Black Donnellys’ fans are making one last desperate attempt to save their beloved gangster drama. Their hope is to bring the Donnellys to HBO, and fill the void left by The Sopranos.
How do they plan to do it? By shipping 300 pounds of Zesta crackers, to HBO. It’s a queue taken from Jericho on CBS. After the show was taken off the air due to lackluster ratings. Fans shipped 25 tons of peanuts to the network station. “Nuts” was the last thing Jake Green said, before shots were fired in the town war. Surprisingly, CBS responded to the bizarre scheme by commissioning seven new episodes.
The Donnellys, originally airing on NBC, was taken off the air because subpar ratings. Savetheblackdonnellys.net was created to take donations from loyal Donnellys fans in order to raise money for the 300 pounds of crackers. Zestas was chosen since the brand of crackers appeared in one of the few Donnellys episodes that actually made it on the air. The website promises to keep the crackers shipping as long as donations keep coming.
Unfortunately, Black Donnellys’ has nowhere near as large a fan base as The Sopranos. And it’s too soon after the series finale of one mob show to really say a void exists, especially on an edgy station like HBO.
The Donnellys hit the air just over a month before the last season of The Sopranos started, then got taken off the air when the season did start. The timing for the Donnellys was just not right. It was a great show, but the market wasn’t ready for a new gangster drama yet.
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The Black Donnellys to Continue Airing on HDNet
A Big thank you to Mark Cuban!!!!
Hey, Burt,
I kind of figured Joey’s narrative was the problem with some people in the beginning. Those of us who love this show love Joey too with all his issues. I don’t care where this show ends up as long as it ends up SOMEWHERE so the story can continue. It’s not fair we were left with that huge cliffhanger. Just in case you don’t know, season 1 is currently being aired on HDNet on Wednesday nights. Tell Mark Cuban thank you at mcuban@hd.net. If you love this show FIGHT FOR IT!
Deb, the joey ice cream thing lost me from day one. But, luckily a friend of mine got me hooked later on. I think Showtime would be better for Donnellys at this time. Just because HBO only recently wrapped Sopranos and the two shows are in the same genre
OMG!!!! TOMMY IN HIS UNDIES!!!! BRING BACK THE DONNELLYS!!!
I totally agree with you, Miles. I could hardly believe my eyes watching Tommy in his undies beating a corpse on network TV. I’m sure that and Joey Ice Cream’s narrative, may have turned people off from the beginning.
HBO is where this brilliantly-written and acted drama belongs. I hope HBO can see that. They would have a mega hit on their hands. Are you listening, HBO?
it would be sweet if the donnellys came to hbo. it would give tommy and the gang an even bigger edge than they already have. i remember watching the ep when they chopped up louie downtown. I couldn’t believe they were doing that on broadcast.
ratings stink. people tuned out of the donnellys first ep because the first 30minutes were kind of a drag. i’m a big fan, but the show just didn’t heat up until after about 35 minutes in, and by then we lost all the prospective fans.
i remember trying to get people to tune back in. just didn’t have much success.
Thanks for the article about the Black Donnellys and the campaign. While it’s true that The Black Donnellys currently has a much smaller fan base than the Sopranos, we’ve only had five television episodes to build an audience, so we’re doing pretty well considering our limited airtime! Give us 9 or 10 years and the Firecrackers will show you a loyal fan base! Right now we’re poised to deliver the largest shipment of crackers to HBO yet. We need the fans to write letters to HBO so that they arrive around the same time. All of the contact information you need can be found at http://www.savetheblackdonnellys.net. Hopefully HBO will see that The Black Donnellys could be successful on a premium cable channel. Help us Save the Black Donnellys! We need everyone to spread the word and to join us for campaign discussions at the Firecracker Lounge (www.thefirecrackerlounge.com).
the black donnellys gave t.v. and edge . . . at a time when there has been nothing like it on regular networks! another network will only benefit from picking it up.
help us save the black donnellys at: http://www.thefirecrackerlounge.com
thank you for noticing our efforts in saving TBD!
I also hope that HBO picks up the Donnellys. It would be amazing to see that show on an uncensored network like HBO. I mean, the cable giant is looking to replace the Sopranos, which was it’s number 1 show and obviously, those are tough shoes to fill. I think the Donnellys and Entourage could easily become their “flagship” shows.
The Black Donnellys ratings had everything to do with poor decision making on NBC’s part. You can read about the obstacles TBD had to jump through at http://www.firecrackerdonnellys.blogspot.com
Maybe The Black Donnellys was just too edgy for primetime or maybe America and beyond really just want more reality tv b/c that is where the ratings seem to be. I say this b/c every serial drama is suffering; Jericho, Traveler, S60, The Black Donnellys. The shows are good; the networks are making rash decisions.
Hopefully, HBO will see a great story in The Black Donnellys and pick it up. If not, hopefully the buzz that has been created will persuade FX, TNT or Showtime (to name a few) to pick up the series.
Thank you for the article on the show The Black Donnellys. The Black Donnellys is an awesome show that wasn’t really given the opportunity to succeed on
NBC. If anybody is interested in assisting to help save the show plaese go to the website savetheblackdonnellys.com.