Brotherhood is an American crime drama television series created by Blake Masters about the intertwining lives of the Irish-American Caffee brothers from Providence, Rhode Island: Tommy (Jason Clarke) is a local politician and Michael (Jason Isaacs) is a gangster involved with New England's Irish Mob.

The show also features their mother Rose (Fionnula Flanagan), cousin Colin Carr (Brían F. O'Byrne), childhood friend and Rhode Island state detective Declan Giggs (Ethan Embry), Irish mob boss Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman), Tommy's wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish), and Michael's criminal partner Pete McGonagle (Stivi Paskoski).

Brotherhood was originally broadcast by the premium cable network Showtime in the United States from July 9, 2006, to December 21, 2008, with the show's three seasons consisting of eleven, ten and eight episodes.

Prior to creating the series, Masters made a living selling screenplays to film studios; however, he never got an original project produced.

Stephen brought Masters to present the idea to premium cable network Showtime, who were immediately receptive and financed the production of a pilot episode.

Jean de Segonzac, Leslie Libman, Thomas Carter, Michael Corrente, Seith Mann and Tim Hunter directed one episode each.

[8] Stephen and her team also helped write the tax incentive legislation for film and television production in Rhode Island.

[4][9] The Providence Journal editorialized on the production as follows: The production of Showtime's The Brotherhood has enlivened Providence streets on and off for months ... An occasional loss of parking spaces to film crews and tax dollars for incentives to bring them here sets some teeth to grinding, but few don't feel the tingle of curiosity when approaching one of those star trailers ... Movies mean money, and film festivals lubricate our celloid (sic) culture in preparation for more.Some scenes were filmed at the Olneyville New York System Restaurant in Providence and Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

[11] The death of a local Irish mob figure, Patrick "Paddy" Mullin, allows for the return of Michael Caffee to "The Hill" neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island.

Tommy's wife Eileen is keeping secrets from her family, such as her drug abuse and her affair with mailman Carl Hobbs.

Tommy defuses the owners' intentions to press charges by passing her on to Declan Giggs, a cop who was once friends with the Caffees.

Eileen's drug use intensifies and she is arrested for erratic behavior; Pete also gives in to his addiction and Michael takes him to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Tommy's eldest daughter Mary Rose is caught trying some of her mother's drugs by Michael and he gives her a job in his store to keep an eye on her.

[32][33] Everyone in "The Hill" attends a big Irish wedding, as Tommy Caffee tries to avoid a legal trap set up by an ambitious U.S. Attorney, who has promised him immunity if he will testify about Michael's dealing with Freddie.

Desperate to prove his competence, Michael kills a jewish gangster who owes Freddie money, but not before having the first in a series of paralyzing seizures.

When Tommy sees through the trap, he sets up Carvalho with the same detective, stalling Franklin's investigation and neutering Carvahlo's support for the rival candidate.

The fact that Tommy had known that Freddie planned to kill Michael at the Finnerty wedding and yet said nothing, ruptured the brothers’ relationship, with no immediate prospect of reconciliation.

Michael knows that Freddie will contract Nozzolli to kill him, so he attempts to remove Nozolli by implicating him in a deal to sell HGH supplied by a local dentist, and then exposing the scheme to Franklin.

Tommy is still majority leader, although his unsuccessful attempt at capturing the speakership has forced him to become Speaker Donatello's errand boy.

This brings him into contact with Brian Kilpatrick, a developer who wants the state to buy decrepit industrial property on the city's waterfront.

[39] In June, Kevin Chapman, who played Freddie, was cast as Terrence Garrity, brother of the Sean character in the FX series Rescue Me.

[45] The Hollywood Reporter noted the parallels between the morally grey areas inhabited by the characters and the muted tones of their surroundings.

[2][7][13][44] Some felt that it was actually closer in tone to another HBO drama The Wire[2][7] in portraying "a fine-textured portrait of a blue-collar city"[13] and predicted the series would face a comparable struggle in finding an audience.

[7] Critics have characterized the show as being part of a wave of programming that put Showtime on a level with their pay cable rival HBO for quality.

[7][43][13] The Hollywood Reporter named the show as the one to watch over the summer it debuted and stated that the ensemble of well-drawn characters creates a "reality that speaks to the collision of interests, the dispersal of power and the impossibility of effective compromise.

[46] Frazier Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described the show as a "masterpiece"[44] and Gallo called it "the jewel Showtime has sought for years.

"[46] Writing of the third season, Ginia Bellafante of The New York Times wrote, "No show on television has better captured the will to ethnic insularity".

The site’s critics consensus reads, "Brotherhood achieves an authentic sense of place while unleashing ferociously good actors onto a story rife with thought-provoking moral quandaries, but some viewers may find the series too glum and patient in its storytelling.