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.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:43 am
“The Black Donnellys” is/was an AWESOME show. It gave me hope that broadcast T.V. wasn’t dead.
When I had read that NBC execs liked the “Real Wedding Crashers” so much that they wanted to air the show on Mondays, I was reminded of the commercial with the monkeys and the guy trying to tell them the chart was upside down.
May 28th, 2007 at 10:03 am
i dont think i will only stop watching n.b.c. but i will probably stop watching t.v. altogether. that was the only show i would make a point of watching. the real wedding crashers is about as real as global warming
May 25th, 2007 at 3:31 am
We loved watching this show. You have to give a show time to catch on. If I remember right, didn’t NBC favorite ‘Seinfeld’ have it rough in the beginning too. NBC is turning into CBS - The Fugitive, Joan of Arcadia, Hack…give new shows some time or a decent slot. TBD is an awesome show…
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
f**k YOU NBC! you are a bunch of jackasses for getting rid of the best show that tv has seen in a long time. give the show to itunes or something. i have bought every single episode the day it came out. this could quite possibly be the dumbest move a tv station has ever made. look at all the comments, maybe 2 bad ones? (and f**k the 2 of you by the way)NBC, youre loss, someone way better will find the beauty of this show and will make a ton more than some dumb wedding crasher show.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:27 pm
What more can be said. I guess NBC leaves programming up to 20-something, coke snorting dumb-asses whose earliest frame of reference is last week. The Black Donnellys is probably the most intelligently written, acted and directed show on so-called free t.v. I do hope that executives at HBO and Showtime approach NBC to pick up an option on the program. Hey, I would even pitch in a couple of bucks or two (if only Dokey pays me back)!
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
This show is tight. I really wanna see what happens in Part Two of Easy is the Way. Seeing how a crime lord is born never gets old as long as it’s done right as with this show. I hope another network picks it up and helps give it life like what happened with Fox and Family Guy.
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
this is my favorite show and I look forward to it every week. give me a break, it’s more entertaining than the soprano’s!
please keep this show NBC!
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:50 am
wow!! i dont watch NBC usually..My son has been bragging to me about this show for weeks…he told me it was as good as entourage and sopranos which i didnt believe..i watched the episodes online from the pilot and boy was i wrong.This show is DA BOMB!! Just sell it to HBO and then theyll rule the universe with the 3 best shows on tv.Dont be fools and cancel this show.Your staff should be hog tied and feathered like they did to jimmy.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:41 am
The Black Donnelly’s season finale was awesome! I live for that show and watch it each week online! I hope someone picks it up so I can see what happens! I’ve banned NBC!
May 21st, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Are you kidding me? Did we watch the same show?. TBD sucked! Poor acting all around. I watched the first episode b/c it aired right after Heroes and I knew it was a matter of time before it was going to be cancelled. Who starts a fight in their own bar?
May 21st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I went online like I do every week to watch the Black Donnelly’s which is supposed to be updated and posted by 9 pm eastern time. Well it’s 9:20 and someone hasn’t done their job. It’s a shame.
May 21st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Great show! Great characters! The thing just got going, you didn’t even give it a chance. I hope some other network pics it up and whips your ass in the time slot. Keep going NBC with those moronic, fake “Reality Shows”
Ass clowns!
May 21st, 2007 at 8:45 am
Please atleast give it to HBO. It would be a great replacement to the sopranos….and NBC exces dont know sh#$ about what people really want to see.
May 20th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
My Husband (52yrs)and I(37yrs)are very dissapointed to learn that this hit series was cancelled. We truly enjoyed the story line, cast and the characters. What a loss. Television was ment to be entertaining not reality!!!
May 20th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Black Donnellys rocks - it’s up there with Prison Break, Lost and Desperate Housewives in terms of acting, script, production values and overall entertainment.
May 19th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Make your vote COUNT - tell NBC!!! Write a comment to them. I LOVE this show, I am so hooked. I want everyone to write NBC and beg for more episodes. The only way to make change is take action. go to http://www.nbc.com
May 18th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Dear F/X,
Please buy black donnelly’s.
Dear NBC,
F$%& the reality tv shows already.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
It’s really disappointing, as I was a great fan of the series. I continued to watch the show online.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I need the Black Donnelly’s!
This is very stressful! Bring it B A C K,
PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
May 16th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
This show was easily the best show on TV. I would gladly have every other show that I watch cancelled if a smart network would bring back the Black Donnellys.