NBC

Do You Remember?: The Black Donnellys

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The Black Donnellys was an NBC drama that debuted on February 26, 2007 – around the same time as the box office movie The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The show followed four young Roman Catholic Irish-American brothers in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, and their involvement with petty and organized crime.

Among the main cast were:

Jonathan Tucker (who has gone on to appear in Parenthood and Kingdom) played Thomas “Tommy” Donnelly, the second oldest brother in the family. He was known to step up as the leader of the four brothers and often cleaned up his brothers’ trouble-making messes.

Billy Lush (who has appeared in the mini-series Generation Kill and the TV shows Low Winter Sun and Revolution) played Kevin Donnelly, the second youngest of the brothers. He was a gambler whose gut instincts were extremely lucky. The problem was he never followed his gut.

Tom Guiry played James “Jimmy” Donnelly, the oldest of the four brothers, who was a troublemaker and drug user, often involved in criminal activity, and known for making stupid decisions.

Michael Stahl-David (who has appeared in the box office movie Cloverfield and the Hallmark Channel movie Just In Time for Christmas) played Sean “Seanny” Donnelly, who was the youngest of the brothers and was noted for his popularity with women.

The cast also included:

Olivia Wilde (who has appeared in the long-running drama House as well as the box office movies Tron: Legacy, Rush Time, Cowboys & Aliens and In Time) played Jenny Reilly, a childhood friend of Tommy and the rest of the Donnelly boys.

James Badge Dale (who has appeared in the mini-series The Pacific, the TV show Rubicon and the box office movies Iron Man 3 and 13 Hours) played Samson Dawlish, a suitor of Jenny’s who became obsessed with her.

Kate Mulgrew (who has appeared in Star Trek: Voyager and Orange Is the New Black) played Helen Donnelly, the widowed mother of the four brothers.

Kirk Acevedo (who has appeared in Fringe and 12 Monkeys) played Nicky Cottero, an Italian gangster who was attempting to take over the area formerly controlled by his mentor Sal.

Chris Bauer (who has appeared in True Blood) played Hugh William “Huey” Farrell, an Irish gangster who formerly controlled the Irish neighborhood.

Other notably guest stars included:

Bridget Regan (who has appeared in Legend of the Seeker, Marvel’s Agent Carter and Jane the Virgin) played Trish Hughes.

Elizabeth Gillies (who has appeared in Victorious, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll and the upcoming Dynasty remake) played the young version of Jenny.

Pablo Schreiber (who has appeared in Orange Is the New Black and American Gods and the box office film 13 Hours) played Mitchell Carr.

The show was pulled from the primetime line-up on April 2, 2007 with the remainder of the episodes airing on the NBC website and were available for download from iTunes.

The show was created by Paul Haggis [the writer behind such films as Crash, Casino Royale and Million Dollar Baby] and Robert Moresco [who was the producer of Crash and Million Dollar Baby].

Here is the trailer for The Black Donnellys:

The 13 episode season one of The Black Donnellys can still be watched on NBC here.

Do you remember The Black Donnellys?

Using her favorite online handle, Rueben is an East Coast-bred gal who is now a permanent Californian and a lifelong tv-oholic. She watches at least 25 TV shows a week, goes to the movies as often as possible, listens to music every waking moment, reads every day and “plays” on the internet every chance she can. Some of her current favorite TV shows are Outlander, Sweet Magnolias, Wednesday, The Mandalorian, The Equalizer, Fire Country, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, The Rookie, Cobra Kai, Virgin River, The Witcher, Leverage: Redemption and School Spirits.  She is looking forward to the season premieres of Hudson & Rex on UPtv and Skymed on Paramount+ as well as the return of fall TV albeit starting in February. Follow her at @ruebenrambling or contact her at rueben@nicegirlstv.com.