Met Your Mother. Before he became a writer and a producer, Hemingson was formerly an associate in a law firm. The Deep End is based on Hemingson's early work experience as an attorney. Due to the cost of filming on location in Los Angeles where the story takes place, the show was filmed on a soundstage in the planned community of Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. Despite the change in location, references to local Los Angeles landmarks were still made on the show. 20th Century Fox Television produced the show for ABC. The show was described as L.A. Law meets Grey's Anatomy. Hemingson said the show contains "the back-stabbing of The Devil Wears Prada and the sun-drenched bed-hopping of Entourage". Texas Film Commission head Bob Hudgins estimated production costs at about $20 million. ABC scheduled six episodes of The Deep End for Thursday nights. ABC canceled the show in May 2010. Episodes Reception Ratings The show premiered on January 21, 2010 as a 2009–2010 midseason replacement for FlashForward, attracting 7 million viewers and receiving a low 1.7 rating in the category of Adults 18-49. Critical response The series received a negative critical response, averaging 40/100 on Metacritic, based on 23 reviews with one positive, 14 mixed, and eight negatives. Critics said that the show lacked originality and appeared similar to shows like L.A. Law, The Practice, Boston Legal, Damages, Eli Stone and The Good Wife. The show premiered in the time slot before Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, leading the Washington Post to say that The Deep End resembled the two other shows "closely enough to warrant a paternity test". Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine said that even though The Deep End received a great deal of publicity, the show "sank in its first outing". Tom Maurstad of the Dallas Morning News observed that it was noticeable that the show was shot in Las Colinas, not in its setting of Los Angeles. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger said the show consisted of a "bunch of attractive people in suits saying the same lines". Glenn Garvin of The Miami Herald described the show as "a dreadful attempt to duplicate Grey's Anatomy in a law office". Mark Peikert of the New York Press said that the show was "sailing in shallow waters". Criticism Attorneys criticized the show as unrealistic due to numerous violations of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct