The Black Donnellys

[Ferrari5180]

Has anyone every watch this Television Show? It has to be the best that I have ever watched. This is my second time watching the first season, and I am loving it every time I watch it. I think everyone should watch it at some point in their life. Let me know those who have or are interested.

About: The series follows four young Roman Catholic Irish-American brothers in Hell's Kitchen and their involvement with organized crime.[1] Although the show is set in the present day, it draws heavily upon Irish-American history and iconic themes. The pilot episode illustrates a clear tension and rivalry between the Irish and the Italians. The episodes are narrated by a childhood friend, Joey "Ice Cream", whom the show depicts as an unreliable narrator. In creating the show, Haggis, a native of London, Ontario, strongly referenced his hometown's local history about the real-life Black Donnellys and the massacre associated with their name. In the pilot episode, Joey says that the neighborhood is populated primarily by "Black Irish", whom he calls "a race of dark-haired people" that the Celts had failed to wipe out in Ireland. Hell's Kitchen in the series is also a fairly faithful depiction - a traditionally working class neighborhood with a deeply entrenched ethnic Irish population and an Irish Mob with control over gambling, loansharking, and heavy involvement in the unions. Although the Black Donnellys is set in 2005, Hell's Kitchen is shown to be slowly overtaken by gentrification and development that threatens to displace the Irish population, a fate that Hell's Kitchen actually succumbed to in the early 1990s. (Wikipedia)

They took the show off the air due to the declining rate of viewers during the first three episodes and because they ran out of money. NBC canceled the show and replaced it with some other reality tv show, as always. All other episodes from 4-13 were streamed online.

** Here is the Youtube link to the 1st Episode **

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpE4uJAHnNo

(Follow the links on the left hand to continue throughout the parts.)

Enjoy!

I absolutely LOVED this show - smart, entertaining television. Which of course means it was doomed to cancellation. Oh well.

[Mr B]

I liked that show alot. It seemed to get dumped pretty quick though. How many Full seasons actually aired?

[Ferrari5180]

There was only 1 season released on DVD, however, only 3 episodes were aired. The last 10 episodes, for a total of 13, were streamed on NBC's website.

[GreekGodX]

Fantastic show. IMO would have done better on F/X

[Tripp]

I'm pretty sure the entire season was aired, I remember watching it up until the last episode on TV. I think they shifted the timeslot around a lot though.

[Ferrari5180]

Originally Posted by Tripp

I'm pretty sure the entire season was aired, I remember watching it up until the last episode on TV. I think they shifted the timeslot around a lot though.

What happened was that other independent broadcasting shows picked up the un-aired episodes and showed them. However, they were only shown a long long time after their initial releases. The real release of the episodes were only streamed online during their respective days.

[Tripp]

Originally Posted by Ferrari5180

What happened was that other independent broadcasting shows picked up the un-aired episodes and showed them. However, they were only shown a long long time after their initial releases. The real release of the episodes were only streamed online during their respective days.

After doing a little research, it looks like the first 6 episodes were aired, and after reading the synopsis', it sounds like I only watched those 6 epi's. Thanks for the reminder. Now I need go go watch the rest!

[Ferrari5180]

You should go watch the rest. Hell, if you can, try and buy it. I am thinking of buying it, despite the fact that I usually download all my episodes. I want to own these on DVD so I can cherish them Thanks for the extra research, I guess I was off. Wikipedia and some sources can be wrong at times. Let us know when you watch it, along with your comments.

[Ferrari5180]

Just bought myself The Black Donnellys series on DVD on eBay. Here is the link, just in-case someone also wants to buy it. It is not expensive.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BLACK-DONNELLYS-...item1c10be8196

Yeah I watched it only to be pissed off when they canceled it! Freaking hate when that happens!

[Ferrari5180]

It would have never been canceled if anything other than NBC picked it up. NBC has a tendency to drop good shows and keep all those bad reality shows. I have been hoping for 3 years now that someone like HBO picks it up. I have my fingers crossed all the time.

[OLS]

I think that time has passed. Once you break up a cast and crew, it is unlikely there will ever
be enough momentum to justify trying it twice. Plus there is the "black mark" on them as having been
"unpopular" on their shot. I mean some other outlet might buy the episodes and run them in sequence
for you, but nothing new. I was working promotions for a NBC affiliate during the time this show broke, and I got
to watch all the pilots 2-3 months early. This was good enough to run, but I agree, not on NBC. This is
an ABC or a Fox show. They got dealt to the wrong network, for all the reasons you stated, and
for a few more you don't know.
By the way, there was a affiliate's meeting party thrown to launch the shows that year,
and the girl who plays "Pam" on "the office" was one of the hostesses, and she was onstage
in this dress that was about as complimentary to her bust as you can possibly imagine.
God I wish I had that tape today.
She has NEVER been photographed in anything like that ever, to my knowledge. Two puppies
playing in a chiffon sack!

[jsnake]

I always wondered what happened to that show. It is a shame that great shows get canned like that. This show was one of my favorites and I caught them all when they originally aired and one day they just disappeared. I was kind of pissed about it. Going to try to catch all the ones I haven't seen.

[GWN]

My Grade 5 teacher read the book to us in class (based on the actual family massacre) during the first half of the year. Still remember that.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...5249-item.html
Haven't seen the series so not sure if it reflects the original story or not

[Ferrari5180]

Originally Posted by GWN

My Grade 5 teacher read the book to us in class (based on the actual family massacre) during the first half of the year. Still remember that.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...5249-item.html
Haven't seen the series so not sure if it reflects the original story or not

You should look into TBD, and let us know if it does represent the series at all. If it does, I wouldn't mind buying the book and reading it.

[Ferrari5180]

Here is a petition if anyone would like to sign it.

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Donnellys/

[pennjones]

I remember watching this show and both me and my wife thought it was the best tv show we've ever seen. Then it got canceled after a few episodes and me and her were both upset about it. Really enjoyed that show. Thanks for bringing it up again, I just added it to netflix and it should be here on Wednesday!

[D. Generate]

I only watched one episode and it was at my in-laws in Madrid, so it was dubbed in Spanish. Always an amusing experience.

I think I followed it well enough and was curious to see more but never followed up. I'll have to look for the episodes now.

[dunng]

Great show, sucked that they killed it...