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"Boomtown" debuted on NBC in
September, 2002. The network officially canceled this
award-winning series on
November 4, 2003, after airing only two episodes of the second
season. The last four episodes were, finally, shown in December,
2003. |
The first season DVD
was released on July 20th.
Special
features include:
* 6 Audio Commentaries
Featuring Graham Yost, Jon
Avnet,
Donnie Wahlberg, Larry Andries, Chris
Brancato,
Bert Salke, Kevin Dunigan, Fred Golan, Neal
McDonough, Fred
Keller, and Mykelti Williamson.
* Featurette: "Building Boomtown"
- An inside look
at the
creative challenges of making the series.
* Featurette: "The Boomtown
Shuffle" - An
exploration
of
the unique storytelling style adopted by the
show.
Screen captures
of Neal's interviews in the featurettes
Screen captures
of other cast members' interviews
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"Boomtown" was
a stylish ensemble drama that told the street-level story of the City
of Angels with a unique twist -- as seen
from the diverse perspectives
of the city's unsung and imperfect heroes. They were
the cops, paramedics, beat reporters, members of the D.A.'s
office and city officials whose stories overlapped and intertwined,
creating the experience that was Boomtown.
Cast:
Donnie
Wahlberg
Neal McDonough
Mykelti Williamson
Jason Gedrick
Gary Basaraba
Nina Garbiras (1st season)
Lana Parrilla
Vanessa Williams (2nd season) |
Neal as David
McNorris
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Reviews of Neal's
performance
as David McNorris
Robert
Bianco, USA Today
"Jon Avnet directs a brilliant, gripping Boomtown (episode titled
"Execution" that solidifies the show's position as one of TV's
best. In it, McNorris (the fabulous Neal McDonough) is caught in
a frightening cat-and-mouse game with a convicted murderer, who wants
to trade the life of a kidnapped cop for a stay of execution. On
the worst 'reality' days, Boomtown restores my faith in network TV".
(After naming Neal as one of the Top 10 Actors on TV):
It only stands to reason that the year's best series would house some
of its best actors. And indeed, a case could be made on this list
for Donnie Wahlberg, Mykelti Williamson, Jason Gedrick and Gary
Basaraba. (And when Emmy ballots go out next month, hope that
voters remember Joe Penny in the guest-actor category.) But the
spot goes to McDonough,
because he was at the center of two of the NBC drama's best episodes,
and because his character took the most interesting personal journey.
When we met McNorris, he seemed like your typical slick, good-looking,
ambitious TV district attorney. But there was always something about
McDonough, in his combative stance and those startling blue eyes, that
made the character seem deeper and somehow disquieting. Over the course
of the shortened season, McDonough exposed the demons behind the
facade, but he did so in a way that made
both the collapse and the promise of recovery seem inevitable. Nothing
on the recently announced network schedules made me happier than the
return
of his show and another year with McNorris and his friends.
Episode to watch: "The David McNorris Show" (Dec. 1): Talk about your
tough choices. McDonough was equally impressive
hitting bottom in "Blackout," the second of the McNorris showcase
episodes. But forced to choose, go with this earlier episode, the
one in which McNorris first realizes that he has lost control of
himself
and his life. He has become everything he abhors, and McDonough (and
a wonderfully nuanced script) makes his moment of self-realization
shattering.
Matt Roush, TV Guide
"'When he's on fire, I'm
glad he's on our side,' says Detective Joel Stevens (Donnie Wahlberg)
about Boomtown's most volcanic personality, the charismatic,
opportunistic and philandering deputy D.A., David McNorris, played with
arrogant zeal by Neal McDonough. If
the eyes are the mirrors to the soul, McDonough's surely
glitter with a confidence that can't entirely mask
this D.A.'s utter self-loathing."
TV Guide Online
Neal McDonough, Boomtown: D.A. David McNorris may be the most obnoxious
tube good guy this side of Xander Berkeley's 24 alias, but if there's
one thing he believes in, it's justice. That said, there is but one way
that the Academy could see that justice is served: Give a nod to the
guy who plays him.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram praised Neal's
performance as David McNorris on "Boomtown" as being one
of the five best on television by saying:
In 2001, McDonough made an impression in the HBO World War II
miniseries Band of Brothers, but it was in another uniform -- that of a
pin-striped, icy-blue-eyed assistant district attorney with a tendency
to drink, womanize, law-break, punch and be punched -- that he emerged
as one of this season's best characters. Boomtown drifted away from its
original vision of telling one story from several points of view, and
instead concentrated on one character per episode. When it was a David
McNorris episode, you knew it was going to be a good one.
Dusty Saunders, Rocky Mountain News
"And if
Los
Angeles had a district attorney like the one Neal McDonough plays on
Boomtown, the city would really be in trouble. McDonough has been
brilliant
as the pragmatic lawman who wields his power for personal use and abuse
(Regarding the episode, "Blackout") The spotlight shines on Neal
McDonough as self-serving deputy district attorney David McNorris, who
has been on a downward spiral in recent episodes because of his heavy
drinking. This hour (aptly titled Blackout) traces a drunken,
night-on-the- town binge of McNorris, who wakens from his alcoholic
coma to discover a headlight is smashed, his car splattered with blood
and that an elderly man has been killed in a hit-and-run accident.
Following the series' format of viewing story lines from the
perspective of other cast members, we discover what actually happened
during McNorris' nasty binge. McDonough, one of many talented actors in
the ensemble cast, is particularly effective during a garage scene
when, still in an alcoholic stupor, he talks to himself - both as a
prosecutor and a defendant -
while incoherently checking out his damaged auto. This is Emmy material for McDonough.
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