching the series, and can’t believe the ending! There’s no closure. This needs a 2nd season!!!
Can’t believe there was no season 2 the last episode sure left you hanging! Really liked the pace and storyline of The Firm series!
bring it back! It’s a great series. Loved it.
I watched Season 1 of The Firm last week and I COULDN’T STOP WATCHING!! IT WAS INCREDIBLE! LOVED the cast!!
I was SO SO MAD the way it ended!!!
THERE HAS TO BE A SEASON 2
& maybe a season 3)!!!
Changing the cast WOULD be a HUGE MISTAKE!!
I2 yrs doesn’t make that much of a difference… Pick it up right where u left off or possibly add a year or two, fill in the back story … It worked in SEASON 1!!
There aren’t that many great programs to watch anymore!!!
Please bring back THE FIRM!!
Just watched season 2 on Prime video. Hope we don’t have same problem again. Season 2 ended with Mitch running for his life and jumping off a buildings rooftop.
Loved the series and definitely want more. It’s impossible to understand why abysmal TV series can get more ratings but I’m guessing NBC chose the wrong viewing time and pitted this show against a program where they couldn’t win.
I just finished watching it on Prime. I really liked it and recommended it to others. Super disappointed! The acting was really good, not over the top..and the story line very good
I just watched it last week… COULDN’T STOP WATCHING!
Bring it back. We looked forward to watching it!
That was really awful to not finish out the story line. I remember watching this on NBC and have recently watched it again on Prime. Could not believe there was not ending, that is really kind of mean. It was a very good show. Much better than some the reality shows. I wish someone would finish it up. Maybe if I read the book there will be some closure of some kind?
I agree if they already knew they weren’t gonna bring a season 2 back why don’t they just have the story closed out in the last episode? they wasted episodes with new clients and story’s when they could have easily just let the core story play out and the Mcdeers be free!