The Black Donnellys: NBC Puts a Hit on the Drama
It looks like the axe has fallen for the Paul Haggis/Bobby Moresco drama The Black Donnellys. But does it have to be replaced by a reality show?
The Black Donnellys follows the story of four young Donnelly brothers — a clan of Catholic Irish-American siblings who are involved in organized crime in New York’s infamous Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The story is told by unreliable narrator and Donnelly childhood friend named Joey “Ice Cream” while being incarcerated. The series stars Jonathan Tucker, Thomas Guiry, Olivia Wilde, Billy Lush, Michael Stahl-David, Kirk Acevedo and Keith Nobbs.
The series debuted on NBC on February 26, 2007 and took the place of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on Monday nights. The series’ initial half hour did well (10 million) but viewership fell off significantly in the second half hour (6 million). The series’ initial hour ranked #50 for the week. The subsequent episodes lost viewers and attracted as few as 5.5 million.
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While many hoped that a Donnelly dismissal would mean the return of Studio 60, NBC has other plans. The Real Wedding Crashers will debut at 10pm on Monday nights beginning April 23rd, just in time for May sweeps. It seemed like the Crashers reality show would air on Sunday nights but, NBC execs like the series enough to give it the benefit of a post-Heroes debut.
Unless NBC pulls the series even earlier, only eight episodes of Donnellys will have aired on network TV. The series’ third episode, entitled “God is a Comedian Playing to an Audience Afraid to Laugh,” was considered too violent for network TV and was released as an NBC.com exclusive.
The network has ordered 13 episodes and its unknown at this point what will become of the remaining four segments. They may air over the summer or could be released as online exclusives.
Whether we get to see the rest or not, it looks unlikely the series will be back for a new season in the Fall. NBC will announce their Fall schedule next month. Stay tuned! 
UPDATE: NBC has now pulled Donnellys’ last scheduled episode due to low ratings. The unaired episodes will be made available on NBC.com, presumably on a weekly basis.
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May 16th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Thats it I am done with all new TV shows.. Every time they are pulled and I am going to pirate moviez for now on and f*ck tv corps!
May 16th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I’ve still been watching the show, even after they pulled it. That wedding Crashers show is a waste of Space. NBC had something that rivaled HBO’s The Sopranos, and they wasted their shot. with any luck, another Channel will be smart enough to scoop the Black Donnelly’s up and continue the series. Bad Move NBC. Never play chess.
May 16th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I never watched NBC until the BD.I had BD set to tape, to assure I would not miss anything.I did a search and it couldn’t be found.I
figured..Hey maybe they finally hired some intelligent people at NBC.Then the show got pulled, more REALITY sh*t. Reality is, we are sick of REALITY CRAP.I realized they still have the same dumb F…s employed at NBC, so I now, NEVER watch that crap(NBC).
May 15th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
this show can not be canceled it is great it is what we call lost in the shuffle if they put it at an earlier time maybe it would be seen more
May 15th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Heroes is great but the BD’s is better. No wonder NBC doesn’t do well in the ratings, why watch when it will get canceled if you like it. They should sell the show to CW or CB whatever it’s called now. They at least give a great show time to build an audience.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Last nights episode was the best. It would be so stupid of NBC not to continue TBD.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
This show is one of the best out there. Poor ratings? They didn’t give it a chance. The last episode was great…will we ever know what happens after that? DANG! NBC should sell it to another network because it’s GREAT!
May 15th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Allow me to be frank…
Now I know why terrorism exists. It works, unlike protests, boycotts, and petitions. You have to actually end or threaten to end a life in order to get what you want. Maybe I’m a sicko, but when that Virginia Tech ******* sent that package to NBC, I was hoping that his note would say, “I did this because you cancelled The Black Donnellys. Bring it back or more lives with be lost.” That’s the kind of stuff that might just make a bunch of greedy network fatcats change their stupid minds. Of course, if the note did say that, they would cover it up or spin it to make it look like the show was what caused the guy to go crazy and kill people.
After watching the last episode of TBD, there is clearly need for more. So, please, some other network, pick the show up. Even if we only get a few more episodes where closure is provided, and a DVD of the whole series. I can live with that. That’s not too much to ask.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
What’s interesting is there were some black donnelly’s that lived in canada in the 1800’s. Alot of the names are the same and the final episode also seems somewhat similar to their end.
May 14th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
I think that NBC should put this show back on air, and if they were having a problem with the night it was on, then they should have tried another night.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Is it possible that the morons at NBC are still ignoring us? The Black Donnelly’s hasn’t gotten the chance it deserves. I am very disappointed in the programming execs. It would be nice if we could have a little more of what we want and less of the garbage they like to spoon feed. I have seen every episode and find it difficult to believe that the show is really over. It is true that the characters become important to you. I am sick of CSI, but I will turn to CBS if NBC forces me to change the remote. Pay attention to ratings and download stastics. Cancelling our show is not going to bode well for NBC.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I agree with the viewer above. NBC continually takes good shows, doesn’t support them, and then wonders why they don’t last. BD was a great show with a little bit of everything. And for what? Wedding Crashers? They took of a series show and replaced it with a show that has a five episode shelf life. Good luck with that.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:36 am
This is a great show with an amazing story line and characters.Why dont you play it on t.v. and then you will get the viewers. what a shem to cancel such a good show.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:04 am
The Black Donnelly’s is a great show with great potential. Bring it back!!!!
I can’t believe NBC cancelled the Black Donnelly’s and replaced it with another bad reality show that won’t even last a full season - Wedding Crashers… really bad move!!
May 14th, 2007 at 9:34 am
I love this show. The writing and story lines are 1st Class. I wish another network would pick it up. HBO or Showtime would be great for this.
May 14th, 2007 at 5:18 am
I love the black donnelly and watch it on NBC.com faithfully, they really should just move it over to USA network and give it another try.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
I think this show would of fared better had it been on HBO or Showtime… this type of show can’t really blossom into something we can appreciate unless we can really feel the connection to the characters, but censoring the violence and language makes it difficult for a series like this to survive the cut throat mentality of the TV Exeuctives.
I say, bring the show back on HBO/Showtime… and bring it back as vulgar as it should be (a la Sopranos)
May 12th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I cannot believe NBC canceled the Black Donnlley’s. I couldn’t wait for the next week’s show. This was one of the best shows that’s come along since CSI. I don’t know where you got your rating stats from but everyone I know was hooked on this show. You really need to rethink this decision. As far as it’s replacement, I am sick to death of these ridiculous reality shows and this is by far the worst. Bring back the Donnelly Boys
May 12th, 2007 at 1:25 am
No wonder why they are in last place since “Friends” went off; they forgot what good television is. Stupid move and the same goes for “Studio 60.”
“Donnellys” is one of the highest downloaded shows on i-tunes and the hits it gets at nbc’s site are off-the-charts; it’s being cancelled when people are beginning to figure out what it has to offer. STUPID!!!!
May 11th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I just finished watching the last four episodes of this show, which I downloaded from iTunes. However, I’ve watched it on TV since it first aired. I heard they were cancelling the show and I just want to register my vote to keep this show on the air. It is unbelievably well crafted, from the writing to the acting. I feel very invested in the lives of these characters and find the show moving and compelling, in a very real sense. As far as I’m concerned, it picks up where Soprano’s kind of dropped the ball. I think iTunes might give it new life, since it’s very popular there.