The Black Donnellys

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The Black Donnellys
Format	Drama
Created by	Paul Haggis Robert Moresco
Developed by	Scott Corwon Paul Haggis
Starring	Jonathan Tucker Thomas Guiry Olivia Wilde Billy Lush Michael Stahl-David Kirk Acevedo Keith Nobbs Kate Mulgrew
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13 (7 aired online) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Haggis Robert Moresco
Running time	approx. 46 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	February 26, 2007 – April 2, 2007
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Black Donnellys is an American television drama that debuted on NBC on February 26, 2007 and last aired on April 2, 2007. Thereafter, NBC began releasing new episodes weekly on NBC.com until the series was officially cancelled. The Black Donnellys was created by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco. Cast members include Jonathan Tucker, Olivia Wilde, Billy Lush, Tom Guiry and Kirk Acevedo with relative newcomers Michael Stahl-David and Keith Nobbs.

The series follows four young Catholic Irish-American brothers in Hell's Kitchen and their involvement with organized crime.^[1] Although the show is set in the present day, it draws heavily upon Irish-American history and iconic themes. The pilot episode illustrates a clear tension and rivalry between the Irish and the Italians. The episodes are narrated by a childhood friend, Joey "Ice Cream", whom the show depicts as an unreliable narrator. In creating the show, Haggis, a native of London, Ontario, strongly referenced his hometown's local history about the real-life Black Donnellys and the massacre associated with their name.

On April 2, 2007, NBC announced that the series would be pulled after the April 16 episode^[2]. Two days later, however, the show was dropped from NBC's lineup, presumably because of not enough viewers. ^[3]. It was replaced by the series The Real Wedding Crashers. It was also announced that unaired episodes would be streamed online on the NBC website, as well as downloads available from iTunes.

On May 14, 2007, the series was officially cancelled by NBC.^[4] On June 5, 2007, it was announced that HDNet had acquired the rights from NBC Universal to broadcast all 13 episodes of the series, beginning June 13, 2007.^[5] A DVD entitled "The Black Donnellys: The Complete Series" was released on September 4, 2007.

Recently, the show has been picked up and has begun to air in several European countries. Paul Haggis attended and spoke at the Cologne Conference in Germany at which The Black Donnellys was screened.^[6]

Ironically, the canceled Black Donnellys ranked second in shows streamed off of NBC's website, second only to their already number one show Heroes. Since cancellation, NBC has not commented at all about The Black Donnellys.^[7]

[edit] Characters

Jimmy Donnelly - The oldest of 4 brothers. He is a troublemaker and drug user, who is often involved in criminal activity, and known for making stupid decisions. When he was young, his leg was injured in a car accident in which a runaway car sped down the road and crushed his leg. (Jimmy does not know who was driving the car; only Tommy and Joey Ice Cream know that it was actually little Tommy.)

Tommy Donnelly - Tommy is the second oldest brother in the Donnelly family. He is known to step up as the leader of the four brothers and often cleans up his brothers' troublemaking messes. His caretaking nature stems from an incident in childhood when he ran over his brother Jimmy's leg after stealing a car. He promised God that if Jimmy walked again, he, Tommy, would take care of him thereafter. Tommy has a strained relationship with Jenny Reilly, a childhood friend.

Kevin Donnelly - The second youngest of the Donnelly brothers. Kevin is a gambler who thinks he is lucky (because his father had told him that he was lucky when he was a kid) but has never won a bet in his life. He is often caught in between helping Tommy and Jimmy. He is very loyal to his brothers. He is much more of a follower than a leader.

Sean Donnelly - He is the youngest of the brothers and is noted for his popularity with women. Sean would like to help his brothers with "business", but they try to keep him out of the loop to keep him safe.

Kate Mulgrew as Helen Donnelly.

Bobby Donnelly - Bobby is the Donnelly brothers' deceased father.

Helen Donnelly - Helen is the Donnelly brothers' widowed mother. She watches out the most for young Sean, but she fiercely defends all her sons, and backs them up when they feel the need to avenge family honor. While the boys feel she needs protecting, she gives hints of being much more capable and streetwise than they would ever guess.

