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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372 Comments on "The Black Donnellys: NBC Puts a Hit on the Drama"
Cancelled? Great work NBC execs…based on what? Some numbers…give this some time to breath…and you will have a blockbuster on your hands.
this is the worst news ever!!
Wow! Very poor decision by NBC. In my peer group, this show was rivaled only by HBO’s Entourage. Whoever pics this up is going to make a lot of money.
im sick of seeing the same old reality shows on there not funny anymore. i cant believe that anyone would watch The Real Wedding Crashers. it was funny with owen wilson and vince vaughn in the movie, this reality s**t is awful. F**k nbc they had there chance i hope someone is smart enough to pick it up.
The Black Donnellys is one of the best shows that my husband and I have liked all year! Its like the Irish Sopranos without the cursing. NBC made a bad move with getting rid of it. Its just on at a bad time and night.
Well this show is the only reason why I watch t.v. Sucks nobody was watching it..
I cant believe that this is happening to another show that we are interested in. First Studio 60 and now Black Donnellys. At this point the only show that I am every watching from NBC here on out is Heroes and that is it. Every time we get into a show they cancel it half way through the season. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. I hope this truly hurts the NBC network completely. They are so unreliable.
This show should have been on HBO anyway.
What a disgrace! This is a great show that is well written, greta actors and good plots. The show needs a chance – it needs some support to build the type of audience these suits feel it needs. Another ridiculous over reaction from a crappy network. Shame on NBC
F**K NBC
retards.
F**K The Real Wedding Crashers.
reality tv blows
Long live Black Donnellys.
This is the only show that my boyfriend, my family & I watch regularly. I know tons of people who will be really pissed if it is really cancelled.
thanks charmaine I signed the petition and saw it almost up to 6,000 and hope everyone else signs, s60 shouldn’t even be mentioned along with the black donnellys,the donnellys is so much better
I am so disappointed that NBC is cancelling such a great new series. It’s the only show on NBC that I care to watch anymore. I cannot believe they would throw away the best new television series. Do we really need another reality show?? I’m so sick of those. I feel that it hasn’t been given a proper chance to gain additional viewers. It has so many loyal viewers..just look at the NBC message boards and iTunes. I hope NBC wakes up and realizes what a huge mistake they are making..or that another network picks this series up.
Hopefully, you’ll put the Black Donnellys on at a different time. I really looked forward to seeing this series and more!!! It is a great show, and much better than the reality crap. At least finish out the series, and let it continue beyond that. If it’s not put back on, I will not watch NBC. You’ve pulled too many movies.
I don’t believe this show needs to be cancelled. This is a great show, so its violent and tough-so is the real world. If people think it’s too violent, then you don’t have to watch. But for those of us who can handle it and love the show, please keep it on. Really-another reality show, are you kidding me-how original. Lets join the masses and not come up with something new. I’m so sick of reality shows. If NBC wants to do this, they’ll just mess up their ratings.