The Black Donnellys

:

Season 1
Metascore
45

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 30
  3. Negative: 12 out of 30
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Critic Reviews

  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Doug Elfman
    75
    These tall tales flow into a stream of consciousness. That's good. The acting is convincing. That's good. The Irish stuff is heavy-handed. That's bad.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    58
    Haggis equates the slow revealing of character and plot with classy writing; you'll probably experience it as stuff you can see coming a mile away.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    50
    [It] ultimately succumbs to being an inferior story on a broadcast network that can't even remotely match two far better cable series ["The Sopranos" and "Brotherhood"].
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    30
    It sounds like the kind of "keeping up with HBO" series Showtime would do, except the premium cable channel already aired an Irish mobster series, "Brotherhood." And it had richer characters and superior plotting.
  6. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    10
    This pretentious mishmash is a paint-by-numbers Irish-American "Sopranos" ripoff.
  7. Detroit Free Press
    Reviewed by: Mike Duffy
    75
    A terrific series pilot that gives off little echoes of everything from "GoodFellas" to "The Departed."
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Barry Garron
    40
    Maybe this show would be more compelling if the Donnellys were a little less black and a little more gray.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Paul Brownfield
    0
    NBC sent out five episodes; I sat through three before throwing the DVD on the Donate to Public Library pile. I would like to apologize in advance to the library.
  10. Newark Star-Ledger
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    40
    If "Donnellys" wants a shot at doing better than "Studio 60" in its timeslot, it needs at least a hint of a larger-than-life figure.
  11. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    20
    "Donnellys" creaks and sighs, moans and slumps, and ambles along like a world-weary cliche, unable or unwilling to lift its head above the humdrum banality to which it has been consigned.
  12. Orlando Sentinel
    Reviewed by: Hal Boedeker
    30
    The Black Donnellys is not top of the world... or the second coming of The Sopranos. The new drama is old wine poured into fancy, contemporary bottles.
  13. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    70
    If you enjoy complex, murky dramas about morally ambiguous characters, played by a talented cast of newcomers, then enjoy "The Black Donnellys" while it lasts.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Virginia Heffernan
    10
    Like “Crash,” “The Black Donnellys” is more of a lecture than a drama.
  15. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    25
    You'll eventually be able to tell one gun-toting, ax-wielding character from another. You're just not likely to develop a desire to spend time with them.
  16. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    30
    [A] grim, brooding, utterly muddled crime series.
  17. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: David Zurawik
    70
    Those viewers who can come to terms with Joey's voice will find themselves richly rewarded by the powerful performances of Tucker as Tommy Donnelly and Olivia Wilde as Jenny Reilly.
  18. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    40
    Ultimately "The Black Donnellys" pales in the light of its lofty influences.
  19. Kansas City Star
    Reviewed by: Aaron Barnhart
    80
    It feels like Haggis and Moresco are picking up right where “EZ Streets” left off.
  20. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    70
    Where The Sopranos slices and dices American culture from a thousand different angles and The Brotherhood explores the shadowy nexus between crime and politics, The Black Donnellys sticks mainly to the vices, virtues and vicissitudes of family.
  21. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    75
    All the Haggis-Moresco touches are here, from the imaginative choices and uses of music to the sly surprises and twisted humor.
  22. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    50
    While "Studio 60" is/was an annoying, insidery and smug series about the inside doings of the annoyingly smug cast of a "Saturday Night Live-ish" show, "Donnellys" is the annoying, insidery and smug series about the doings of the Donnelly brothers, low-level thugs in Hell's Kitchen in New York City.
  23. Philadelphia Daily News
    Reviewed by: Ellen Gray
    50
    I just couldn't buy in.
  24. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Storm
    70
    It's a swell story, if sometimes grim.
  25. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    75
    It gets an unexpected freshness from a young cast. [5 Mar 2007, p.37]
    All this critic's reviews
  26. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: John Leonard
    70
    What we have here is accomplished and absorbing television.
  27. Slate
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    40
    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.
  28. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    20
    To say these guys are stereotypes does insult to the clichés they clumsily represent.
  29. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    30
    Unfortunately, the young actors on display aren’t compelling enough to make us care much beyond their sometimes stupidly self-induced crises.
  30. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Nancy DeWolf Smith
    10
    As they stumble from one brutal act to another, accompanied by a hip rock soundtrack, we're not watching dramatic art; it's more like "Dawson's Creek" for psychopaths.
  31. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    30
    While "The Sopranos" and "Brotherhood" make it look easy, "The Black Donnellys" makes it excruciatingly clear just how difficult it is to tell a soulful story about criminals.