Joey "Ice Cream" - Joey is the jailhouse narrator and a lifelong friend of the brothers. He is typically willing to help them out in their times of need. Something of a Scheherezade figure, he is a classic example of an unreliable narrator, revising his story frequently when called on iffy details. In early drafts, the show was originally titled "The Truth According To Joey Ice Cream."

Jenny Reilly - Childhood friends with Tommy and rest of the Donnelly boys, Jenny runs a local diner with her father. She and Tommy have a complicated and strained relationship.

Nicky Cottero - Italian gangster currently attempting to take over the area formerly controlled by his mentor, Sal.

Joanie - Joanie is Jimmy's drug addicted girlfriend. She seems to want a better life for her and Jimmy but frequently backslides.

Nadine - Nadine is Sean's love interest. She met Sean while selling him and Jimmy a jukebox for The Firecracker. She is helping Sean study for his GED.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Main Cast

• Jonathan Tucker as Tommy Donnelly
• Tom Guiry as Jimmy Donnelly
• Billy Lush as Kevin Donnelly
• Michael Stahl-David as Sean Donnelly
• Olivia Wilde as Jenny Reilly
• Keith Nobbs as Joey Ice Cream
• Kirk Acevedo as Nicky Cottero

[edit] Recurring

• Kate Mulgrew as Helen Donnelly
• Michael Rispoli as Alo Onnatero
• Peter Greene as Derek "Dokey" Farrell
• Molly Schaffer as Kate Farrell
• Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Matthew Farrell
• Betsy Beutler as Joanie
• Kevin Conway as Ian Reilly
• James Badge Dale as Samson Dawlish
• Kevin Corrigan as Whitey
• Jamie Bonelli as Nadine
• Peter Gerety as Bob the Mouth
• Brian Tarantina as Vinnie
• Patrick Brennan as Earl
• Lauren Bittner as Mary Ann Maxwell

[edit] Episode list and ratings

See also: List of The Black Donnellys episodes

Weekly rankings based on Fast National ratings.^[8][9][10]

† God Is a Comedian Playing to an Audience Afraid to Laugh was only available online due to network concerns over content.

Key: Rating is the estimated percentage of all TVs tuned to the show, share is the percentage of all TVs in use that are tuned in. Viewers is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions, while ranking is the approximate ranking of the show against all prime-time TV shows for the week (Monday through the following Sunday).

The pilot episode, while averaging 8.42 million viewers, had a large drop off in its second half. The first half hour was watched by 10 million viewers but that number dropped to 6 million in the second half hour.^[11]. The overall average was later revised down to 7.93 million viewers.

[edit] DVD Release

[edit] International broadcasters

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
United States	NBC	February 26, 2007	Mondays, 10pm
Canada	Global Television Network	February 26, 2007	Sundays, 10pm Mondays, 10pm
United Kingdom	ITV2 (part of XXL Thursday)	September 27, 2007	Thursdays, 11pm (originally 9pm)
Ireland	RTE2	August 14, 2007	Tuesdays, 11.20pm
Australia	Seven Network[3]	2007
Finland	Canal+	September 2, 2007	Sundays, 11pm
Germany	Premiere Serie	September 5, 2007	Wednesdays, 8.15pm
Thailand	Star World	2007	Sundays, 9pm (THAI/WIB)
Spain	Canal+	October 11, 2007	Thursdays, 9.30pm
Belgium	PRIME - Digital TV - Telenet	On Request	On request
Mexico	AXN	November 5, 2007	Mondays, 8.00pm
Argentina	AXN	November 6, 2007	Tuesday, 8.00pm
Brazil	AXN	November 6, 2007	Tuesday, 9.00pm

The show can now be seen on the channel HD Net on Wednesdays at 8PM.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Black Donnellys at NBC.com
• The Black Donnellys online episodes
• The Black Donnellys Reviews at Metacritic