A meme designed just for me!

[lirazel]

Any chance to ramble about TV, right?

Day 01 - A show that never should have been canceled

I thought long and hard about this. There are lots of candidates, of course, including the usual suspects like Firefly and Veronica Mars (which was my second choice).

But I'm gonna go with The Black Donnellys. (Yeah, yeah: my icon gave it away. And the tag, too.) Admittedly, it's been a very, very long time since I've watched the show (I think I'm due for a rewatch soon), but I felt like there was so much more it had to offer than we got to see.

Here's the imdb summary, for those of you who missed it (which was most of you. It got canceled really quickly): Four very different Irish-American brothers - Kevin, Jimmy, Tommy and Sean - have sworn to live by the code of "family first." But as they become increasingly involved in the ruthless world of New York organized crime, their loyalties to their friends, to their loved ones, and especially to each other will be put to the ultimate test.

It's less trite and also less contrived than it sounds.

The show hit a lot of my kinks: there's an unreliable narrator, right off the bat; the heart of the show is the relationship between brothers (Tommy and Kevin in particular are one of my favorite television relationships ever); there's a fantastically angsty ship (I heart Tommy/Jenny always); and there's lots of moral conundrums, mostly involving what Tommy is and isn't willing to do to protect his family.

Also, it had a flat-out amazing pilot.

Most of my love for this show had to do with Tommy (the brother who really just wants to go to art school and get out of Hell's Kitchen but who gets pulled into the underworld in order to protect his family), Kevin (one of his younger brother who sort of reminds me of a combination of Andrew from Buffy and Ron Weasley), and Jenny (the love of Tommy's life, who loves him back, though they can never quite meet each other at the same place). They're kind of the Buffy, Dawn, and Spike of the show for me (except that we never really got to see Jenny and Kevin bonding the way we did Dawn and Spike).

I just feel like the show never hit its full potential. It was still finding its feet, trying to figure out how to balance the whole mafia thing without letting it go into OTT territory, but I think it could have been a truly great show.

*wistful sigh*

At least I have the complete series sitting on my bookshelf.

And here's a preview of what's to come:

Day 02 - A show you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever 
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

Comments

[anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

THE BLACK DONNELLYS

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOODNESS YOU LOVED IT, TOO??

[anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

FUCK YES I DID I AM STILL SO SAD IT HAS LEFT ME WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE BEST PICTURE EVER?



YEAH JONATHAN TUCKER RANDOMLY SHOWED UP AT MY HIGH SCHOOL ONCE. YES HE HIT ON ME AS CONFIRMED BY SOURCES NOT ME. YES IT WAS AWESOME.

i'm the curly haired chick. aren't i adorable~~ twenty pounds ago? yyyy.

(weight issues lately, tangent, LOOK AT THAT PICTURE.)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOODNESS LOOK AT THAT PICTURE!

I wish his hair wasn't brushed back like that, though. Though I kind of love that he looks like a total goofball. Love. It.

BUT LOOK AT THAT PICTURE! AND HE HIT ON YOU? CRAZY!

Also, your hair reminds me of my hair, except that it's got a shape that isn't a triangle. And appears to be less frizzy. You're adorable. And you're adorable now, I know it!

WHY WAS HE THERE?

[anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

YYYY. my hair was good that day. shorter. i'm going to try and get a haircut soon. love short hair. it's too long now. story of my life.

but YEAH HE HIT ON ME and i know this because julia and eden said it, not me. IF OTHERS SAY IT TO BE TRUE WHEN I DID NOT THEN IT MUST BE TRUE?

he is (ready for this?) the nephew of my hs principle. so he was there with the elementary school for some family event with my principle's daughter, because elementary, middle and hs were all together. and julia saw him and was like STOP. and those of us who watched tbd FREAKED and it was awesome.

[ava-leigh-fitz.livejournal.com]

JUMPING IN TO SAY I KNOW AND LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH.

Also to concur that you both have very similar hair. Similar ridiculous awesome hair.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Aw! Thank you!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I like longer hair on me, but yours is so adorable there that I approve your haircut plan.

HAHAHA THAT'S AWESOME. And you're right--if other people say it's true, it must be!

That is so fantastic and random. I loooove that story. Best I-met-a-famous-person story ever!

[serendipily.livejournal.com]

I hope you know, that I hate you.

I really, really, really hate you.

Gr.

You are seriously the luckiest person EVER. He's just so swoonworthy that the mere mention of a picture made me fall out o fmy chair. Le sigh.

[madcap-shiny.livejournal.com]

I've never watched this show before but it sounds exactly like my cup of tea. (ETA: Although on second thought I must know - are there awesome ladies? I like the sound of Jenny but I gotta have a decent supply of awesome ladies.)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I think you should definitely check it out.

I admit--it's guy-heavy. I did watch it back before my feminist flowering (ha! I can't believe I just said that!), so I can't tell you what I'd think of it now, but I do absolutely remember that Jenny was fabulous. She's strong and doesn't take anyone else's crap and she makes her own decisions, even when she's wrong. She also isn't sitting around mooning over Tommy--it's always clear that she loves him, but she also can't reconcile the decisions he's made, and so she refuses to be in a relationship with him. It's kind of great.

