The Black Donnellys

the 2007 NBC TV show

The Black Donnellys is an American drama television series that debuted on NBC on February 26, 2007, and last aired on May 14, 2007. The Black Donnellys was created by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco and starred Jonathan Tucker, Olivia Wilde, Billy Lush, Tom Guiry, Kirk Acevedo, Michael Stahl David, and Keith Nobbs. The series follows four young Roman Catholic Irish American brothers in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and their involvement with petty and organized crime, specifically the Irish Mob. Set in the present day, the show draws heavily upon Irish American history and themes of family and loyalty. The pilot episode illustrates a clear tension and rivalry between Irish and 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 the neighborhood is populated primarily by "Black Irish", whom he calls "a race of dark haired people" the Celts had failed to wipe out in Ireland. The series portrays Hell's Kitchen as a traditionally working class neighborhood with a deeply entrenched ethnic Irish population and an Irish Mob with control over illegal gambling and loansharking, and heavy involvement in the unions. On April 9, 2007, the show was pulled from NBC’s primetime line up. On April 14, the series was officially cancelled, but the remainder of the episodes were made available on the NBC website and on iTunes. On June 5, 2007, it was announced that HDNet had acquired the rights from NBC Universal to broadcast all 13 episodes of the series, beginning June 13, 2007. A DVD collection entitled "The Black Donnellys: The Complete Series" was released on September 4, 2007.

Thomas "Tommy" Donnelly (Jonathan Tucker) – Tommy is the second oldest brother in the Donnelly family. He is known to step up as the leader of the four brothers and often cleans up his brothers' trouble making messes. His care taking nature stems from an incident in childhood when he ran over his brother Jimmy's leg after stealing a car. He promised God that if Jimmy walked again, he, Tommy, would take care of him thereafter. Tommy wants to become an artist, and has been going to art school. Huey Farrell, the boss of the Irish Mob, had been paying for his tuition. When Huey dies, the money is revoked by Huey's brother Dokey Farrell, who suspects Tommy of killing his brother. Tommy is in love with Jenny Reilly, a childhood friend with whom he has a complicated and strained relationship. He struggles between taking care of his family and doing what he wants. James "Jimmy" Donnelly (Tom Guiry) – The oldest of 4 brothers, Jimmy is a troublemaker and drug user, often involved in criminal activity, and known for making stupid decisions. He walks with a permanent limp, incurred when a speeding, runaway car crushed his leg, when he was young. (Jimmy does not know who was driving the car; only Joey Ice Cream and Tommy know that it was actually little Tommy.) Jimmy believes he should be the leader of the Donnelly brothers, but his constant temper flare ups cause people to believe him incapable of leadership, so they follow Tommy. This constant battle for being in charge causes friction between the two brothers throughout the season. Jenny Reilly (Olivia Wilde) – A childhood friend of Tommy and rest of the Donnelly boys', Jenny runs a local diner with her father. She and Tommy have a complicated and strained relationship. Jenny married a schoolteacher who, unbeknownst to her, stole from drug dealers to pay his student loans and ended up stuffed in an oil drum. No one has the heart to tell Jenny. Kevin Donnelly (Billy Lush) – Kevin is the second youngest of the Donnelly brothers. He is a gambler whose gut instincts are extremely lucky. The problem is, he never follows his gut. He doubts every bet that he makes, and therefore loses every bet except one: the only bet he has won in his entire life occurred the day before his father died, when he asked Kevin to pick a horse to bet on in a horse race. The horse won, and as it was the last thing his father did with him, it caused Kevin to believe he is lucky. His gambling debt to Louie Downtown created the chain of events that lead to the season finale. Kevin is often caught between helping Tommy and Jimmy. He is very loyal to his brothers and is much more of a follower than a leader. Sean "Seanny" Donnelly (Michael Stahl David) – Seanny is the youngest of the brothers and is noted for his popularity with women. In the season premiere, Sean is severely beaten by Nicky Cottero in reaction to Jimmy's kidnapping of Louie Downtown. Sean would like to help his brothers with "business", but they try to keep him out of the loop to keep him safe. Nicky Cottero (Kirk Acevedo) – Nicky is an Italian gangster currently attempting to take over the area formerly controlled by his mentor, Sal. He befriends the Donnellys to try to take down both Dokey and Alo. Joey "Ice Cream" (Keith Nobbs) – Joey is the jailhouse narrator and a lifelong friend of the brothers. He is typically willing to help them out in their times of need. Something of a Scheherezade figure, he is a classic example of an unreliable narrator, revising his story frequently when called on iffy details. Helen Donnelly (Kate Mulgrew) – Helen is the Donnelly brothers' widowed mother. She watches out the most for young Sean, but she fiercely defends all her sons and turns a blind eye to their acts of revenge. While the boys feel she needs protecting, she gives hints of being much more capable and streetwise than they would ever guess. Derek Timothy "Dokey" Farrell (Peter Greene) – Dokey is an Irish gangster who controls his deceased older brother's turf. He gained the nickname Dokey while growing up and being reportedly "The King of the Hokey Pokey" = "Hokey Pokey Dokey". He is known for carrying an axe and chopping off people's toes. He wants more than anything to gain the prestige and respect his brother had, but has trouble putting up with the aggression of the Italians and the wayward ways of the Donnellys. Al "Alo" Onatero (Michael Rispoli) – Alo is the boss of the Italian mob. Ian Reilly (Kevin Conway) – Jenny's father. Robert "Bobby" Donnelly (John Bolger) – Bobby is the Donnelly brothers' deceased father. He and Huey were the bosses of the Irish neighborhood when the Donnelly brothers were kids, though Bobby was the head of the union local, a position that earned significant respect for himself and his family. Terrance "Whitey" Waylon (Kevin Corrigan) – Whitey is Bob the Mouth's nephew and Jimmy's business partner. Jimmy stabs him to death after discovering Whitey has been sleeping with Joanie and out of fear that he may have given up information to the police or Dokey. Samson Dawlish (James Badge Dale) – A suitor of Jenny's who becomes obsessed. He works for a delivery service that serves Reilly's diner, and makes a point of delivering extra food for Jenny free of charge. Hugh William "Huey" Farrell (Chris Bauer) – Huey is an Irish gangster who formerly controlled the Irish neighborhood. He was killed in the pilot episode. Louie Downtown (Joe D'Onofrio) – Louie Downtown is a low level bookie who doesn't mean anything to anyone, except that he's the nephew of the Italian mob boss Sal Minetta. Louie is kidnapped by Jimmy, Kevin, and Sean because Kevin owes him money. They hold Louie for ransom to the Italians, but when the Italians discover the Donnelly brothers are behind the kidnapping, Nicky Cottero severely beats Sean. In response to the attack, Jimmy shoots Louie to death. Joanie (Betsy Beutler) – Joanie is Jimmy's drug addicted girlfriend. She seems to want a better life for herself and Jimmy but frequently backslides. She cheats on Jimmy with Whitey. When Jimmy finds out, he kills Whitey. Nadine (Jamie Bonelli) – Nadine is Sean's love interest. She met Sean while selling him and Jimmy a jukebox for The Firecracker. She is helping Sean study for his GED. Robert "Bob the Mouth" Kelly (Peter Gerety) – Bob is a neighborhood bookie and Terrance "Whitey" Waylon's uncle. He frequently "solves" his problems with a grill iron. Jimmy owes him money through Whitey. Councilman Jack Trevor (Tom Mason) – Jack is the neighborhood's representative in the New York City Council. He is originally from the neighborhood and was cozy with Huey and Bobby Donnelly back in the day. He helped orchestrate Sal and Huey's real estate scheme and is having an affair with his chief of staff, Trish Hughes. Detective Frank Stein (Ned Eisenberg) – Frank is a NYPD detective at the 28th Precinct. He arrests Jimmy for armed robbery in the pilot episode and is tasked with the Huey Sal homicide case in the following episode. Unlike his colleague, Det. Geckel, he is not on Dokey's payroll, and it is implied he has been trying to build a case against the Irish Mob for a long time.

