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.
 Loading ... |
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 very good show. NBC is awful for getting rid of a normal, watchable, high energy show for something that will probably be a ridiculously sci-fy flop!
My family looks forward to watching this show every week. We decided to watch the finale even though we have heard NBC has cancelled the program. Josh Lucas is awesome as is the rest of the cast.
Keep this show….I agree with the fact it is one of the best shows this season
By far this is the best show I have seen in a long time. I hope anther network will pick it up. The suspence of this show has me hooked. If it happens to get to DVD I would definitley bye it. I am looking forward to seeing season 2.
My husband and I love this show!! NBC .. You’re letting go of a good one! We would LOVE to see another network pick it up! Pullease!!!
Very disappointed that The Firm has been canned. If they would put a show on a specific night and leave it there, it might attrack more viewers. Love the suspense!
Jan
My wife & I are EXTREMELY disappointed that NBC has decided to cancel “THE FIRM”…Considering this, and some of the other shows that have been cancelled, (i.e. “Harry’s Law”)…It makes one question the accuracy of the ratings data. If the ratings are correct, and this type show which is suspenseful, has a great storyline with well developed characters which requires You to pay attention and actually use your brain and is presented in a decent and tasteful manner cannot compete with shallow hyper-type shows or those relying on crude language and short-attention span plots, then it really is a sad… Read more »
Well done, NBC. Yet another rare show with compelling storyline, good ensemble cast, exciting pace, and fantastic cliffhangers gets cancelled to make room for another reality show featuring degrading garbage. It was one of the only well-crafted and truly innovative new crime dramas in recent memory, not just a carbon copy reiteration. It’s become depressing to get involved with any good new show because anything really good will almost definitely be cancelled within a year. Keep replacing quality with humiliating tedium and pretty soon there won’t be anymore network. I also hope some more intelligent network picks this up for… Read more »
Never miss an episode. NBC has once again made a mistake. Hopefully another network will pick this up for season two.
We can’t believe that this show has been cancelled!! It is exciting and has good story lines. NBC should give it more time to catch on, but if another cable channel shows it, we would defintiely watch. Josh Lucas is gorgeous!
The Firm is by far the best show on TV currently. If NBC is so dumb to drop such a great show and keep terrible shows such as “Love in the Wild and Law and Order: SVU”. I’m sure another more worthy broadcasting network will sign a show of this caliber, NBC doesn’t deserve it anyways. Especially after moving it back to 10pm on Saturdays. What kind of **** is that. How can any show be competitively in live viewer rankings when Saturday night is obviously a night where people tend to go out and do things. Good luck NBC.… Read more »
The Firm is a great show. Each Chapter leaves us wanting more, especially July 14 season finale. The Saturday night time slot really works for us, though we would watch it over many other shows on other nights. Someone out there, please pick it up….we know there is lots more to tell.
I guess I am a oddball, but why cancel 2 of the besy shows you have had The Firm and Harry,s Law
I can’t believe they are cancelling the show, I understand that the ratings really may not have been the greatest but maybe the network needs to analyze their marketing and promotion of the show. They also should really analyze what day and time they are placing a new show on TV to give a good chance. In the viewers opinions, they really didn’t do either here. It truly is a good show, it”s not a bad show, it did not get the fair chance it deserved. Cancelling it disappoints a lot of viewers.
We enjoyed the show and continued to watch even on Saturday nights. It’s too bad NBC is too stupid to renew. With all the junk on TV lately (especially moron reality shows), I have become a cable TV viewer. NBC sucks.