On Monday’s airing of The Black Donnellys, Bobby Moresco forshadowed the future of Tommy Donnelly. “If you had to bet on him(Tommy) or Dockey, who would you bet on?” That’s what Nicky Cottero asked. It’s a question that’s far from Tommy’s mind. Our antihero isn’t looking to rival Dockey, he just wants to go to school, be the artist he was meant to be, and have the girlfriend he’s always wanted. Unfortunately, Tommy was forced to put that dream aside, while trying to clean up the mess his brother’s left for him. His character reminds us all of Michael Corleone’s now legendary words, “Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in.”
But Tommy may have something else to worry about besides Irish-boss Dockey, like losing the Monday night slot. Studio 60, , the former owner of the time slot, averaged a 5.0 in its September debut, according to Nielsen. While The Black Donnellys, , despite having Heroes as a lead-in, is having enough trouble breaking past 4.0 among adults 18-49. In its opening week, The Black Donnellys averaged a 3.5. By week 2, it had slipped 14 percent to 3.0, which included a very small Heroes run-over. This Monday’s episode saw a little improvement, The Black Donnellys, posted a 3.9/6 for NBC.
So, Tommy or Dockey, there’s no question. The Bag Man is “all-in” on Tommy Donnelly. The real question is whether or not The Black Donnellys will be able to pull an additional 10 million viewers before the season is over and not disappear into obscurity like ABC’s obscurity Six Degrees or Daybreak. Don’t count the Donnelly brothers out yet, The April 23 Heroes comeback should give it a little boost, but NBC may want to consider pushing some additional marketing dollars behind this hidden dramatic gem.
Quite honestly, the Bag Man doesn’t mind the narrative approach. Old Joey ice Cream is a funny character. I think it adds levity to the show, and gives it the Oz feeling. Now no one had a problem with narration on Oz. But then again, Oz did have that HBO no-holds barred, uncensored attitude writing season 1.
Tommy all the way.. I hope they fix up some of the nuances of the show that have turned off some of the viewers. I’ve heard from a few people that the big issue is that they do not like the narrative approach to the plot development. I think they’ve done a good job of foreshadowing and making you want to see what happens next, if you can put aside some of the annoying character qualities and poor narration.
I will miss Studio 60 as I think it was better than 30 Rock but what can you do? NBC seems pretty notorious for having short-lived shows, as you indicate here. Six Degrees had a promising story based upon a time-old concept but, somewhere, it seemed to go in the wrong direction. *shrug* Donnellys has to live to fill the void left behind by Studio 60’s departure and the lack of quality mob content on TV - it is of the utmost importance.. well, not really… =oP