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Donnelly Fans Spread Hope on Crackers

Fri., Jul. 6, 2007 5:48 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

The Black Donnellys can only hope that their fans are totally nuts.

Followers of the short-lived NBC mob drama have taken a cue from Jericho's peanut-pushing saviors and have concocted their own plan to try and bring the series back to life.

Per savetheblackdonnellys.net, fans are going to ship 300 pounds of Zesta crackers to HBO in an attempt to encourage the premium cable network to exercise its time-tested love for the Sopranos scene and pick up the series about four Irish brothers and their organized crime antics in New York's Hell's Kitchen.

Zestas were chosen because the brand made an appearance on a lounge sign in one of the few episodes that made it to prime-time.

The Website says that the crackers will keep making their way to HBO as long as the donations last, but, unfortunately, the Donnellys were nowhere near as engaging as Tony and his crew, as the reviews and the ratings suggested.

Of course, who knows what effect a few tons of dried goods will have on HBO's programming executives. CBS surprised everyone by actually taking Jericho fans up on their nutty scheme, which was inspired by the last thing Jake Green (played by Skeet Ulrich) says to New Bern's self-proclaimed leader before the two towns go to war.

After Jake says "nuts," but before the first shot was fired, however, season one ended and the apocalyptic drama was left off the 2007-08 schedule. The show, interestingly enough, started off as a breakout hit for CBS last fall, but after a months-long winter hiatus lost about a quarter of its 10.5 million viewers, returning opposite American Idol on Wednesdays.

Fans subsequently sent 25 tons of peanuts (which are actually legumes, but whatever) to CBS and various media outlets, begging for a stay of execution.

Defying the network gods, CBS actually relented and announced plans for at least seven new episodes of Jericho to premiere sometime midseason.

A repeat of season one kicks off tonight, actually, starting with the "whoa, where's that mushroom cloud coming from?" pilot. So now we'll see just how loyal those Jericho fans really are, and whether the impressive amount of publicity has won the series any previously uninterested converts. Season one will also be out on DVD Sept. 25.

But while a reprieve seems like a long shot, The Black Donnellys' own peanut gallery is singing the cracker plan's praises.

"The story of The Black Donnellys deserves to be told! It is a tremendous show!" commented Paige on the Los Angeles Times' Showtracker blog. "The show only aired on NBC for 5 episodes so TBD didn't have time to draw the fan base that Jericho has. However, our fan base is large in comparison and we are passionate and dedicated to bring our boys back. TBD would be a great fit for HBO!"

"I think The Black Donnellys is an awesome show! I hope HBO picks it up...it would be a very smart idea. Sending crackers is awesome!! Oh to be a firecracker!!" added mrsstracey.

The Black Donnellys, starring Jonathan Tucker, Thomas Guiry, Billy Lush and Michael Stahl-David, originally aired Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC. Episodes that never made it on air are available for viewing on nbc.com.