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.
WTF?!?!?!??!?! mother f**ker! I’m so angry!!!!!1
NBC please bring back The Black Donnellys. It’s a truly amazing show and needs a chance to show how much potential it has.
i am so upset! this is the one show i’ve actually watched religiously for a long time after grey’s anatomy become overrated. nbc be trippin.
I don;t watch to much TV but I did like the idea of this show. SO I tuned in and to my surprised actually enjoyed it, very much.
Reality shows have killed tv imo. I don’t even carry a cable provider anymore and if it wasn’t for sports and the couple of good shows like BD, I wouldn’t tune it at all.
Wake up NBC.
this is bs
This is really dissapointing. This show was GREAT!! I loved the “mob” idea. Oh Well…..I guess another reality bullsh*t drama won’t be that bad…huh?
I just wrote to NBC (Nothing But Cancellations!) and let them hear how disappointed I am, but it doesn’t surprise me being that they always cancel the good shows. Reality shows are unrealistic anyways. I can’t wait til they cancel “Thank God You’re GONE”!!!!!!!!!
I’m through with NBC. Studio 60 was a decent show and the death of it made me somewhat disappointed. However, I quickly forgot the way NBC wronged me when the Black Donnelly’s aired and just as quickly became hopelessly addicted. I’d understand if NBC gave the show a fair amount of time, better advertising, and didn’t ignore the fact that it was in a horrible time slot. Now that Black Donnelly’s is gone, I’m boycotting NBC. Not really much of a boycott though, considering I hate reality TV and wouldn’t bother tuning into their other shows anyway.
Come on NBC keep The Black Donnellys!!!
You don’t want your viewers pissed off at you do you?????
Up The Black Donnellys!!!
Irish Pride!!!!!
5.5 million viewers should be plenty..seeming how NBC acts like 1 million dollars is extreme for Deal or No Deal and since no one yet has won that much on the show is assaulting to us Americans considering Howie Mandel’s contract is somewhere probably between 20 to 30 million dollars. So its seems fitting that they would put on some reality show so they could profit on how stupid they think Americans are and take away shows like The Black Donnellys that are unique, make you think, and show how their our people in America that do struggle not just… Read more »
Okay…I admit that I was really irritated when the “Powers that Be at NBC” pulled STUDIO 60,etc…and I was even fairly skeptical about yet another “gang” style series…..but my curiousity got the best of me so I tuned in….and was immediately impressed! Here were young actors that weren’t big name stars (or worse, fall-outs from the movie industry) doing an amazing job. I was hooked! And, even though I’m not a fan of violence and bloodshed on TV, I was actually looking forward to Nicky and Dokey getting their just desserts…. Now….much to my chagrine….yet another “knee-jerk” decision by NBC……what… Read more »
I also have to agree with everyone. This is a great show and it should not be canceled. It is a different type of show and the characters are great and so is the storyline.
We need a break from all this stupid reality tv.
This is about the most STUPID thing I’ve EVER heard. This sucks. I love the show and I can’t believe they’d pull this. Arg!!! words can’t express.
This show actually has sustance. It showed poor America and it’s struggles. Most shows out there show the rich people who are snobs and there biggest problem is shopping. Or else it is a bunch of unrealistic comedy’s. People can really identify with this show and it should not be cancelled. NBC is just dumb and needs to reconsider it’s decission. Also the fact that heroes was gone for a few weeks really effect it as viewers from heroes tend to watch donnelly’s and i think with the return of heroes the ratings of the black donnelly’s would have gone… Read more »
Brutal.