TV Review: The Black Donnellys
By Dennis West
When my wife and I first saw commercials for NBC’s The Black Donnellys, we immediately thought that we’d pass. We’ve never been much interested in violent gangster shows and the “family above all” theme that was being tagged to the previews didn’t get us interested. But when Heroes was over and we hadn’t changed the channel yet, we got hooked into watching the premier episode.
What caught our attention was the brief family history as told by Joey “Ice Cream” during his deposition. You see, Joey, in prison, narrates every episode. He’s either talking to his lawyer, the cops, his cell mate, anyone who’ll listen. Actually he has such a motor mouth it’s a wonder he didn’t bring down the family years ago, but that’s the charm of it—there's enough comic relief to lighten-up what would otherwise be a very dark show.
The Black Donnellys is about 4 Irish-American brothers whose family has ties to the Irish Mafia. The oldest of the boys, Tommy, has good intentions, but constantly has to clean up the messes his delinquent brothers are making, and in the process he inadvertently positions himself to be the leader of the neighborhood—ultimately destined to command the Irish mobs, in time.
As the weeks have gone by we’ve enjoyed this show more and more. Last Monday, unfortunately, it wasn’t on! After some digging around on the Internet I’ve learned to my great disappointment that NBC appears to have cancelled it. I thought for sure, that with the success of The Sopranos and The Godfather, that this show was bound to be a hit. I thought that the fact that none of my family or friends were watching it was just a reflection on my family and friends, not the country at large!
Currently NBC is continuing to show the unaired episodes of the show online at www.nbc.com. the are also available on iTunes. I know that networks track the traffic they get in such systems, so consider this my appeal to the world to visit NBC, watch at least the pilot episode and see if you don’t agree that it is a great show. Maybe we can get NBC to give The Black Donnellys another chance!
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17 Comments:
I completely agree. NBC really screwed up by cancelling this show and putting up wedding crashers. Reality is the worst thing going right now.
This was a great show, very sad to see it go. It wasn't given enough time to build an audience. It was an original show on TV, which was a nice change from all of the reality and game shows. I hope NBC brings this show back, maybe on a different night like Tuesday or Thursday. At the very least, keep making new episodes and air them later at night, or on a weekend or something. With the amount of people who have TiVo and DVR's, we would still be able to see it, even if it's in a bad timeslot. Or keep the series going, and just have it available online. Anything please! This show and Heroes and Lost were the 3 best shows on TV in my opinion.
Unfortunatly you can not get all the episodes online. It's a stupid way to end a good show.
The Black Donnellys deserves a proper shot at an audiance.
Look hard on the net and you will find the Pilot and second episode. It is my understanding that Ipods have both of them anyway.
Go discover the pleasure of the story of the Donnellys, become a FireCracker and fight NBC for your right to see more of this exceptional show.
Thank you for the review and yes this show is amazing and should be renewed by NBC it's an unfortunate situation and if NBC passes on this drama it would be a very big "oops."
Over 21000 signatures so far say, that you sir are correct and that TBD should be saved by NBC.
SIGN THE PETITION AND POST THE LINK TO IT EVERYWHERE THAT YOU CAN! THIS IS TOTAL BS AND NBC NEEDS TO KNOW IT!
http://petitionspot.com/petitions/Donnellys
This was/is a great show. NBC screwed up. I'm hoping some other network picks up the ball and runs with it.
Lead the fight! Get this show back on the air! Visit www.blackdonnellys.com for ideas and conversation on ways to help SAVE THE BLACK DONNELLYS!
This is the most amazing show!! I have watched it since day one and was also devistated when NBC idiotically sent it packing to their web site only!! I have done everything suggested in TBD blogs to try and save it. I was so happy to find it here and know that we are not alone, it's finally getting the attention it deserves!!
Thanks so much for this post. I love the show, and I think that Jonathan Tucker is a star in the making. I can't believe NBC would cancel a show that has everything - great writing, amazing acting, compelling characters, action and plot twists for days... What are they thinking!
