The Black Donnelly's: NBC's "Next Great Drama"?

The Black Donnelly's? The Black Donnelly's is NBC's "New Hit Series", which premiered Monday, February 26th, after their number one hit, Heroes. The Black Donnelly's received a great deal of attention since the beginning of February, constantly being advertised as "The Next Great Drama" . Paul Haggis, the man behind Crash and Million Dollar Baby, wrote, directed, and produced the Pilot Episode. He will continue to write, direct and produce for the duration of the series. The question is, will the series last on NBC, or will it become another Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip .

The Black Donnelly's follows four, Irish American bothers, who live in the working class section of New York City. It documents their involvement in the underground, organized crime scene, of New York City. Tommy Donnelly is the intelligent, morally sound brother. Kevin Donnelly is known as the lucky brother, or at least that is what he seems to believe. Sean Donnelly is the youngest of the brothers and the "heartthrob". Finally, Jimmy Donnelly is the brother who acts before he thinks, or the trouble marker. In the pilot episode it is revealed how Tommy Donnelly and his brother become the head men in their New York City neighborhood. This occurs when Jimmy kills a member of the local mafia . When Tommy subtly learns his brother Jimmy will be whacked, Kevin and Tommy react in the spur of the moment and head to the mafia's hangs out. In an intense, final scene, Kevin and Tommy arrive at the local mafia hang out and kill each member, thus resulting in the Donnelly brothers taking over their neighborhood. The episode was summarized with a final narration, " Tommy became everything he never wanted, whether he realized it or not, Tommy just taken over the neighborhood. And he was going to have to defend it".