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The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

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The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Old 01-08-12, 04:57 PM
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The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

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By djariya at 2012-01-05

Synopsis:

Spoiler:
After young lawyer Mitchell McDeere (Josh Lucas, "J. Edgar") exposed the law firm he worked for was a front for the Chicago mob, he and his family found themselves in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Now, a decade later, McDeere, his wife Abby (Molly Parker, "Deadwood") and daughter Claire (Natasha Calis, "The Possession"), begin their efforts to reclaim their lives, which proves to be an uphill battle. Also starring Juliette Lewis ("Cape Fear") and Callum Keith Rennie ("The Killing"). Tricia Helfer ("Battlestar Galactica") and Shaun Majumder ("Detroit 1-8-7") guest star.


22 episodes are being filmed.

Sony Pictures is producing this show and they paid all the production costs upfront and pre-sold the show to several international territories before they asked NBC if they were interested. NBC paid a very small licensing fee, so their risk in this show is extremely small. So all 22 episodes are guaranteed to air because NBC is pretty much guaranteed a profit.

Just an FYI, episode 3 will air this Thursday at 10pm

Starring:
Josh Lucas
Molly Parker
Juliette Lewis
Callum Keith Rennie
Tricia Helfer

This is supposed to take place 10 years after the 1993 film with Tom Cruise.

John Grisham is an Executive Producer on this show

Trailer:

<iframe id="NBC Video Widget" width="512" height="347" src="http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1373700" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Old 01-08-12, 06:55 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I'm looking forward to this one. Hope it's as good as it looks.
Old 01-08-12, 10:03 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I'll get it started:


Just terrible. The acting by everybody is just atrocious.


If they even attempted to give a single fuck, maybe it could be decent.
Old 01-08-12, 10:19 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Hasn't aired on the West Coast yet, but most of the people on GetGlue.com and The Firm's facebook page are giving it positive commentary....however, mostly women who are Josh Lucas fans.

I'm looking forward to watching it later tonight.

Last edited by DJariya; 01-08-12 at 10:25 PM.
Old 01-08-12, 10:24 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I was checking out this thread to see reviews but from what I've seen I have absolutely no interest. It just looks boring.
Old 01-08-12, 10:27 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by mcfly
I was checking out this thread to see reviews but from what I've seen I have absolutely no interest. It just looks boring.
It's a Law thriller with a serialized arc. Does this genre not interest you? Did you see the 1993 movie or read Grisham's book?
Old 01-08-12, 11:12 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Never read the book. Never seen the movie. Commercials looked interesting. Decided to give it a shot.

Well, not a good start for viewers like me. I have NO IDEA what's going on...haha

First commercial break just ended, I'm done.
Old 01-09-12, 12:32 AM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Shame, i was hoping this series was about english football hooligans
Old 01-09-12, 01:25 AM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

For a two hour launch event the ep was pretty weak and pretty dull IMO.. To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of law dramas in the first place...

It's just a chunky way to start off a show to leap right into the main season arc ramping up.. Frantic pacing and edit and.. and.. .AND!?!!!.... nothing.. as the show goes full stop with in 5min and jumps back in time to what seems like a random "case of the week".... then spends two hours on that case as the show 100% ignores what happened at the start, until the last 5min.....

just strange.. I can understand doing flash backs but the pacing over all was just really off.. I hope future eps just focus on the over all store arc and it's not 5min of him looking like he is running for his life, only to cut to him defending some random person for the bulk of the ep.... THEN BACK to him running for his life (for 2min before the ep ends)
Old 01-09-12, 05:18 AM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Agreed. I was really looking forward to this. It was just ok. It was anything but thrilling. And if it becomes a new case a week procedural I will get bored reeeeeal quick.
Old 01-09-12, 08:28 AM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Damn it, I thought this was tonight.
Old 01-09-12, 10:32 AM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I made it 20 minutes. I enjoyed the original movie, but they started off badly with the overused action- packed intro followed by flashback (6 weeks earlier), then they went with the "Flashback within a flashback" to "10 years earlier." I was able to keep up, but completely lost interest shortly after Juliette Lewis made her appearance. Didn't care about what happened to any of the characters and don't feel like being walked through the inevitable hackneyed plot twists (moles, double-agents, etc) in coming weeks, before the show is cancelled without any satisfactory closure.
Old 01-09-12, 12:08 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I thought it was good, but not great. A little slow out of the starting gate. I really like the cast and thought Lucas did a decent job as Mitch and I liked casting Parker as Abby.

I haven't seen the original The Firm since probably 1994 when it got released for VHS and maybe once or twice on regular TV since then. So I was a little foggy on alot of the back story.

So it appears there are 2 running arcs for this show.

1) Chicago mobster's son wanting revenge on Mitch
2) Mitch discovering he's working for another "Corrupt" Firm.

I didn't mind the procedural aspect of the show. I thought the case with the 14 year old and then the father wanting to hire a hit man was interesting. But, it was a little awkwardly placed as a flashback from 6 weeks earlier. The 10 years earlier flashback got a little confusing because I was thinking they were trying to recreate something from the 1993 movie.

BTW, I can't believe none of you mentioned the Cylon reunion of Number Six and Leoben Conoy.

Tricia Helfer looked a little rough. But, I think she will be a fun villain.

For anyone from or near the Washington DC area, I was just wondering how accurate the exterior shots were. Especially near the Capital. I know this show is shot entirely in Toronto.