Awards & Rankings

74
#74 Best TV Season of 2007
6
#6 Most Discussed TV Season of 2007
40
#40 Most Shared TV Season of 2007

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 222 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 196 out of 222
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 222
  3. Negative: 23 out of 222
  1. Nemodogdad
    May 10, 2017
    10
    This just goes to show how flawed NBC programing decisions are, and how online whole season releases save great shows because of superiorThis just goes to show how flawed NBC programing decisions are, and how online whole season releases save great shows because of superior response abilities. This show was great. Had it run today, netflix would have bought it and put out at least two more seasons. Until I saw it this year, I never heard about this show. I found it compelling, and am crushed that I will not see any plot developement or narative resolved. Pity, it was great.....… Full Review »
  2. james0tucson
    Oct 27, 2015
    10
    It was an extremely well-conceived series. Unfortunately, it was produced in denial of the reality, that it wouldn't reach its audience untilIt was an extremely well-conceived series. Unfortunately, it was produced in denial of the reality, that it wouldn't reach its audience until it found its way to internet streaming, years after it was cancelled. Oh well. It's the last thing keeping my subscription to Netflix active. Once I'm done with Black Donnellys, there's nothing left on TV worth watching, IMHO.… Full Review »
  3. Tss5078
    Oct 18, 2015
    4
    NBC's answer to the Sopranos, was a show called The Black Donnellys, and it was a show about the Irish mob, starring Jonathan Tucker, who isNBC's answer to the Sopranos, was a show called The Black Donnellys, and it was a show about the Irish mob, starring Jonathan Tucker, who is as talented as he is good looking, so what went wrong? As it turns out, there were a lot of things wrong with this show that could have been easily corrected. We forget though that this is the era of on-demand, DVR, and Netflix, and in today's world, network shows that don't crack the top 50 in their first 13 episodes, don't stand a chance.

    The Donnelly brothers grew up in a tough Boston neighborhood, and their father, was heavily involved in the Irish mob. Wanting a better life, Mr. Donnelly's four sons inherited his bar and try to run a legitimate business. There is of course a problem, not all the Donnelly's are keeping their noses clean. Eventually, a pair of brothers run into problems with the Italians, and have to learn the lessons their father never wanted them to learn. The show has a very solid backstory and if it were presented in the correct way, I think it could have been a huge hit, but as it turns out, the show was like a bad joke, which only a handful of viewers seemed to get.

    For starters, the show is narrated by a wise-cracking family friend who is always telling the story in some comedic way to one law enforcement agency or another. The big joke is how does this guy know all these things when he's not there, and then, just like that, he's randomly there in the background, with everyone looking confused.

    The timing of the story is also problematic, because when you're doing a show like this, you need to draw viewers in before starting the story from the very beginning. Would anyone have watched the Sopranos if Tony Soprano was a twenty year old kid, just getting started? If this show had started a few years later, when the brothers were established gangsters, in some full on mafia war, and then gone back and showed how it all started, it would have been a lot more interesting. As I watched the episodes, I could see the show leading into something bigger and better, but it never go there. I suspect there were big plans for future seasons, but how can you start a show assuming there will be more seasons?

    As for the brothers, they are all former child stars, led by Jonathan Tucker. While he's not a huge star in Hollywood, he has made it a lot further than his co-stars, and his experience and talent are very evident, especially by comparison. Tucker has what it takes to take the lead in a show like this and draw in an audience, but that's impossible when the show is poorly written and just doesn't seem to go anywhere.

    The bottom line, I like the idea behind the show and there were a couple of really interesting characters. If this show had lasted, I have no doubt that it would have grown into something bigger and better, but as it stands, The Black Donnellys didn't make past it's first season, and with good cause. I kept waiting for things to happen that never did and eventually gave up on it too. Having an idea for a long running series usually means that show will be well written and highly intelligent, but in today's world, if you want to go beyond one season, then you really need to go all out, right from the beginning, if not, you'll be a forgotten show on Netflix, that some talented reviewer finally sees eight years after the fact.    … Full Review »
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