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 THE SHOW!
i would certainly watch The Firm! The story line is good and I find it riveting. Some of the best shows on TV are on cable. Let’s don’t let this one get away.
We need season 2! It was such a good show!
My wife & I have been sitting on the edge of our seats trying to catch our breath during every episode of this fantastic thriller. This show blows everything else on TV away!!!! The only thing that compared to it was 24. We just can’t believe that NBC would cancel this & leave soooooo many LAME reality shows on. Also big fans of Harry’s Law, we & many others like us apparently just don’t count anymore when it comes to ratings. We are extremely hopeful that The Firm will be picked up as Merlin was. If it does, we’ll definitely… Read more »
I love the show. It is my favorite new show. It is suspenseful. Please bring it back
Are you kidding me? You’re cancelling this show? It is so much better than any other show on TV now! I can’t believe ya’ll are doing this. This is why I don’t get into shows sometimes because as soon as you get into something, they cut it off. This show would have done much better on ABC…..where they have the worst shows on TV yet. Why do you cut off all the good stuff??? And leave the crummy stuff alone??? Now we’ll never find out if the family is going to be okay from the mob….we’ll never find out if… Read more »
I believe if they hadn’t skipped the time-line around so much at the beginning, it would have not put off viewers. Too bad…it is one of the better thrillers on TV and a lot more meaningful than all those reality BS’ers on TV.
I would continue to watch The Firm any time anywhere. The show is terrific!
Absolutely the best show on TV – hope someone else picks it up. So exciting – my heart can hardly take week after week – come on people start watching. This is a very exciting ane exhilerating TV show week after week – NBC did not market this show strong enough!
I did not know about the show when it premiered. I kinda stumbled upon it round about the 2nd episode of the pilot but I caught up immediately on what I’d missed and have really looked forward to it EVERY week since! I agree with all the comments! This is SUCH an awesome show…I do not understand WHY it would be cancelled or HOW it can be cancelled when there are so many nothing-show on. I hope another network will pick up the show, or that NBC will reconsider. I will rally the troops for a 2nd season! 🙂
For Pete’s sake!
NBC did not produce this series! Sony did, and they’ll decide it’s future!
Wow. Highly disappointed. There is so much crap on TV these days. I know it’s about ratings and business etc but maybe they didn’t advertise it or launch and promote it correctly. This series is AWESOME and written and produced amazingly. Shame on NBC for not giving it AT LEAST a second season. I will watch and would pay for it. We need season 2!!!! You suck NBC. Suck.
First NBC (network bozos company) cancelled Harry’s Law and now The Firm. At least there was some type of series resolution for Harry’s Law, but The Firm with “6 weeks later”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME NBC? In my opinion NBC now ranks below Current TV in
importance.
I LOVE this show and very disappointed it’s not coming back for season 2!!!!!
This is a really great show and cannot understand why it was cancelled. They need to cancel some of these reality shows and other trash show on TV. Another network need to pick up this show.