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.
yeah.. I really don’t understand why people love the sexy, stupid, and ridiculous shows. without substance.without sense. :). This show should be continued. 🙂
I am really disappointed. :((
I love season 1! I really want to see season 2, please
yeah! Why is there no season 2?! I am disappointed. This is so much better than the other series. :(.. I aaaaaaaaammmmmmm soooOOOOOoo much disappointed. 🙂
Very disappointed it was cancelled! Very good show love all the characters . Would defently watch it if another network picked it up. I really hope somebody does!
A different network needs to pick up this show so I can watch it.
Soooo sad that it ended
This is SO disappointing, we loved this show and watched every episode on the edge of our seats!! Please someone else pick it up and have a season two!
One of the best shows out there, but I guess this shows how stupid american’s are, everyone wants to watch the stupid reality shows out there….what a shame
Loved the firmam very very sad to see not renewed. I would watch it again in a heartbeat if it was picked up by another network
I am so disappointed this show has been cancelled. It was one of the best on TV. How is it the good shows get cancelled and these stupid shows like the Kadashians, LA Housewives, etc. go on and on and on?
I hope another station will pick it up.
NOT Happy that you pulled my #1 show!!
My husband and I really enjoyed The Firm, Season One. It kept us on the edge of our seats with the plot and the action. The way the story unfolded captured our attention. If we had to miss a show, we made plans to watch it online before the next show so we would be current on the story. When we heard that it was canceled, we were quite disappointed. Actually, it is the only entertainment show we watched regularly on NBC. We watch some sports and The Rock with Brian Williams, trying to stay up on what day and… Read more »
I was so disappointed that The Firm is not continuing.I love that show and could hardly wait to see the season premiere.I think NBC got it wrong! They need to move it to a day during the week when everyone is at home and keep it on the same day instead of moving the day around!Give it another chance?
I don’t know what is going on this show has a little bit of everything suspense , romance,
action and even a few funny moments . And who could not have love the cast. There is something wrong out in t.v. land this is really a bad call. love love loved it.
My husband and I really enjoyed “The Firm”. We were so disappointed that NBC didn’t give it a chance. So disappointing.