I'm just going to say this up front: NBC's "The Black Donnellys" is a little like "The Sopranos," if all of Tony Soprano's associates were incredibly attractive young men. Between the good-looking cast and the cinematic, almost epic look of the pilot, "The Black Donnellys," which premieres tonight, is definitely doing just fine in the eye-candy department.

The show, which is taking over the "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" time slot for an undetermined amount of time, also has star power: creator/producer Bobby Moresco and writer Paul Haggis, both of Crash and Million Dollar Baby fame. Though both have worked in television before (most notably on the mid-'90s crime drama "EZ Streets"), their film work has garnered them most of their recognition. So it's no surprise that the first episode of "The Black Donnellys" feels like a movie, with its expertly composed visuals and tricksy editing. Yet for all its glitz, the show's pilot was only OK. To hear why, read more

The pilot moves at a dizzying pace, spurred on by "Joey Ice Cream" (Keith Nobbs), a classic unreliable narrator who tells (and constantly changes) his story from a jail cell. We're quickly introduced to the Donnelly brothers, four rough-and-tumble Irish boys from New York City who fall into a life of organized crime. Between the boys' backstory and the crime plot, there's a lot to digest in the first hour. Even with the luxury of a remote control to pause and rewind, I still got confused about which brother was which, which boss ruled the neighborhood, and which peripheral characters were on the Donnellys' side.

In fact, the only standout from the pilot is Tommy Donnelly (Jonathan Tucker), the sensitive art student who would leave the neighborhood if not for his unofficial job getting his brothers out of trouble. He's the rational one, the one you root for, and so it's perfect that he's the focus of the big twist at the end of the pilot.

I've seen my share of gangster stories, so I can't say that twist was entirely unexpected — but the last 10 minutes had me riveted nonetheless. I'm not sure if that's a tribute to Tucker's acting or to the way those scenes were written and shot, but while I was ready to discard the rest of the pilot, those 10 minutes made me want to see another episode.

"The Black Donnellys" is very different from "Studio 60," and judging from the pilot, I think it will also be a tough fit in the post-"Heroes" time slot. The tangle of characters and plot points in the first episode might drive viewers away; after all, that's one thing that killed many of this season's serial dramas such as NBC's "Kidnapped" and ABC's "The Nine."

Then again, those last 10 minutes are good. Maybe it will be just enough to tide me over until "The Sopranos" returns in April.

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