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.
It is a great show. I hope they continue it somewhere else, even if we have to buy it online.
Really is a good show.
The Firm is tv programming at its best, with great character development and a plot with many twists and turns that keep the fans coming back to see what is going to happen next.
I am very disappointed that NBC is cancelling The Firm, and I find that I am watching NBC less and less.
My husband & I just finished watching the season finale of the The Firm. NBC has made a huge mistake with not continuing this show. The acting is great, writing creative and phenomenal! We have watched every episode highly anticipating the next. We think it’s outrageous that we have been left hanging at the finale! I would love to see a cable channel pick it up and give it the proper chance that NBC never did! This is becoming a common occurrence with mainstream tv stations. More and more I’m finding the great shows on cable where they treat their… Read more »
NBC loss is cables gain.
I cannot believe “The Firm” is being cancelled! It is by far the best legal/suspense show on network TV. Too bad HBO or Showtime didn’t get this project first.
I watch very little TV, but this is one show I enjoyed watching. I guess I will have to find something else to do!
I am so upset that this show has been cancelled. Especially with no closure at the end. I only hope that it means another station will pick it up. My husband and I watched it together ever week. It was the one show that we looked forward to watching together every week. With all the “reality” shows on tv now there is getting to be less and less quality shows on to watch. I am very close to getting rid of cable all together.
Best network drama I have seen in a long time. NBC should put it on USA network and it will do great.
We loved The Firm. We’re very sorry that NBC has cancelled it for next season. We too hope that another network will pick it up for season two. We recorded the whole series so we would never miss an episode. We loved the characters and the suspense. It was clean and very exciting.
My husband and I thought this was one of the best drama series that we’ve seen in many, many years.
We are shocked that it is being taken off the air. What a major disappointment.
You know how good a show really is when the networks cancel them after one season. Now, if it had been a crappy reality based cheap show, they would keep it on. But, a great script, great cast, exciting storylines – well, that’s a sure fire way to assure a show won’t continue. The Firm was an excellen show. It had almost no promotion, no p.r. in this country. I was looking forward to Season 2, but now I’ll never know what happens with the Russian mob or the current trial. NBC, no wonder you are last now and losing… Read more »
I wanna find out what happens…Somebody pick this up! Please.
Really hope this show is picked up by another channel. Keeps you guessing, has great acting. Seems like every time I really like a show it gets cancelled. What a bummer.
We have good veteran actors… good writers… and a good show! How is it that we have so many lousy reality shows that keep coming back every year but we cannot renew a good show like this one? There is something seriously wrong at the decision-making table. Here’s a suggestion: When you begin a new show – keep it at the same night and time so that people aren’t left guessing what happened to it…. when you jump the show around, some may think it’s already left the air.