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.
This is a great show and has me more riveted than I have been to a series since Alias. And I rarely watch all that many hour-long dramas. They made one HUGE mistake with The Firm: They should have premiered it as a 4-hour mini-series that refilmed the book. That would have gotten us used to these characters as interpreted by these actors, it would have been interesting to watch the book-as-written instead of the made-for-movie ending. I imagine they sail off into the sunset, a year later Abby gets pregnant and has complications, and they have to come in… Read more »
Loved “The Firm”! Great show, great drama, and great cast! Yes, I would buy a Season 2 on DVD.
I hope some station picks up the show!!
This is very sad. I looked forward to the show each week and just love the characters. Every time the episode is over, I am always wanting more. This is one if the best series on TV and it should not be canceled. Reality TV is crap and TV is flooded with it these days.
It was a great!!!!!! show!!! Don’t inderstand why they take away the good programs and bring back the worse all the time. Very disappointed
I couldn’t agree more!!!!!
I swear that I will never get involved with new ADULT shows like THE FIRM & HARRY’S LAW again!!!!! Of course I pray that someone comes to their senses & picks up these wonderful, adult, mature really thinking series instead of the drivel of more mindless reality TV. It won’t be long before there will be NOTHING worth watching!!!
With the cancellation of The Firm and Harry’s Law there really is no reason to turn on the television!
NBC, you got it all wrong. There are people who watch TV that could care less about the reality shows and actually looked forward to something well written and mind provoking. Hope another station picks them up.
Great show!!! Loved it! Can’t believe it was cancelled, I would buy season 2.
Compared to the unmitigated bilge the networks are shoveling into our homes, this series is Shakespeare. It is an interesting carry-forward of the Grisham novel – it is very well written, steadily maintaing the ongoing plot with very interesting criminal case procedurals. This show is better than any of the CSI’s ever were, and its sense of timing for the weekly cliffhangers is better than anything out there. If the network believes that this show cannot keep up with the Donald, American Idol, The Bachelorette or the rest of the reality mush that it out there, they simply do not… Read more »
I love show and would watch 2nd/season
I believe we should start our own network for those of us in the age demographic of over the age of 49. Our voice is no longer heard or thought of value to the advertisers but yet we are the real ones with the buying power. It’s Age discrimination since the only demographic they. Care about is 18-49. They cancel great shows like the Firm, Harry’s Law, Awake, Jesse Stone, Missing, Unforgetable, Terra Nova. All the networks are equally responsible The only good networks left with excellent programming i Are TNT and USA Even the syfy network has gone the… Read more »
Love the show very much. The common man’s LA Law. Hope another channel picks it up.
Fantastic show. Well written, suspenseful, great acting, amazing characters, Josh Lucas, and you cancel it! No wonder NBC ranks so low. You only produce reality shows. Too bad.
absolutely should not cancel The Firm…One of the better TV series
I saw all the hype before the show premiered and I love John Grisham. But since NBC never puts out anything but trash, I didn’t waste my time.
I checked “The Firm” out later on and found it really good. It’s now one of only 3 shows I watch religiously– Burn Notice (best show EVER), Revenge (ABC) and The Firm.
I’m sorry to see it cancelled. I wonder how many other people didn’t watch because they knew the chance that NBC would put out a quality show was almost zero?