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.
Last nights episode was the best. It would be so stupid of NBC not to continue TBD.
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!
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… Read more »
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.
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.
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.… Read more »
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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)
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
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!!!!
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… Read more »