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 hate that NBC
With Saturday night such a drag on TV , the Firm was a very refreshing and exciting addition to NBC
I’m very disappointed with NBC for cancelling The Firm, it was a really good show.
Awesome show ! My husband and I looked forward to watching it every week! I was always on the edge of my seat! We will be so disappointed if there isn’t a season 2.
I am very disappointed! I LOVED this show and couldn’t wait each week to watch it. I hope another channel will pick it up!! It was one of the best shows on television!!
Bring it back!!!! It was a awesome show. We looked forward to it every week. NBC has made a big mistake!!!
I am so very upset. We have been waiting all summer long for the second season to come on. I can’t believe with all the crap that comes out on TV this show was cancelled. Ridiculous!!!! We watched this show faithfully. I really hope some one will pick this show up. Please
My family loved the Firm, we are really disappointed to hear that it has been cancelled. There are so many ridiculous shows out there, finally a good series comes out and it gets cancelled. What I want to know is where the polls were taken, we weren’t polled. Very sad 🙁
I loved that show, along with Missing with Ashley Judd. Seems like if tv isn’t mindless dribble (i.e. The office) it gets cancelled.
Esta serie era excelente, con mi esposa estabamos super enganchados. Una lastima la decision. Ahora estamos a full con Suits pero no es lo mismo. Esperamos que algun otro canal la continue (con el mismo elenco por supuesto). Saludos desde Argentina.
So sorry to read this. My husband and I loved this show and looked forward to it each week.
One of the best shows! Can’t believe it was cancelled!
I loved this show and just looked tonight to see when season 2 was starting…..very disappointed to learn it was cancelled. I hope another channel will pick it up…..much better than some of these other shows!!!!
I looked tonight for the next episode of The Firm. I am so disappointed that there will not be a second (and many more) seasons.
The show was excellent! !!!!!! A decision to cancel sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!