"The Black Donnellys"

I saw the Monday night premiere of "The Black Donnellys."

Awesome beginning.

A real, gritty show with interestingly flawed characters. Sure, the mob thing has been done before, but who cares? At this point, you're not going to come up with some amazingly original idea...all you can do is try to put out something that is entertaining and engaging...and this show definitely does that. The storytelling style is much like the movie "Goodfellas" as it has occasional narration. The character that does the narration is great...his delivery has a lot of personality and humor to it.

I'm not usually into mob stories, but I saw it since a UCLA mentor of mine, Laurie Hutzler, was part of the writing staff.

I heard vaguely that critics don't like the show and that it got low ratings following "Heroes," but I hope viewers and NBC give this show a chance.

The characters are compelling and the writing is exquisite. The acting is also good. It is insanely interesting and the excitement keeps building throughout the episode. A lot of thought and effort went into this series and episode and I would hate to see it fail without viewers even giving it a chance. The music score also goes along perfectly.

I loved the character development, loved the story line, and loved the over all atmosphere of the episode. I also liked that the story was being told from another character's point of view, Joey Ice Cream, from some time in the future as he sits being questioned by the police. It sets the tone right there, that there is more to this story, more to come.

The first 30 minutes without commercial breaks were great. I thought it helped pull people further into the story. We got enough background information to know what’s going on, but doesn't drag on so that people don't lose interest. It was also nice to see the different personalities of each of the brothers . . . Nice twist on the typical mob formula. Irish (not Italian) and late teens, early 20s. Not to mention the love story that is right under the surface. I am sure it will lead to some interesting conflict to go along with keeping the neighborhood under control.

Jimmy's plan to help Kevin out of gambling debt backfires, forcing the two to kidnap local mob boss Sal Minnetta's nephew Louie. When Sal's right-hand-man Nicky Cottero decides to take the matters into his own hands, it's up to Tommy to set things right.

Not sure if it can sustain the quality of the pilot...we'll see where it goes from here, but the pilot was great.