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.
Please, make season 2 for all the fans of this drama. This is one of my best American TV dramas!
It should really be a season 2
The best serie I have seen for a long time.
Come again !
One of my favorite series, I wish there was a season 2…
this was one of the most series’ i loved…it demonstrated the ultimate skill of litigation nd advocacy…really need it bk.pls do sumfhgng
The Firm’s been one of my favourite series. It’s not fair. In our country many many people loved this series. Why don’t they count us? What a pity.
The Firm was the best show on NBC! Please bring it back in a better timeslot!!
I just did a marathon rewatch of the first and only season aired and it just still never ceases to amaze me how stupid networks can be – and why do they dumb down to the masses who feed off purposeless reality TV? The failure of this series was due totally to terrible marketing by NBC – they bought it on the cheap as a secondary buyer and had no incentive to see to its success – it was BRILLIANTLY acted and produced – with an outstanding storyline that could have carried it for several seasons as a small family… Read more »
I feel the same way others feel It’s a shame a good show like that stoppes. Put it back on
I think season 2 should be back on t v or dvd . It’s was very good to me and station should try it. Some series today are very poor , and still on. I won’t watch them I think The Firm should get another chance.
Una segunda parte por favor, esto no se puede dejar así. Un respeto al espectador.
Try it on a cable station ‘and put it on DvD I know people will want to see what’next. Noe It leaves you up in the air. No ending. THAT’S POOR.
Why you cancel this serie….it ‘s one of the best…i hope that there s wise someone person who will making and working hard to start it again…
Hello. I really enjoyed The Firm. I wish there was a season 2. There are not many interesting films & the only one is canceled.
It is a shame that such great series get cancelled. I just hope that one day someone will decide to bring it back. If it was nit successful enough it means that someone made something wrong along the way, either was badly promoted and people did not know that it exists. I have never heard about it till few days ago – how it can be! and watched the entire show in 3 days as it was brilliant. It had and still have huge potential, as it did not outdated at all. I know that it was made mainly for… Read more »
This kind of stuf cant happened, great actors and good story, should continue.
I would love to see Season 2 of The Firm, it’s such a great series!! It really kept me in suspense!!!