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After The Firm dropped to a new series low of a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49 last night — that’s got to be a historic low for NBC– the network is pulling the drama series from the Thursday 10 PM slot effective immediately. The acquired legal drama, a sequel to the John Grisham novel and 1993 movie, will continue its 22-episode run in the Saturday 9 PM slot starting next week. Its place will be taken by NBC’s midseason drama Awake, starring Jason Isaacs. The complex, reality-defying series about a detective who finds himself leading a double life will premiere March 1. In the interim, NBC will air Grimm reruns in the Thursday 10 PM hour. Awake hails from creator/executive producer Kyle Killen and executive producer/showrunner Howard Gordon. 20th Century Fox TV is producing. It will be the third freshman drama NBC is launching in the Thursday 10 PM period this season following Prime Suspect and The Firm.
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Finally! Can’t wait!
Damn.
Prime Suspect where is it? Why did Greenblatt not take it off and launch it after SMASH?
This is what you get. More bad decisions.
What’s wrong with NBC?
No lead-in whatsoever. NBC should have premiered Awake after the Super Bowl if they had any confidence in it.
Yay Grimm!!!!
Finally. I guess Thursday nights finally got tired of The Firm being so soft…[zing]
But I bet Awake’ll land asleep in the timeslot, too…even if it’s good.
Why would NBC do this? They just had a cerebral cop show die in that same time slot. Even The Firm with it’s name brand appeal tanked. I was excited about this show and this is basically a death sentence.
I agree. Another idiotic decision by NBC management.
It’s about time! But I’m worried about the timeslot though since it’s been a deathslot for NBC the last few seasons. I hope the buzz of Awake will get people to tune in.
Seriously, what timeslot ISN’T a “deathslot” for NBC? I just want all the episodes ordered shown and then NBC can cancel it. And then I want a DVD release. Awake probably would have been better off being a mini-series in the first place, if non-HBO American TV still made such things.
Can they atleast premiere AWAKE it behind a double episodeof The Office or a special preview airing of The Voice.
Am now worried for the drama i have most anticipated for this season. Up All Night as lead-in is just awful. Just bad.
And i hope they have a promo to air during the super bowl please.
God have i looked forward to seeing this series!
Awake wont be a boring rip off a movie. Hopefully there is still time to promote the show during the SB on Sunday.
NBC should strip Leno five nights a week at 10 p.m. That’s a guaranteed fixer!
Your post is about a year old.
Great name
Leno’s 10:00 pm strip was getting higher ratings than NBC’s current 10:00 pm shows, with the exception of SVU.
One of the very few promising pilots for NBC and it is scheduled on the death slot. No wonder NBC is racing to the bottom.
It’s just stupid. Wasting a show like that. No wonder why NBC is falling apart.
Hopefully this gets some Superbowl promotion so we can be spared so much THE VOICE and SMASH ads.
I don’t know much about the concept of Awake, but doesn’t it sound like Life On Mars, except both of his identities are, well, awake, and not time-traveling?
Never seen Life On Mars, but the focus of Awake are these In Treatment-style therapy sessions with therapists in both realities. Each tries to convince Isaacs that they are living in the actual reality. Those scenes are brilliant. There’s also a police procedural thrown in, but that storyline is as soft as a baby wiping its ass with a puppy.
If you want to describe Life On Mars as “a show about a cop who has a car accident then really freaky stuff happens to him — stuff that makes him question his sanity,” then yes, Awake is exactly like Life On Mars. But that would be a very vague description of Life On Mars, and at a certain level of vagueness ANY new show can be likened to at least one and usually many shows that have come before. Do look at the details of Awake, for it is then that the differences between it and Life On Mars become clear.
Bring back Prime Suspect!!!!!
Agreed. I really enjoyed Prime Suspect.
I feel it’s downfall was most of America being as dumb as a friend of mine’s dad when we were talking about it: “I hate that lady cop, she’s so smug. She thinks she’s cute and brilliant, but it’s just smug.” Albeit he’s from a different generation and below what I would call intelligent, but for some reason certain American audiences think that anyone on tv who is intelligent or confident is someone to be chided. It’s unfortunate.
I hated the show, and I’m smart. It was unappealing on many levels. “Smug” is what you are, making generalizations about the viewing audience.
Every show in that time slot will die. The Firm is a great show! I’m just gel ad that we will be able to see it on Saturdays instead of yanking it completely.
