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.
The Firm is one of the best shows on tv. I would absolutely watch it on another station and was looking forward to it coming out eventually on DVD. My sister and I watch it together and hope it is brought back. The actors are wonderful and I love the characters.
I am so disappointed that it may be cancelled. We have really enjoyed it and feel the momentum is growing. It has been challenging finding it at times, but it is really good and worth saving!
This was a great show and deserves a chance; hopefully we will see it on another network!!
I actually have looked for it each week…and I literally mean, I’ve had to look for it! That was the most disappointing thing. To wait all week for the next episode & then find out that it wasn’t on. I don’t know who is in charge of TV scheduling, but it’s extremely frustrating to have to check to see if your favorite show is going to be pre-empted by something else each week! Other than that frustration, I LOVED THE SHOW!!!! I’m very upset that it has done so poorly with the masses. I can only hope it will return… Read more »
My daughter and I LOVE the Firm and we would most definitely follow it to another cablet network. Very disappointing that it may not be continued.
My husband and I really like the show and would follow to another network if available to us (we have satellite tv.)
My husband I really loved and looked forward to watching or viewing on our DVR! Hate to see the good shows go!
My husband and I love this show, would follow it to another cable channel most definitely. Everyone I talk with enjoys this show. Not sure why ratings so low, but think when a new show gets moved quickly to a new night and time, it hurts viewership. Many successful shows have started slowly and then become widely viewed. It needs a chance, a second season.
I looked forward each week to the show. So many times it was pre-empted by other shows which was very frustratin because it was never told when it would air. I thought the actors and actresses were so good. I hope cable will pick it up and do a better job of advertising and sticking to a schedule you can rely on. NBC did not do it justice.
I love the firm hate to see it go!!
I hate to see the Firm go. When so much TV these days is reality garbage, it was refreshing to see a show that had good acting and a decent plot. I hope someone else picks it up.
I just want to say that NBC is starting a new trend of cancelling some the best shows to come out since “24” on FOX. Other great shows like the “EVENT” also got cancelled by NBC and its so dissapointing that shows this good are getting cancelled for shows that are really becoming redundant such as “The Voice”. Who cares about these type of shows! I wish that NBC would stop this nonsense and stick to their gut..because there are quite a few fewers they will be losing if they continue to keep this up. Maybe they should have thought… Read more »
My husband and I love the show and would definitely follow it to a cable network. We are disappointed to hear of its demise, we love the actors, characters and story lines!
I really liked the show but there is no way John Grishom would have used horrible grammar like my mother, she or my friend, he
My wife and I really enjoyed this thriller and would follow them on another network!