Producer Bobby Moresco conceived of the series as inspired from his experiences growing up in New York's Hell's Kitchen. Co creator Paul Haggis also wanted to reference the real life Black Donnellys, an Irish family from Lucan near his hometown of London, Ontario who were murdered in the 1800s because of ongoing feuds with local residents. Of the series' Hell's Kitchen setting, Haggis said "we decided to create a fictional neighborhood, and you’ll see that we have elements of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, and made it all look like one neighborhood. That seems very similar to what we did with EZ Street in which we took portions in Detroit and Chicago and L. A., and made a city that you couldn’t recognize." ERs fall 2006 ratings proved to be so successful that NBC decided to scrap the hiatus, and The Black Donnellys was subsequently pushed to March 2007. When Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was put on hiatus due to faltering ratings, The Black Donnellys premiered as its mid season replacement in February 2007.

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Critics had praise for the cast and the pilot episode in particular. Troy Patterson of Slate wrote, "The next four episodes are nowhere near as patient and controlled as that cinematic pilot, but, man, are they Irish: the wakes, the neon shamrock, the epigraphs from W. B. Yeats and D. P. Moynihan. And the show keeps this magnificent blarney up even as it swipes half its ideas from the playbooks of Scorsese and The Godfather." John Leonard of New York called it "accomplished and absorbing television". Criticism was directed at the storytelling and characters, which some described as heavy handed and too reliant on Irish American clichés. Writing for Salon, Heather Havrilevsky said "while The Sopranos and Brotherhood make [drama series about organized crime] look easy, The Black Donnellys makes it excruciatingly clear just how difficult it is to tell a soulful story about criminals", adding that among the series’ flaws are its "attempts to make crime seem sort of romantic and cool." with Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe likening the show to "a network version of The Sopranos with pretty boys". The Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield likened the depiction of Hell's Kitchen to "Scorsese's Creek"

Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "It may be that what Moresco and Haggis are after here is a coming of age story about how the best intentions of life must take a backseat to family loyalty. But there's so much amiss here in the tone it's hard to tell It's clear that 'The Black Donnellys' doesn't know what it wants to be. It's damning enough that the show isn't 'The Sopranos' or 'Brotherhood' or even 'EZ Streets.' But until it figures what play to make dumb luck Irish clan struggles to get out of troubles of its own making or young mob family forced to find its way viewers won't know what to make of it."

The Black Donnellys: The Complete Series was released on DVD on September 4, 2007. The set contains all 13 episodes, including the 7 unaired episodes.