Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/06/2008 Rating: Nr
Customer Reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: where are the extras Comment: loved the show - sad it was canceled. would have given it 5 stars except there are no extras on the dvd - the websites had commentary and it would have been a excellent addtion for the shows fans. Customer Rating: Summary: What a GREAT series! Comment: I discovered this series on NBC when it was first aired and began recording the six episodes that actually made it. Then, much to my disappointment, the series vanished with no explanation and the remaining episodes were made available to be viewed online. Apparently, America is more interested in being fed more "reality" trash TV than well done, thoughtful and gripping drama such as the Donnellys. Or perhaps NBC thinks that little of it's viewers. Either way, it's a shame that this never truly saw the light of day.
Since the initial numbers weren't high enough, NBC - constantly struggling bastard stepchild of the big three networks - pulled the plug on a true gem of a show. These episodes end in a perfect setup for a smash of a second season, which we will (unfortunately) never see. Shame on NBC for pandering to the lesser appetites of it's viewers.
I HIGHLY recommend this 3 disc set and predict you will want to watch it again and again. Great entertainment! Customer Rating: Summary: A Blue Collar Version of THE GODFATHER Comment: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake
Aficionados of gangster movies will want to take a look at this limited-run television series.
THE BLACK DONNELLYS (13 episodes/3-discs), from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, didn't make it as a television series, which is a shame because it's an excellent show with a compelling story, realistic dialogue, some good action and fascinating characters.
Created by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, the series, which is part black comedy, plays somewhat like a blue collar version of THE GODFATHER.
The Donnellys are four Irish-American brothers, living in New York City. Jonathan Tucker, like Michael Corleone, aspires to a better life away from organized crime, but when one brother (Billy Lush), a gambling addict who never wins a bet, has to pay his bookie a large debt or have his legs broken, another hot-headed brother (Tom Guiry), the Sonny Corleone of this saga, kidnaps the bookie, who just happens to be the nephew of the local Italian Mob boss.
After a pair of Italian hoods beat up the youngest Donnelly (Michael Stahl-David), Guiry shoots the bookie, then in order to save his brother from being killed by the Italians, Tucker and Lush take a meeting in which they assassinate leaders of both the Italian and the Irish mobs.
Now, in order to keep the Italians and the Irish from coming after them, Tucker and his brothers must feign innocence and pretend to work with both factions. The problem is that Guiry is a wild card who continually does things to infuriate one side or the other, like stealing the Italians' bookmaking business or killing an Irish loan shark.
Kate Mulgrew plays the matriarch of the family, ruling her boys with an iron hand, Olivia Wilde is the local girl who loves Tucker and knows his dark secrets and Peter Greene is the frightening new axe-carrying leader of the Irish Mob.
Unlike some series that end too early, THE BLACK DONNELLYS comes to a satisfactory conclusion.