Millions of fans need your help!
Since NBC has removed The Black Donnelly's from the air and is only showing the episodes online due to lackluster ratings (what do they expect when they put a new show up against the well established CSI: Miami??). They didn't even give the show a chance as online 6 episodes were aired before it was pulled. There has been a massive online movement to save this show and convince NBC to pick it up for a second season.
I personally have never been this passionate about a show and right now it is consuming my life as I work frantically to convince anyone who will listen that this show WILL be a success if given a proper chance. All of us fans have been emailing, faxing, calling anyone who will listen. We are creating videos and posters...we won't stop until this show is given another chance. And I believe we can do it!
The Black Donnellys is a show with a great cast and awesome storylines that got put in a bad timeslot with a terrible lead-in and NBC is prematurely pulling the plug. The Black Donnellys has everything a show needs; there's action, drama, romance, comedic moments and most of all, there’s a lot of heart. This show must be saved!
Currently, TBD is the most streamed series on NBC.com and is in the top 10 most downloaded seasons/episodes on itunes. I think this says a lot about the show. It had a horrible time slot with a horrible lead in, but the numbers from itunes and nbc.com speak for themselves.
Our official petition has over 22,000 signatures and it is growing by the second (http://petitionspot.com/petitions/Donnellys)
The stars of the show have been in constant contact with us fans as they are regularly updating us and sending constant encouragement. I have never seen this in actors before. It's so great that they are willing to take the time and talk with their fans.
There is some hope that if the online episodes remain among the most streamed videos on nbc.com and if they keep their current status on itunes, then the show MIGHT be picked back up! So PLEASE get the word out to those Black Donnelly fans that do not know this!
The forums, myspace, facebook, and livejournal communities dedicated to this show have EXPLODED since the terrible news about the show was released...but we need a bigger voice to help us out. Is there anything you can do to help TBD fans?? All I ask is that you check out http://www.nbc.com and watch a few of the episodes (or download them on itunes); you will soon see that this show is a keeper. Please keep letting all your readers know about this amazing show and that the die hard fans are taking the NBC giants head on and fighting for what we believe in!
Sincerely,
Save The Black Donnellys! Go to NBC.com Watch New Episode Mondays @ 9pm
Thanks to everyone who've left comments! I had no idea that there were so many people who enjoyed the show as much as I do. I've signed the petition and hope we can keep this show from being gone for good!
Keep it up!
Totally agree! I'm not big into what's on TV these days but I was crushed when I found out it was cancelled. It's too bad you have to fork over money to pay for good tv on HBO. This was the Sopranos everyone could watch.
I am very frusterated that the black donnellys has been taken off the air. I've watched it since day one and now what am i supposed to do on Mondays at 10. Well i could always watch what is ruining our youth today, which is reality television (The Real Wedding Crashers) this was a terrible mistake and hope that NBC will put the black donnellys back on the air.
I was also extremely disappointed when the show was cancelled. I remember watching previews for the show. However, I was very interested in seeing the show. When I watched the first episode I was not disappointed. I is a great show.
The Black Donnelly fans also know as the "firecrackers" have been in action for awhile with a campaign to target another network to pick up this great show! Visit www.savetheblackdonnellys.net and check out the petition with over 36,000 signatures! Their is a loyal fan base following that needs to be acknowledged! Mark Cuban of HDnet realized how great this show is and is currently airing the first season on Wednesday nights at 8:00 EST!
Join us in our fight to bring back our beloved show!
Its really a shame this show got cancelled. For those who haven't been able to watch the episodes online or your from Canada and won't be allowed to watch it online, i recommend you learn how to use torrents and download the episodes off the net. One of the best shows out there that got screwed by bad marketing.
Cheers
anonymous...
Reality, reality, reality... Enough!!!
Heros is a good show, TBD is"r"was a great show. Mondays suck but because of those two shows I looked forward to my Mon. nights holding down the couch!
Do yourselves a favor NBC, bring TBD back. Tommy Donnelly rocks!!!
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