I just saw the ads for this show and I hope it lives up to half of the hype. Football with cute guys and a hot coach! How could they screw this one up?

Saw the premiere episode on a flight this week. It's worth watching and has some good story lines. The ending is a shocker. I'm curious how they take it forward. You'll have to watch to see (no, I don't work for NBC. I just hate spoiling something for some people.).

Between "Friday Night Lights" and "Two-a-days" we are definitely getting our fill of HS football this year. BTW, look for the cameos of Mack Brown and Derek Long (Austin Westlake coach) in the premiere.

As they say in the series - Here's to livin' large in Texas!

The book that started it all is one of my favorites, and I try to read it at least once each football season. (The only football book better than "Friday Night Lights" is Mark Bowden's "Bringing the Heat," about the Philadelphia Eagles.) The film version of "FTL" was somewhat disappointing in my opinion - some of the most interesting characters in the book were greatly diminished in the film, which also left out the socioeconomic details that made the book unusually resonant.

I'm interested to see what the TV series is like; unfortunately, I work Tuesday nights so will have to tape the show.

I'd be interested to learn what others thought of the book and film.

Great episode of FNL last night. If you haven't watched this program I highly suggest it. I know it has a Texas spin on it but it's just good wholesome TV to watch. Maybe a little sappy at times but you kind of need that sometimes.

The best gay show on television?

How hot was the 2nd episode?

Yowza!

The ending is a shocker? Did you ever read the book or see the movie?

Recorded this one because I am such a big fan of the book (even though it is a fictional ending).

For a TV show, this wasn't a bad start.

Hope it makes it.

Rob

Actually I haven't read the book or seen the movie. Odd I know since I live in Texas and know a few of the extras in the movie. Guess I need to now to see what you are referring to.

Tonight was good and also had relevance to a lot of what we saw here in TX (and probably other states surrounding LA). Too often Katrina victims would show up in our local sports pages as the new stars of our local high school teams. Sometimes I wonder how many "hotel" recruiting trips were made prior to one of these players showing up. It was good to see these kids find new schools and homes. But one has to wonder how legal the practice really was.

A lot of ways to read this and I'm sure there are more sides to the story than I can relate to.

FNL still reigns on NBC on Tuesday nights. So glad it's not opposite Ugly Betty. Only DVR could save the day then.

This is my Tuesday night show. The hotel scene was very well done I thought.

I wish more people were watching - it's not doing well in the ratings and you know the network won't care if the program is good or not - if no one watches they'll yank it.

Surprised no one has commented on how homoerotic it is - especially the second episode.

Well, I knew it would be a little more homoerotic than the movie. Thus my reason for originating this post.

More than that, however, it is quite well written, enticing me to want to tune in each week. I do wish more people were watching this gem of a show. It has its melodramatic moments (e.g., practicing in the rain at 11:00 p.m.), but it also has its very human moments (e.g., the hotel scene where the coach makes a backstep from his boosters with his own appeal to the future star quarterback). I hope this one gets picked up for a full season.

I think a lot of people see it as appealing to only a small segment of the market (e.g. the sports crowd) and don't want to give it a chance. There's so much beyond the football on the show that it makes for good TV (something sorely missing in today's lineups). It pulls so much of what's going on today (Katrina issues, the war in Iraq) as well as the normal issues of a small town.

What I really like is the fact they build up to a game but don't show it until the next week. Neat way of enticing the viewer to tune in for the next episode. Every show I get so hyped up by all the drama and preparation I can't wait to see the outcome.

One thing that may be a challenge for the show is that football only runs for 3 or 4 months a year. Does that mean the Spring shows will be about the offseason? I don't think I'll be as motivated to watch as I am now. Maybe I could be wrong. However I don't see them dragging a football season out for a whole year.

I think they can drag out the entire season with just football. You made mention of the drama in one episode and a game in the next. This is "the setup to the payoff pitch". The producers want us to get our reward only after investing some emotion in each game.

From this week's Rolling Stone:

"...some are questioning whether a clear-eyed depiction of a red-state town can find an audience. After all, this bleak West Texas world where the local passions are God, country and high school football (but not necessarily in that order) is a far cry from the convoluted serials, police procedurals and realist shows that litter the current tv landscape...But this is no Norman Rockwell vision of the heartland, which might make it a hard sell for viewers used to the saccharine-and-soap formula favored by shows like One Tree Hill and Everwood. While the characters on the show are endearing, the fictional town in which the action is set - based on Odessa, TX - is a Bush-country oil town that went bust in the go-go-Reagan 80s. In places like this, football isn't just entertainment, it's a salve for the region's woes."

A solid episode last night, focusing on the activities off the field more than on the field. The drama apparent in this show came through last night, as it was more human than the other episodes to date, in my eyes. Everyone, the coach included, finally came through as real people would, not merely caricatures of real people. Best episode of this show, so far.

I liked how they portrayed just how nasty and ugly rivalries can get, but it was over the top. Knowing what I know of Texas football, however, I can attest that it wasn't too much of a stretch.

