The Show:

With each television season there are always winners and losers. Some shows make it and succeed with audiences over while others struggle right out of the gate. The Black Donnellys was an underdog from last season but in this particular fight it was one that few people were rooting for. As if proof to support that, NBC pulled the plug on the show after it aired a measly six episodes and chose to finish broadcasting the rest of the program online rather than suffer through the ratings. One does have to wonder what exactly prompted NBC to kill The Black Donnellys so quickly.

Now that the first (and only) season of the show has been released on DVD fans are able to pick up where they left. However, I must admit that I never was a fan. I simply don't watch a lot of primetime television due to my line of work and because of that I seem to miss a lot. That's why I love TV seasons on DVD because I can watch what I want, when I want. As such when The Black Donnellys landed on my lap I was a newcomer and although the series had been cancelled posthaste, I heard decent things about it from friends.

After watching all thirteen episodes I must say that I have very mixed feelings about the show. Sure there were many things I liked about the structure, characters, and plot. Unfortunately there were also plenty of things that I felt simply didn't click. I suppose I can see both sides of the battle when it comes to The Black Donnellys and recognize why people were so polarized about it.

One nice thing about The Black Donnellys is that it follows a singular story throughout each episode. This particular plotline serves as the backbone and launching point for the various events that occur in between. It gives everything a fluidic feel and helps connect the characters even further as you get to know them. Sadly, with regards to audiences watching the broadcast, this never happened.

The show follows the exploits of an Irish family named the Donnellys who live in New York. Life has been tough since the death of their father many years ago but along with their mother (Kate Mulgrew) the four boys have carved a decent living for themselves. The Donnellys have also gained a certain amount of notoriety within the neighborhood. In the very first episode we get a decent glimpse at exactly what kind of reputation they have.

As things start out Jimmy Donnelly (Tom Guiry) finds himself in a spot of trouble. He coaxed his younger brother Kevin (Billy Lush) into assisting him with robbing a truck full of shirts and has kidnapped an Italian bookkeeper who also happens to be the nephew of Sal (the local Italian boss). As the pilot progresses Tommy (Jonathan Tucker), the brains of the family, gets dragged into Jimmy's foolishness and looks for a way to get him out of it. His character desires nothing more than to protect the family and he'll do whatever it takes to achieve that. To make a long story short Jimmy winds up killing the bookkeeper which leaves Tommy with no other alternative. He walks into Sal's headquarters and kills the Italian along with the Irish boss, Huey. This shakes things up in the neighborhood and begins a series of events that lead to the Donnellys taking things over.

At the center of everything is Tommy. His evolution as a character is easily the biggest hook that The Black Donnellys has going for it. Out of the four brothers he's really the only one that has played it straight and narrow up to this point. He attends college for art, is pursuing a relationship with the neighborhood hottie Jenny, and generally seems like the kind of guy you could have a drink with. It's when his family is threatened that his true nature comes out and watching him come to grips with his actions is riveting. I don't want to give many things away but during the series you'll see Tommy kill in cold blood, chop bodies up with an axe, extort people for money, and beat the crap out of anyone who stands in his way. Despite each of these acts he's still a nice guy at his core and you can't help but like him.

Apart from Tommy's development as a character the rest of the cast is unfortunately one-dimensional. Jimmy remains the screw up junkie with no conscience, Kevin keeps being the lackey tag-along, and Sean the pretty boy stays the weakest of the brothers. Jenny shows some promise with some relationship stuff and when her father shows symptoms of Alzheimer's but she's just a secondary character most of the time. Villains like Dokey, Nicky, and Vinny stick to their guns and never develop to any extent beyond their original intent. A crime laden show like this needs interesting bad guys, which just doesn't really happen here.

Joey Ice Cream is another secondary character but he carries more weight within the structure of the show rather than in the story. You see, Joey provides the narrative and comic relief for The Black Donnellys. Each episode begins with Joey recanting an exploit of the Donnelly brothers and during each show he'll intermittently change minor details. Sometimes he alters what transpired completely and other times he'll find a way to throw himself into the middle of everything. As much as I liked Joey and as often as I found his quips to be enjoyable I think his character negatively impacted the show. The false mentality that came from his stories and the quirkiness of his humor felt at odds with the show's intended storyline and growth. It gave everything that transpired the sense that it didn't "really" happen and created a distraction just when things were getting interesting.

And speaking of The Black Donnellys intended storyline it's hard not to bring up the fact that it doesn't feel very original. Sure the spin of the Donnelly brothers is kind of unique and the unbalanced narrative from Joey changes the focus at times but I can't help compare this show to other popular names. In many ways it emulates The Godfather, Departed, and Sopranos to some low degree of success and it aspires to be all of them at once. It does so quite brazenly and because of that some of what happens here feels tired. Don't get me wrong, the writing was very good, but there was a spark that was just missing and at times the show felt like it lacked energy.

With all of that being said I have to admit that I was drawn to The Black Donnellys. It was entertaining, sometimes engaging, and possessed a gritty violence that is unusual for network television. I loved Tommy's development but the rest of the characters just didn't captivate me as much. A show like this can't survive on one personality alone and sadly the rest of the cast was mostly generic. If you like a good Mafioso story then you'll most assuredly find something to appreciate in The Black Donnellys. The program was a lot of fun and there was plenty of potential but the kinks never got the chance to be ironed out before it was axed. I can't shake the feeling that if The Black Donnellys had more time we would potentially be looking at future seasons.

The DVD:

The Black Donnellys is presented on DVD with a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio. The transfer for the show is very clean and has been brought to DVD with great care. Throughout these episodes I encountered no compression artifacts or blocking. For the most part the picture is free of grain as well tough there are a few moments during the course of the show where it becomes somewhat pronounced. These tend to be in the darkly lit areas like the basement under the Firecracker bar or on the street at night. Even so the video remains remarkably crisp and clean with no glaring flaws to complain about. Colors also appear very natural with a purposely muted palette and fine contrast.

The audio in The Black Donnellys is presented with a 5.1 Dolby Digital English language track that makes the soundstage work a little. A lot of the show is dialogue and as such you can expect only a few snippets to filter through to the rear channels but the sound effects feature a much better mastering. Once some fighting starts or bullets begin to fly you'll notice the rear speakers come to life a little more though the sense of immersion isn't the greatest. Overall the 5.1 track was effective but not particularly impressive in the grand scheme of things.

Available from the menu or when you start the disc there are a bunch of previews for other NBC Universal shows. As far as actual bonus content is concerned there are just under three minutes worth of deleted scenes for the episode "God is a Comedian". The first is a scene where Tommy shows up at the hospital looking for Sean just prior to his transfer to a different ward. The second is an after closing hours encounter between Samson and Jenny where he asks here out. Neither of these scenes are really that interesting nor add much value to the episode they originated from.

Final Thoughts:

If you missed out on The Black Donnellys then you're in plentiful company because a very low percentage of people actually bothered to check it out. Maybe it was the time slot, maybe it was the "me too" attitude with regards to the crime family, or maybe it was the unbalanced nature of the show. Whatever the case, The Black Donnellys died before it began. Going back to watch the entire series helped put things in perspective and in the end I have to admit that I'm torn over the show. For the most part I was entertained in an on-the-edge-of-my-seat kind of way but there were some nagging problems that just persisted throughout.

If you were ever curious about the show then I'd definitely recommend renting this complete series DVD release. For all of its faults The Black Donnellys was riveting at times and Tommy Donnelly's development made for good television. It's just a shame that the show won't receive a sophomore outing to work out the kinks.

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