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.
My Wife and I love the show. Can’t believe it’s not doing better. Will look for it on other channels – hope to find it.
I think The Firm is very compelling, well written, has an intriguing story line, and very likable characters, and would be most popular with those viewers who like a real story and are captivated by mysteries. But apparently NBC feels that humiliating people via fake realities attracts more of their desired demographic. I guess you have to dumb down to your audience. Hopefully it will be picked up by a more farsighted network like TNT (“we know drama”) or USA (“characters welcome”), and I hope it has a huge success to price ratio. Reminds me of CBS and “How I… Read more »
I really enjoyed the show. Too bad they didn’t put it on Monday or Wednesday nights. I bet it would have had much better ratings. I’d love to see it continue on a cable channel. With so much junk on the air today, I can’t believe they cancelled it.
I thought this show was cleverly put together and I like the twists and turns and the plot. I hate how they keep throwing good shows out like this one and replacing them with 8 different types of Real housewives of blah blah or biggest loser or cry on my shoulder my gay cowboy dancer. Its so stupid that Jersey Shore and Sh** like big brother and reality type shows out due shows like this one which really get your attention and have action in them I for one am only watching tv online because I do not live in… Read more »
[…] fans of The Firm may have noticed, the cancelled legal drama was bumped from the schedule once again last Saturday night. As a result, NBC has adjusted their […]
Love the show. Cancel Betty White
I thought the show was good and looked forward to each episode. I hope it will continue on another channel.
I loved the show and would watch a Season 2 if another network picked it up.
We love the show and have been so disappointed that it keeps getting replaced with much less interesting shows. I certainly hope one of the Cable channels will pick it up.
It is no wonder the series was cancelled…It was consistent with when it was aired. From Thursdays to Saturday and then it might be a two week period before you would see the next episode. I really enjoyed the series and hope there will be a future series on another network.
I love this show! It has had me on the edge of my seat several times. If there is no season 2, I will be greatly disappointed.
I can’t believe this show is cancelled. To be replaced by what – another boring reality show! Good story line, good drama, great characters. What are these folks at NBC thinking????
I like the show and I would watch another season. The story and the characters are interesting.
I’m annoyed that the network keeps saying it will be on, then replacing that time slot with TV crap. Betty White? Come on.
What a shame…it seems to be the trend these days MANY GREAT shows keep getting cnacelled, eg AWAKE, THE EVENT, CHAOS, and now THE FIRM