The Black Donnellys – The Complete Series
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B
Paul
Haggis is one of the hottest writers around and is usually very consistent in
what he creates. With his excellent
writing partner Robert Moresco, they created one of the best gangster genre TV
series yet with The Black Donnellys,
so why have you not heard of it? Because
it was not a hit and in the shadow of the end of The Sopranos, an NBC network
in trouble and a shocking lack of promotion, the show was cancelled before the
end of its single season and only six of the thirteen shows produced were ever
aired? What went wrong?
Well, it
was not the show, which tells the story of the four Donnelly Brothers and their
story told in flashback by a best friend of the brothers now in interrogation
by the police to tell what he knows. Of
course, this gives the writers wiggle room to make you wonder (ala The Usual Suspects) how much of this is
true, but the one thing that is certain is that it is solid storytelling and
some of the best dramatic TV in a while.
The
brothers Kevin (Billy Lush), Sean (Michael Stahl-David), Jimmy (Tom Guiry) and
Tommy (Jonathan Tucker) who is the new crime boss head at a young age and their
misadventures. The show manages to
balance realism, intelligence, humor and a very knowing handling of the genre
with some fine casting and exceptionally good acting, which is increasingly
rare in TV today. This is all the more
reason its commercial failure is so outrageous.
People never had the chance to see it and after The Sopranos, is inexplicable.
Now, you can see one of the best TV series in years thanks to this solid
DVD box set.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is pretty good for a new show, as it
should be, offering exceptional character in its cinematography, all the way to
the unaired shows. It reminds us how
good a TV show can look when the makers actually care and have some pride about
what they make. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix is very good throughout all the shows as well, with very well recorded
dialogue, good ambient surround use, interesting music use and
consistent-enough soundfield that you’ll wish it were in DTS. As a matter of fact, all DVDs are marked that
way, but sadly, do not have DTS tracks.
That is as unfortunate as the set having no extras.
NBC/Universal
had another Sopranos on their hands
and did not recognize that. With this
set out, we hope The Black Donnellys
could make a comeback like Family Guy
and Firefly. As a mater of fact, we can’t imagine an excellent
show like this could not. Don’t miss it!
- Nicholas Sheffo