Don't forget, episode 3 is Thursday at 10pm in Prime Suspect's old timeslot.

Last edited by DJariya; 01-09-12 at 12:40 PM.
Old 01-09-12, 03:18 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Got horrific ratings (1.4).

Wouldn't be surprised to see this pushed towards summer.
Old 01-09-12, 03:32 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I didn't read a single review that gave it anything better then "mediocre start... expect it to get dull fast." I was just checking in here to see if the general public agrees... and it looks like they do. Man, NBC is just falling apart faster and faster.
Old 01-09-12, 04:49 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by DJariya
It's a Law thriller with a serialized arc. Does this genre not interest you? Did you see the 1993 movie or read Grisham's book?
Grisham's book was a "thriller" about Xeroxing.
Old 01-09-12, 05:12 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Tricia Helfer, you're attractive, but you're no Wilford Brimley.
Old 01-09-12, 05:55 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by Quatermass
I made it 20 minutes. I enjoyed the original movie, but they started off badly with the overused action- packed intro followed by flashback (6 weeks earlier), then they went with the "Flashback within a flashback" to "10 years earlier." I was able to keep up, but completely lost interest shortly after Juliette Lewis made her appearance. Didn't care about what happened to any of the characters and don't feel like being walked through the inevitable hackneyed plot twists (moles, double-agents, etc) in coming weeks, before the show is cancelled without any satisfactory closure.
You lasted 5 minutes more than I did. This looked like a spoof of a cliche'd suspense movie done by SNL or some other sketch show. There is a reason this got like zero promotion until about a week ago. This was shockingly bad for a major network show. Usually when pilots are this awful they never see the light of day and certainly dont make it to season.
Old 01-09-12, 07:19 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by Thrush
You lasted 5 minutes more than I did. This looked like a spoof of a cliche'd suspense movie done by SNL or some other sketch show. There is a reason this got like zero promotion until about a week ago. This was shockingly bad for a major network show. Usually when pilots are this awful they never see the light of day and certainly dont make it to season.
I realize we all have different opinions, but an SNL sketch? That's a ridiculous comparison. I know it can be tough to sit through a 2 hour episode that is supposed to launch a series, but how could you have gotten anything out of 15 minutes? That was the 1st act before commercial and barely 3 minutes in the next act. While I thought it was a little slow to start, it picked up in the last half of the 1st hour and in the 2nd hour.

This show also has a guaranteed 22 episode order. NBC's investment in this series is very small because it was originally developed by Sony for the International Markets in Asia, South America and Europe. NBC picked it up as an after market buyer. Unless the ratings tank horrendously on Thursday nights, all the episodes will air. I think NBC will be happy if this manages to get Prime Suspect numbers.

Last edited by DJariya; 01-09-12 at 07:25 PM.
Old 01-09-12, 07:26 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by DJariya
I realize we all have different opinions, but an SNL sketch? That's a ridiculous comparison. I know it can be tough to sit through a 2 hour episode that is supposed to launch a series, but how could you have gotten anything out of 15 minutes? That was the 1st act before commercial and barely 3 minutes in the next act. While I thought it was a little slow to start, it picked up in the last half of the 1st hour and in the 2nd hour.

This show also has a guaranteed 22 episode order. NBC's investment in this series is very small because it was originally developed by Sony for the International Markets in Asia, South America and Europe. NBC picked it up as an after market buyer. Unless the ratings tank horrendously, all the episodes will air.
Did you write this pilot or something? You're trying way too hard to defend something that was just bad.

With a 1.4 rating this show won't last anyway. I'm sure NBC has some clause where they can air the show online so they don't fill up prime time space with something this crappy.
Old 01-09-12, 07:32 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by mcfly
Did you write this pilot or something? You're trying way too hard to defend something that was just bad.
No, but I like and respect John Grisham's work as an author and his movies. Plus, he was involved with the development of this show. I said in my post that I thought it was good, but not great. It has potential IMO to be a compelling series.

In post 5, you said you didn't even watch the episodes anyways.
Old 01-09-12, 09:23 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I was disappointed with this. I went in knowing that it wasn't my type of show, but decided to give it a chance because of the cast.

It just wasn't very interesting. I may watch another episode or two, but they'd have to be a pretty big improvement for me to keep watching.
Old 01-09-12, 10:26 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I didn't get past the first hour. Didn't care for it at all. The bad acting and uneven pace threw me off from the get-go.
Old 01-09-12, 10:52 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

Originally Posted by DJariya
I realize we all have different opinions, but an SNL sketch? That's a ridiculous comparison. I know it can be tough to sit through a 2 hour episode that is supposed to launch a series, but how could you have gotten anything out of 15 minutes? That was the 1st act before commercial and barely 3 minutes in the next act. While I thought it was a little slow to start, it picked up in the last half of the 1st hour and in the 2nd hour.
This is what I got in 15 minutes. A chase scene that was so poorly shot and edited I fully expected to see a boom mike in one of the shots. Hackneyed dialogue, low production values and lousy acting. Thats what I call an 0'fer. I didn't see anything that worked on any level, nor gave me an impression that the next 145 minutes would be much different.
Old 01-09-12, 11:13 PM
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Re: The Firm -- 2 Hour Premiere -- "Pilot/Chapter 2" -- 1/08/12

I have this great idea - let's premiere our show vs. the National Championship game. We're NBC, and we define idiocy.

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