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.
Love this show. Hopefully someone picks this up
PLEASE don’t cancel this show! Finally my husband and I have found something that we really enjoy. We are hooked. It is quality television instead of all the same reality shows. We have our dvr set so we don’t miss an episode. Please reconsider
The Firm is my absolute favorite television show. It’s even better than Criminal Minds. The scripts are terrific and so is the cast – great casting!! I wish they’d have given it a decent time slot. Somebody pick it up – please!!
I would watch it on another network. Can’t wait.
My daughter and I are hooked on this show . I am 67, she is 37. I am not happy they are taking it off the air I hope it appears somewhere else. They leave all these rediculous reality shows on, and take something good like the firm off.
Really enjoyed watching this show.
It is getting very interesting how networks are cancelling shows that actually have good script, great acting and actually a story that you can follow. This show has it all drama action, and some mystery as to what the show is about. This show deserves a second season. I get to catch it on line because of my work schedule and really enjoy what the show offers. We need more of this type of good adult drama instead of the countless non thinking, mindless reality shows and singing competitions that appear to be taking over our prime time viewing. NYPD… Read more »
I love watching ‘The Firm”. They kept changing the days. I had to search for it. The show has a very interesting plot and it keeps you intrigued. This is one show they should keep, I got hook from episode one. I hope NBC change their mind about this one. Its a keeper! If they don’t renew this one I hope another network picks it up.
This has been an excellent show and should be continued on a week night!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully another network will be smart enough to pick it up and place it where more
viewers will access it. PLEASE….more episodes and another season! To all of the actors: Kudos!!
We love this show. I was thinking that it could not compete with the movie and book, but found that I love the show and it was great.
Many of friends (60-65) and my kids and their friends(35-40) alos love this show.
please reconsider.
I LOVE this show! It grabbed me from the first minutes of the first episode! I wouldn’t miss it! It makes you think, which is a lot more than I can say about the usual drivel of would-be singers who want to score! Please! Keep The Firm going! We need quality!
They won’t put a good show in a slot for people to view, why didn’t they leave it in the slot on Thursday evening?? NOOO they had to change it to Saturday when no one wathes TV. And too, I suppose it wasn’t sexual enough for people to watch….. It was a good show, and John Lucas played the role as well as Tom Cruse..and much better looking! …the other actors were also good, at first I personally wasn’t sure about Abby, but she got better as the I watched the series. The brother and his girlfriend were very good!… Read more »
We love this show, it is a shame that nbc canceled this show. Now we are stuck with would be singers trying to get immature votes. Tom
TOO BAD, i have really enjoyed this showm hopefully it will be picked up by another network
[…] UPDATE: The Firm has been cancelled by NBC but… […]