If you are one of the few Oklahoma residents who will not be headed to Dallas tonight or spending your evening going to OU/Texas pre-parties, take my advice and tune into NBC at 8:00. Even if you are among those who has a life, do me a favor and set Friday Night Lights as a season pass on your TiVo. You can thank me later.
Unlike my plea earlier in the week for our readers to watch Pushing Daisies, I can personally vouch that FNL is one of the best shows to ever air on the small screen. If you don’t believe me, read every review by every critic who has covered the show. My favorite is the plea by ESPN The Magazine’s Bill Simmons to save the show, but if you refuse to trust a sports writer, try E! Online, the New York Times, or it’s impossible to browse very far on TVGuide.com without seeing one of their writers ooh and ahh over the program.
And it is all deserved. This show has everything. You like sports? It’s about a small town in Texas that is obsessed with high school football. You hate sports, but love teen drama? Dillon, TX is a middle class version of 90210. Want a family friendly program? The Coach Taylor’s household is the most ideal (and oddly realistic) family dynamic since Bill Cosby and Felicia Rashad danced off the air. Like cheesecake/beefcake? The actresses are hot, and the men are straight out of a catalog. Perhaps you just enjoy quality television? Then you have to watch.
I was a huge fan of The West Wing which, at the time, I believed was a standard of network television production value that could never be matched. The visuals were amazing, the acting top notch, and the writing was elite. Two years after the show stumbled to a conclusion in the wake of Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme departure, that show has passed the baton to another NBC show. And been surpassed.
While the main character in Friday Night Lights is Dillon, TX, the lead characters are the head coach of the town’s only high school, Coach Eric Taylor (played by Kyle Chandler) and his wife, Mrs. Coach Tami Taylor (played by Connie Britton). If there has ever been a more believable, or functional married couple on television, I have not seen it portrayed. Those two eat up Emmy reels every time the camera rolls (yet oddly they were passed over by the nomination committee).
Their daughter, Julie (Amy Teegarden), is the girlfriend of the Panthers’ starting quarterback, or QB1 as he is often referred, Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford). Saracen was thrust into the starting position as a sophomore after the tragic injury to their Rivals All American starter in the series premiere. His responsibilities after becoming the second most recognizable person in town are dwarfed by what he deals with at home. He holds down a job to pay the bills as he takes care of his dementia-ridden grandmother while his dad builds schools for the military in Iraq. It was this plot line that actually gives the program an Oklahoma tie, since while on leave, Papa Saracen nearly shipped QB1 to live with his aunt in Oklahoma so that the grandmother could be placed in a home and dad wouldn’t have to leave the army.
Anyway, there is plenty to love about this show and I could probably go on about the multitude of characters who are richly portrayed. However, you should probably find out about them on your own. If you’re one of those people who hates coming into a show in the middle, Season 1 is available with a “satisfaction guarantee.” You can buy it, then lie about your enjoyment and get a refund.
You watch too much TV…
How valuable would I be to this website if I didn’t?
I have heard many good things about this show.
Unfortunately, I have vowed never to watch/read anything associated with Buzz Bissinger until he apologizes for the pathetic preface to Three Nights In August or his embarrassing interview with Boog Sciambi.
Love it. Can’t get anyone to watch it.
I love this show. I have watched every episode pretty much religiously. Each episode has a pretty good soundtrack too. “Devil Town” in last year’s finale was the best. Everyone should be watching this show. Hell, people should stay home from actual football games on Fridays to watch it.
Based upon recommendations from The Lost Ogle, Bill Simmons, and many others, my husband and I netflixed all of season one in order to get caught up in time for Friday’s season 2 premiere. You are correct. His has everything…the sports for him, the drama for me!
Too bad it is still at risk of getting cancelled.
I thought only chicks watched this show.
Anyway, I never saw the movie because I already have my rankings of best sports movies firmly in place and I did not want to throw another one (especially a footbal movie) into the mix.
So, do I need to rent the movie AND “netflix” all of season one to get caught up? That’s a big commitment.
Besides, I’m not sure my DVR has room for any more shows now that “The Biggest Loser” is over an hour long every week.
Well, if you must keep every episode of The Biggest Loser on your TiVo rather than watching it on Bravo at every hour of the day, then I guess that’s your loss.
You don’t need to Netflix all of season one to enjoy the show, but you should as favor to yourself. The movie is not important. I liked it, not as much as the series, but it was worth watching. When you’re taking a break from watching The Biggest Loser on Bravo, you can probably catch the movie on FX. I think they play it on a non-stop loop. Anyway, the movie is completely unrelated to the show. The movie is supposedly a true story, and it’s set in a real town. Dillon, TX is fictional…even if it is pretty much Odessa-Permian.
Come on boys, how absurd…everyone knows that that dorky of a guy doesn’t ever get that hot of a girl (without drugs anyway), EVEN IF he kills someone for her. Maybe a kiss, but nooky ain’t in the cards.
And if Matt hooks up with the semi hot maid, I’m done.
Just thought that deserved a mention. The rest of the stuff is still good, though.
p.s. While the movie is good for football fans, dawson leery as a QB-I just don’t buy. Tranny, maybe, QB-No.
Robert, you’re thinking of Varsity Blues. The QB in FNL was the kid from Slingblade.