I meant to say “glad”
The Firm tanked because it was an — at best — peculiar idea for a TV series, with only the figment of a preexisting brand appeal. The brand appeal was itself hampered by altering the McDeere character from being an ambitious, hot-shot financial law wiz trying to make up for his humble roots to another idealistic crusader for the little man. And the decision to then maneuver him back into yet another villainous law firm with mysterious motives made the character seem like he didn’t learn anything from his previous ordeal and felt repetitive for viewers wondering what the point in having the show be a continuation of McDeere’s story (and not just a remake) was in the first place. While people found Prime Suspect’s protagonist unpleasant, she was a recognizable and talented actress audiences associate with film roles — giving the show more cache than The Firm’s less recognizable stars.
Awake is a very good pilot. It’s well acted — again with a lead audiences associate with quality film work — interestingly shot, and sets up a crime franchise around and interesting premise. The writing is smart, crisp, emotional, and clearly articulates what could have been a difficult convey concept. The big question surrounding it for anyone who has read the script or seen the pilot is “How does this get stretched into a TV series?” It’s an idea that, at first blush, would make an excellent movie. But repeating it’s case-of-the-week structure while still providing audiences with a sense of forward momentum with the predicament of the competing “two realities” presents an admirably high degree of difficulty for the show going forward.
The idea that “this can only work as a TV series” question is fairly silly – there is a very clear (and novel) case-of-the-week structure built into the story along with overarching plotlines. The fact that people are questioning its basic ability to exist outside of a few episodes shows a lack of basic imagination.
The issue for Awake isn’t the case-of-the-week structure paired with overarching plot lines. It’s what the central overarching plot line is about that presents the greatest challenge. The major question proposed in the pilot is which reality is the “real” one (or are they both in his head?). In order for that central plot line to progress the audience is going to have to feel that they’re getting closer to an answer with every episode. It’s true that as other situations and characters are fleshed out, there may be fewer episodes that have to push forward or touch on the central conceit; and there are many different ways to toy with expectations and tease out hints that support various audience theories — but it will still be challenging.
If it feels as though that plot line has stalled too long, then some might feel that series is just about a man flipping back and forth between two different worlds and is little more than watching two variations on the same crime show cross cut with each other. If the novelty of something from the case in one reality informing the case in the other reality gets overused then the show runs the risk of appearing overly formulaic.
It’s not an impossible task, but for a network show that’s ideally designed to run 22 episodes for at least 4 season, it is a fair concern. That they had to shut down production for a stretch to work on script issues may lend evidence to the difficulty. I’m optimistic and hopeful because if they figure out a way to do it well, it’ll be a great series to watch.
Did NOBODY AT NBC read pilot for The Firm before they greenlit it? Talented writers and produceers at a loss as to how to make it work as a series. Not their fault, just a doomed weird hybrid premise. It was waaaay notready for prime time. What was the network thinking? Aren’t they supposed to be the hardest to please, the last line of defense?
Awake, however, is genius.
NBC not only didn’t “greenlight” The Firm, they didn’t develop it. The Firm is a Canadian production that had a 22-episode order in Canada before NBC bought US broadcast rights for cheap.
No, they didn’t read it first because NBC didn’t greenlight it. It was acquired from a Canadian production company.
And it’s going to air in AXN across international territories.
Frankly — The Firm was poorly written and executed. The dialogue was leaden and Structuring a 2-hour pilot around a flashback was not only a hacky and cliche, but that it never caught up to the present seen in the teaser and barely paid off was frustrating — not tantilizing — for viewers.
This is not the case of a promising show unfortunately not being given time to find itself.
I think they were shooting for a format along the lines of Damages. 80% current, 20% flashback. Unfortunately, the mix of writing, acting and execution falls flat.
Here’s to hoping NBC advertises the hell out of Awake. Any rumors of a superbowl spot?
Did “anybody”?
Awake sure has the internet buzz behind it, but as we all know, that says very little about actual ratings…
Well who knows? It might end up like New Girl this year and become a hit. Dont say “Oh its gonna die on Thursday at 10PM cuz its NBC.”
Well who knows? It might end up like New Girl this year and become a hit. I like it personally imho.
This is going to be appointment TV. Kyle Killen’s last show was amazing… just wish it was on cable over network. Hopefully this show stays on the air for years to come. Can’t wait!
Basically,all of the buzz surrounding “Awake” is really positive,but,airing on Thursday nights at ten on Nbc could kill any show. Truly needed a better night. Fans must hope for the best,but,remember:Thursday nights at ten p.m. on nbc is:WHERE SHOWS GO TO DIE!!! Most nbc programs help you fall asleep-let us hope “awake”changes that.Thank you.
The “management” over at WNNNNNNNBC has no idea what they are doing these days. As long as shows like Whitney are on the air, you can count out NBC as a place to watch TV. Any chance a real network or cable outlet can steal AWAKE?
Some of us are waiting for NBC to run the last 3 episodes of THE PLAYBOY CLUB as a burn-off