NBC's THE FIRM Off to Rocky Ratings Start

The broadcast debut of NBC's THE FIRM was off to a rough start last night as the CBS network dominated ratings with its coverage of the NFL. THE FIRM premiered with a 2-hour pilot episode before moving to its Thursday night time slot from 10:00 - 11:00 pm/et beginning January 12th.

Based on the best-selling novel by world-renowned author John Grisham ("The Pelican Brief," "The Client"), the drama series continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere (Josh Lucas, "The Lincoln Lawyer," "Sweet Home Alabama"), who, as a young associate 10 years earlier, had brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which had been operating as a front for the Chicago mob.

Here are the highlights of the 17 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (22.64 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 7.1, #1) overshadowed the competition on Sunday with a massive 90-minute "NFL Overrun" (39.05 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 13.7, #1) followed by new episodes of "60 Minutes" (15.72 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.0, #2), "The Good Wife" (11.21 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.7, #6) and "CSI: Miami" (10.13 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.5, #7).<,/p>

ABC (7.23 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.3, #2) then was the king of the leftovers with fresh installments of "America's Funniest Home Videos" (5.78 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.4, #12), "Once Upon a Time" (10.33 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.7, #3), "Desperate Housewives" (8.79 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 3.0, #T4) and "Pan Am" (4.04 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T13).

Next up was FOX (4.04 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3) with repeats of "Bob's Burgers" (1.84 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.7, #17) and "The Cleveland Show" (2.32 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.9, #16) followed by new episodes of "The Simpsons" (5.11 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 2.3, #8), "The Cleveland Show" (4.37 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 2.1, #T9), "Family Guy" (6.04 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 3.0, #T4) and "American Dad" (4.59 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 2.1, #T9).

And finally, NBC (6.25 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.3, #4) offered up a special "Dateline NBC" (6.22 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.2, #15) followed by the premiere of "The Firm" (6.78 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.5, #11) and a second hour of "The Firm" (5.79 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T13).

Source: Nielsen Media Research

To post a comment, you must register and login.