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.
 Loading ... |
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!!!
Black Donnellys rocks – it’s up there with Prison Break, Lost and Desperate Housewives in terms of acting, script, production values and overall entertainment.
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
Dear F/X,
Please buy black donnelly’s.
Dear NBC,
F$%& the reality tv shows already.
It’s really disappointing, as I was a great fan of the series. I continued to watch the show online.
I need the Black Donnelly’s!
This is very stressful! Bring it B A C K,
PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
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.
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!
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.
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).
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
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.