We’ve suspected the bad news for months but now, it’s been confirmed that the Brotherhood series has indeed been cancelled by Showtime.
Brotherhood revolves around the lives of two brothers in an Irish-American neighborhood in Rhode Island. Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is a family man and local politician while his brother Michael (Jason Isaacs) is a professional criminal who’s involved with the Irish mob. Others in the cast of this gritty drama include Kevin Chapman, Annabeth Gish, Fiona C. Erickson, Brian Scannell, Kerry O’Malley, Fionnula Flanagan, Madison Garland, Billy Smith, Frank Ridley, Matt Servitto, Ethan Embry, Brian F. O’Byrne, Tina Benko, and John Fiore.
The series debuted on Showtime on July 9, 2006 and, despite some very positive reviews, Brotherhood didn’t attract a lot of viewers; just 450,000. Showtime nevertheless renewed the show for a second season — albeit one made up of only 10 episodes. They started airing in September of 2007 and the premiere brought in just 370,000 viewers.
Brotherhood won a Peabody Award in 2007 and continued to garner critical attention. Situated behind Dexter, the show attracted its best ratings with 650,000 viewers on November 18, 2007. The pay-for-view cable channel continued to stand behind the show and renewed it for a third season.
Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt said, “Brotherhood is one of our shining hours at Showtime — a drama series that is among the highest-quality shows offered anywhere on television, and we’re proud to keep it firmly in our portfolio.” In November 2008, the season three debut attracted just 305,000 viewers.
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Earlier this year, rumors started to circulate that Brotherhood wouldn’t be returning for a fourth season. Showtime execs wouldn’t say one way or the other and the actors, as well as viewers, were kept in the dark as to the show’s future.
In January, Greenblatt said, “It’s a show that we love, and we’re just trying to figure out what the future might be. We have a finite number of slots for shows, and we’re in that difficult place of trying to make that decision.”
Lost actress Flanagan told EOnline in February, “We’re on hiatus, and we’re waiting to hear what Showtime’s pleasure is about that. It will all have to be balanced with what else Showtime has on its roster for this next year. Usually the shooting season was the summer, so I should imagine that we’ll know soon.”
The show’s future began to look especially grim when Australian actor Clarke was cast in U.S. Attorney, a new drama series for CBS. Though the show was not picked up for Fall, it may end up on the network’s midseason schedule.
Now, the speculation about Brotherhood can finally be put to rest. Showtime and Paramount Home Entertainment have officially announced the DVD release of season three and the title is Brotherhood – The Final Season. Things don’t get any plainer than that. The set will be released on September 22nd and can be purchased now at a pre-release discount
Some have expressed that the third season finale gave closure to the series. Tommy became the speaker of the house and Michael left Providence once again. Do you agree, or are you just left wanting another visit to The Hill?
Image courtesy Showtime.
If Brotherhood were on a stronger network for proper advertising their products, like HBO, it might have had a longer and more successful lifespan. Too bad because it was an outstanding show with superb acting, writing and was going in a great direction. Showtime and bollixed up another fine piece of entertainment.
Too bad, great show but todays moron viewers prefer all that reality show noncense because most of them don’t have lives of their own. As far as the TV execs, they are running a business and need to focus on the bottom line.
PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL “BROTHEHROOD!!” It is the best show on Sunday nights. I love all of the characters, but Ms. Flanagan holds it all togerther with her secrets & motherly ‘protection’ for her family. Ethan Embry is fabulous as the man with the conscience. The transformation of Tommy into the male equivalent of his mother, mixed with a little appetite for more power, is in great conflict with his Irish upbringing. We Irish always have that crisis of conscience to pull us in many directions, and I love how Tommy solves his one piece @ a time. Thanks for… Read more »
I too just discovered this series in the past month. Not everyone has Showtime and this is clearly a reason to watch TV! Something should have been done to promote it, I never saw ANY type of promotion. Well written indeed. Best thing since the Sopranos. BRING IT BACK!!!
A show like this should NOT be cancelled. Is there any chance that HBO will pick this up?
I had showtime mainly for this show, I like Tutors and I like Californiacation but my whole reason for having it was brotherhood. Now that they canceled it, I am canceling them. The writers did their best to tie things together for us, I liked the way it ended but ofcourse you are left wanting more, you know in the back of your head that there could have been a longer story with a “better” ending, showtime fucked it up though.
NO MORE SHOWTIME FOR ME. BROTHERHOOD WAS THE BEST SHOW ON SHOWTIME!
One of the BEST shows on TV and it’s now lost. The dumbing of America continues, I’ve canceled my Showtime. A gritty, well written and acted show that people watching need to be able to follow the storyline and actually THINK about the plot. The actors in this show were great. Too bad it’s over.
Brotherhood is an excellent show and I can’t believe it’s been cancelled. I only added Showtime to my premium channels because of this show and Dexter. They are both well written and have good storylines. Says a lot for our programers when they cancel a show like this and keep nonsense like Californication running. At least with the Sopranos we the viewers were told when the last season would be and had the option of cancelling our HBO premium if that’s the only reason we had it. Maybe everybody, since apparently there aren’t that many of us that watched Brotherhood… Read more »
Very distressed to hear this. I enjoyed this series more than I did The Sopranos. It’s a sad day when a quality series like this can’t make it on Showtime, but trash like Californication gets renewed instead.
CLEARLY,….”THE BROTHERHOOD” WAS MY FAVORITE (OF ALL TIME) WEEKLY SERIES. BRILLIANT CASTING,..ACTING, & STORYLINE. EACH WEEK,…I COULD HARDLY WAIT TO VIEW THE LATEST EPISODE.
SURLEY,…THERE MUST BE SOME VISIONARY PROGRAMMER OUT THERE,…AMONG THE MULTIPLICITY OF THE CABLE WORLD NETWORKS.
WE CAN NOT ALLOW THIS “ARTISITIC MASTERPIECE” TO FADE INTO OBLIVIOUSNESS..
“SOMEONE”,…”ANYONE”,….PLEASE SAVE US !!!!
I am really sorry that this series has not been picked up for a fourth season. I enjoyed watching it and wondering what the heck would happen from week to week. Who can understand what makes a show popular?
I’m very sad to hear this since this was a program I enjoyed watching – never missed an episode. What’s wrong with Showtime? I wonder with what garbage they’ll replace it.
I finally found a show I enjoyed. It was a great show. Hopefully, Showtime will get their head on and promote the show. Maybe then it will succeed. I just found out about the show last month. Showtime provides every show on demand except Brotherhood. I watch a lot of TV and still did not hear of this one until Net Flix recommended it. Bad work Showtime. Step up and do the right thing.
I’m sad to see Brotherhood close. It was a great show and I looked forward to each new season. Guess I’ll go find the dvd and call it good.
Patricia
I KNOW ITS BEEN 7 YEARS BUT I STILL CANT BELIEVE YOU LEFT US HANGING, THE BROTHERHOOD WAS GREAT, IM FROM PROVIDENCE ALL MY LIFE AND I AM SO DISAPOINTED… I GUESS ITS POLITICS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY… I AM SO SAD THAT YOU DIDNT HAVE A FINALY.