Other than her, though, there's their mom and a couple of girlfriends of the other boys--honestly, I don't remember much about them. Like I said: I haven't watched it since it was on, and that was like four years ago.

But I do think you'd enjoy it!

[anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

WATCH IT GIRLFRIEND

[next_to_normal]

Yay! Black Donnellys love! I am SUCH a sucker for family dramas and for Irish boys, so, y'know... it was inevitable, I suppose. I totally see the Buffy/Dawn/Spike parallels (and we've talked about how Buffy + Tommy = awesome).

Also, is it weird that I watch House and am kind of sad because Thirteen isn't Jenny?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, families. How you pull me in. When I have my own show, I'm definitely gonna be playing up the family stuff.

No, not weird at all! She's always gonna be Jenny to me, and I'm always going to love her for it. Oh, Jenny.

You know, ava_leigh_fitz wrote me the most gorgeous piece of Jenny fic for my birthday one year. I need to hunt it down and link you to it....

[dee81.livejournal.com]

This was a really good show. I started watching it because a family friend of a friend was the creator. I remember enjoying it....but I hardly remember the storylines. I should pick it up on DVD one of these days. What was it, about 13 episodes? And did it end with a cliffhanger, or were the writers able to resolve storylines in time?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

A family friend? That's pretty cool. I wonder if he wants to give me a job... ;D

The storylines were definitely secondary to the characters for me, so it's mostly the characters that stick out in my mind--I need to rewatch! It did end up being about 13 episodes, and from what I remember there was an open ending that still felt like an ending. But I could be wrong about that.

[ohwaluvusbab.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Must check it out, if only because you list so many kinks :D

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It's very good! Not the greatest show ever, but it was working its way up the list!

[jnb71976.livejournal.com]

I've never seen this show, but the premise sounds intriguing.

Cool idea for a meme. I think I must snag :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It's fun stuff! I recommend it!

Oh, definitely snag the meme! It's my favorite I've seen in a long time!

[ava-leigh-fitz.livejournal.com]

LAUREN, I STILL MISS THIS SHOW SO MUCH. WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN WOULD HAVE BEEN BEAUTIFULLLLLLL.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I KNOW I KNOW I KNOOOOOOOOOOW. AND JENNY! I'M NEVER GONNA GET OVER HER!

Now I'm going to have to comb my way through your journal to find that awesome-awesome-awesome fic you wrote me....

[redsilverchains.livejournal.com]

On Veronica Mars-I will always be so sad that it ended. But...I'm also kind of glad that it never got the FBI reformatting Rob Thomas intended. Fire the whole cast except Veronica? Uh, NO.

I have never heard of The Black Donnellys but it sounds wicked cool. And oooh, Kate "Captain Janeway" Mulgrew is in it!

(However...does it have a Downer or Cliffhanger ending?)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I never believed they really would have done that. Like, yeah, she could have had the FBI plotline, but they'd have to keep Keith and Wallace and Logan. At least.

It's very good! I think you'd enjoy it a lot! AND YES. Every time I watched the show, I was like, "Where have I seen this woman?" I didn't connect it until now! I guess it's because playing a working class Irish-American mother is a bit different than playing captain of a starship?

I think the ending is a bit ambiguous, from what I recall. And yeah, a bit of a downer. I'll be able to tell you more clearly when I do a rewatch.

[redsilverchains.livejournal.com]

I just saw the pilot! GAH! All the way, I was alternating between going "NOOOOOO" and "AWWWW".

Okay, I'm checking out the rest!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

DID YOU REALLY?

I have to warn you: the pilot is definitely the best episode. It doesn't ever quite attain that level of awesome again (I think it's one of the best pilots I've ever seen). It's still great--but I don't want you to be let down, you know? I felt it right to warn you!

OH KEVIN.

[redsilverchains.livejournal.com]

That's okay. I still have character interactions to look forward to, right? I wanna see more of this brotherly dynamic you were talking about.

So far, I like Kevin the best! I love the 'going wherever you are' line!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yes! There's a lot to like.

Kevin is my baby on that show. I just love him to death, and his "wherever you're going" line is one of my favorite lines in the history of television.

And this reminds me that it's been a really, really long time since I've watched this show...I should do a rewatch....

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jems_/]

You know, I LOVED the pilot, but the second episode just didn't gel for me, so I kind of drifted away from the show when it was airing. When I caught up on DVD I really liked it, but I almost think the pilot was TOO good, it had nowhere to go but down. (She says, using an icon from the second episode. ;-)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I totally understand what you mean. Totally. I do think it could have risen to that level again if given the chance, which is most of the reason I picked it for this meme.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Oh, that show had so many possibilities. I loved the pilot and the family dynamic felt real to the characters and there was so much button pushing and guilt and CANCELLED!!!!

Sometimes I hate TV so much...

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

This comment pretty much sums up each and every thought I have about this show.