Goodbye Tommy & the gang, we hardly knew ya….
Warning, this is really not about music, there will be a bit of music talk (I’ll let you know when), but this space is devoted tonight to my love, and ultimately, pain and sadness over The Black Donnellys. The Donnelly’s lived on NBC for just a few short and glorious weeks in January and February of this year. The show revolved around the Irish family of the Donnelly’s, their boys, and their seeming inability to keep out of trouble with the forceful figures of the neighborhood. When I say “trouble,” I am not using it in a “just good ol’ boys,” Dukes of Hazzard kind of way. From the very first episode we learned that the 4 brothers were more or less divided into two groups - 3 loser brothers, one of whom was a bit dumb, one that was the good-lookin baby face, and the idiot brother with the bad, gimpy limp that seemed to have the hottest temper and loosest morals. Then there was Tommy, the responsible, almost fatherly brother who acted as the go-between for his wayward brothers mistakes and the issues it caused with the neighborhood bosses. I say Bosses, because both Irish and Italian organized crime are big players on the streets they share with the clan Donnelly. I could go on and on about the various characters, story lines and fantastic, award-worthy perfomances on this series. Sadly, as many genius hour long drama series of the past, The Donnelly’s were swimming with the fishes by the time the 7th or 8th episode was ready to air.
This week saw the release of the first (and only) season on DVD. Luckily, it contains every episode, including the one that wasn’t going to air, regardless of how long the show stayed on the network, due to “too-hot-to-handle” subject matter, as well as the final 7 episodes that didn’t air, due to idiot network execs who ask us to dedicate ourselves to a show, follow it week-to-week, get to know the characters, and then snuff the series out because the ratings weren’t kicking tail after a few weeks. I mean, how in hell does freakin’ “According to Jim,” or George Lopez still have a time-slot and this show doesn’t??? I digress, by the way, the music part is comin’. The show, along with complex story lines, intricate realtionships, and acting that would fit in any Scorcese mob movie, also featured great music. The songs that Paul Haggis chose to convey certain moods and actions were dead on. I am talking some serious table setting and exposition going on here. He attempted to use a classic Arcade Fire song for the first episode, but wasn’t given permission by those arrogant canadians, so a choice Snow Patrol cut came to the rescue and filled in admirably to set the right, tense tone for the final, explosive scene. On another episode, “Cannonball,“ a prime cut from Damien Rice’s “O“ was used during the love scene between Tommy and the girl that tried to turn Marissa from The OC into a lesbian. The tune (from an Irishman, whaddya know) gave the scene a more somber, meaningful tone than that of the actress’ scenes from her former gig on The OC.
Ultimately, this is now more the norm on network TV, in my sad and disdainful opinion. There are tons of shows that look great every summer, but I am not sure I have the patience or trust to invest time in any of them as a result of the one-way street approach being employed by the networks. Go buy the DVD or rent it, and create your own conclusion as to the fates of Tommy and the gang.
Below is the original scene at the end of the first episode that contained Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion Lies,” please watch it!!!!
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