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.
http://www.change.org/petitions/nbc-universal-stop-the-cancellation-of-the-firm
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This is a shame. I loved the show. Unlike all of these rediculas reality shows smut comedies the stations seem to be cancelling all the good shows and family oriented shows. What ever happened to good old shows like Ozzie & Harriet, Gunsmoke, Bonanza etc. where families
could sit down together and watch. Now it’s all sex & gore and killing. Or cheating spouses & mocked up so called “reality shows” which we all know are fake.
Back to listening to good old “oldies” music.
I love Firm !!! I am so disappointed !!!
I hope anther net work will pick up Firm !
Really loved the show, The Firm and the performance of the actors was excellent. So disappointed that NBC is cancelling this show, and will miss it.
I love that The Firm. My husband and I watched it every week. It had a great cast, superb acting and script writing. Hopefully they will bring it back on another channel or on one of the cable channels. It was much better then the Reality TV shows or the Supernatural Shows that are to far fetched to believe. It’s a shame that NBC takes cancels the really good show and leaves on the really stupid shows. Bring The Firm back.
The Firm is one of my favorite shows this season! I loved how each episode had its own story but still connected to the story about the mob. Too bad NBC hasn’t recognized its truly great programming. I think NBC is to blame for its lack of success. With a smaller financial investment, they didn’t feel the need to work as hard to promote it. That, and the multiple time slot changes AND sometimes going 2-3 weeks between episodes made it difficult to catch. Good thing my DVR was set to record all the new episodes. I’d watch on another… Read more »
That totally sucks!!! We love that show!!! What are they thinking?
The show was definitely a thriller for me and my husband. I wanted to see the rest of the chapters!
I loved this show! Everything about it. A stellar cast and script writing. BRING IT BACK!!!
With the takeover of any good suspense drama like “The Firm” by Reality TV, in my opinion is killing the very thing we are trying to teach our kids, “Individuality”. To think for yourself and not the way the networks want you to think. In most cases this degrades family values in a vicious way.
Reality TV is for people with no thought processes at all. They just sit there like a dead fish and in most cases drink themselves into a stupor because there is no thought to Reality!
My husband and I loved the show..I hope they will bring it back on another Channel.
I loved the show. I just hate it when a network brings out a show of this caliber. Show it just enough to tease me/get me hooked. Then take it away. Hope it gets picked up by cable or at least go to DVD.
I truly enjoy the firm. My husband and I watch it every week and we would be sad if it was cancelled. I think the actors and actresses are doing a superb job and I definitely buy Season 2 on DVD, AS LONG as you don’t kill of ANY of the main characters. I hope someone else picks up the show.
My husband and I really loved The Firm. It was a bit like 24…..which also got cancelled after 6 seasons (we got into it the last season, of course). Reality TV is taking over and so lame, but networks want to make money….not good shows. I think the way they kept changing the days, times and long periods of it NOT being played might have something to do with the ratings!
And I agree with rose It id at the same level as The killing and Mad. men