NBC Finally Scores with The Black Donnellys: A TV Review

NBC has been struggling since the start of the season to pair the hit show "Heroes" with a decent show that people would wan to stick around for. They made an attempt with "Studio 60" but it was certainly not effective. Whatever it is Aaron Sorkin may have had during his heyday with "The West Wing" he apparently lost this time around. How is it he could spend so much time creating crackling and sparkling dialogue but forget to create characters or stories that would make us care about any of it? I didn't like a single character on the show. I could care less about the actors because if the character that actor is playing I can't care about it could be the best actors in the world.

Well, the executives at NBC made a decent decision and got rid of Sorkin's latest let's-all-move-an-talk-really-quickly-and-show-how-smart-we-are-but-let's-not-make-characters-the-viewers-can-invest-in attempt. The show is called "The Black Donnellys" and it debuted February 26. It's worth checking out and that's a good thing. I like to keep the same channel on when I watch television instead of having to flip around and it's nice to move from one of the best written shows on television (Heroes) with a show that manages to be smart and compelling and create three dimensional characters that you can sympathize with.

The show is potentially very complex. The plot of the series debut was complex and introduced characters so fast you had to be paying attention to keep up with them. A few times I admit I got a little lost. These characters speak very quickly and considering the series appears to be narrated by some fast-talking shyster who happens to be in jail it can be a challenge. There are also a large number of characters. The Donnelly family is a large one with a large number of brothers and the casting people managed to find actors who actually do sort of resemble each other and look like brothers so there's another challenge.