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.
I absolutely love The Firm….and would definitely watch season 2 if they made it and any other seasons!!!! I found the show by accident on hulu and my husband and I fell in love with it. I hope they keep it going. It is one of my favorite…right up there with White Collar and Castle.
The show has gotten better as the season progressed. It was very good at the beiginning and is now one of the best shows on TV. It is a crime to cancel this show. Renew it!
One of the best shows on tv. Please bring it back!!!!!
It’s an exciting show with a solid storyline, impressive cast and. I’ve watched all the episodes intrigued and have been looking forward to the second season and the climax of the plot, also, I find the main actors to be very gifted and all in all i was sorrowed to learn that the show was canceled. Please continue to shoot, produce by another network or at the very least offer a short closure, due to the nature of the show i believe it is necessary. Thanks!
Please bring The Firm back. I taped and watched the shows over a few days and just finished viewing the “finale”. There was no “finale” or closure. The same happened with the tv show Awake. If there is a possibility of ending, maybe two endings should have been shot, just in case of cancellation or a last show shot to give the viewers closure. The firm is awesome!!!! Loved it!!!! The four main actors had great chemistry!!! Bring it back! Thanks!
OH MY GOSH!!!!!! THE FIRM IS THE BEST SHOW ON THIS PLANET EARTH! I WATCH IT WITH MY FAMILY EVERY WEEK AND WE ALL ARE ALWAYS SO EXCITED! I CAN NOT BELIEVE THEY WOULD CANCEL IT! PLEASE DKNT CANCEL IT OR AT LEAST HAVE ANOTHER NETWORK TAKE IT! BEST SHOW EVER! DONT CANCEL IT!
I loved the firm and as episode continued it got better and better. The same thing happened to Merlin and now look at that show a success. Please pick up this show someone!!!!
I really enjoyed this show. I am surprised it was cancelled, especially while seeing ads for the animal doctor comedy that looks stupid that will be starting this fall. Really!?! the firm had a better storyline than that. Also I appreciated a crime drama that focused on a lawyer instead of the police for a change.
We love the Firm and are very disappointed not to finish the story. This happens way too often where a network just thinks about the ratings and not the viewer. Yes, we would love a season II on another network or dvd.
pls continue the show! You idiots the firm its a great show and you cancelled it, Flashforward was a good show as well, an excelent, perhaps, AND YOU CANCELLED IT. MORONS!!!!
Agreed!
I am hooked. Please someone continue the show!
This is a great show. I am saddened to see it not being renewed. This is all too common now with TV shows, or so it seems. Things rarely seem to get past the first season, and endings always get left up in the air. It’s almost not worth getting invested in new TV shows at all for this exact reason. We are all getting too consumed in heavily scripted “supposed” reality shows, and also “scripted” entertainment shows like Idol, X-factor etc etc. For goodness sake networks, give these shows a chance, market them properly AND give the writers a… Read more »
My wife and I consider this series very interesting and that we would love to see season 2 to be aired.
I love this show has to be season 2
My husband and I love this show! One of the few intelligent shows around. We would definitely watch it on any network.