The Washington Post's Tom Shales raves about this show; he has written several favorable columns about it. I saw the first episode; I think NBC ran it three times. I usually forget that it is on, or I am out when it comes on. No matter; they'll run all of them again sooner or later.

'Friday Night' Kicks Off With A Great Formation


'Friday Night Lights' Shines in a Vast Wasteland

I watched the DVD, but I've never read the book.

This is definitely one of the best shows on TV. I read one review that said it looks like no other show on the air, and I totally agree with that. It's gritty, it's real and it's very involving. The hour flies by. I've never watched a show that goes by as fast as this one.

It's a nice mix of emotions, too - you feel for the people in this town one minute, then you almost pity them when you see how much their lives revolve around this football team. The cast is top-notch and so believable. Kyle Chandler is really terrific.

And on top of all of that, the guy playing the back-up quarterback thrust into the limelight is gorgeous. And he looks great in football pants.

It's a win-win!

It's on tonight at 10am.

Wow! The big rivalry game sure did put things into a tailspin. Not only did they win, but they won perhaps by cheating. I only hope Kyle Chandler's character cans his offensive coach for doing what he's been doing the past couple of shows. That would be the smart thing to do at this point.

I was in love with Taylor Kitsch! Milk is surely doing that body good.

Last night was a good show. I don't know why but I really was glad Voodoo blew up like he did. Maybe they overdramatized that character a little bit. I don't think any of the Katrina relocations were ever that bad. But he's gone ... or is he?

They have so much story to work with: the pressure from the town on the coach, the QB trying to make his mark after being pulled in as QB1, the injured QB trying to find out what his life will really become, etc.

I did read a review in my local paper's sports section that the show is struggling against "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC. He chastises the state of television viewing when they pick waltzing around a floor to the drama of FNL.

I can't wait to see the outcome of the investigation. For those familiar with Texas HS football, the UIL has descended on poor Dillon.

By what my B/f Ryan (having grown up in Texas) has said, the UIL coming in would be as effective as showering in a rain storm. He tells me he's hoping for a more dramatic outcome from this fictional version of the UIL.

I keep hoping FNL will catch on. It's a great tv show. What are you all watching instead? Gilmore Girls?
Hmmm.

it's beautifully shot. it's like nothing else on tv. I've only missed one week, halloween night. at least we finally got to see kyle chandler's character in bed, without his shirt. i have loved him ever since his days on homefront, early edition and the pure country movie. Is it just me or does he look like Darryl Kyle? The former Astros and Cardinals pitcher.

I've been watching! I don't understand why this show isn't more popular, since football is so big in the USA.

I hardly watch any series TV but this is really good: well written, acted, filmed.

I watch it and love it. A much more realistic depiction of teens than any other show in recent memory. My one criticism would be the shaky camera style. I love the muted colors but the camera could hold still a little bit more. Not saying do away with it all together, but maybe calm down a bit.

Anybody from a small town like this out there to tell us how close to reality this show is? It would just amaze me if a town like this really existed where their entire lives revolve around football.

My B/f has said to me that this show hits the main themes that small-town football in Texas is very close to this. He grew up in Houston, but his friends at college took him to a few games out in rural Texas, where they do indeed shut down the entire town to gather at the football field. He said you could rob the town blind because even the police couldn't miss the game.

However, he did indicate that a lot of the negatives are also true, as well. Scandals run rampant, ranging from coaches buying alcohol for the team to steroids being obviously passed in the locker room to coaches bailing drunken players from jail. Now, not all of those things happen all at once, but they apparently do happen.

Apparently NBC has decided to retain FNL for the remainder of the year. I've heard that's it's rated pretty low, so this is good news.

I just read this on Yahoo. This is the best news of the day.

Good for NBC. It's the best drama on television this season.

Rob

I totally agree. I fell in love with him when he was on Homefront. Got any shirtless photos of him?

Beginning December 26, Friday Night Lights will move to Wednesdays at 8pm.

Seems like a good idea. Thought last Tuesday's episode was great. Very sophisticated show for network television.

8pm - eastern or central time

Anybody see this last night?

The Riggins/Lyla/Jason affair is getting a bit too melodramatic for my taste.

On the other hand, the Zach character (QB) is really interesting--quite a complex rendering. Very touching scene when he was singing to his grandmother...

Also, the way the show is portraying African American culture is remarkable....

I too loved how they handled the complexity of Zach's life, with him finally showing that part of his life of taking care of his grandmother to his G/f (also the coach's daughter). The biggest laugh had to be when the coach offered a beer to Zach and he graciously declined. Then the coach says, "I was only kiddin'." That had me busting up pretty good.

This show is one of the gems of TV, along with "Heroes" & "Battlestar Galactica".

This is a really great show about a small town in Texas and its high school football team. It is one of the most refreshingly well-written and well-acted shows on TV in years. NBC has given it at least a partial renewal for next season but it's not really catching on with viewers, despite America's love affair with football. I don't get it; here's a show with good looking guys and girls, sports plots, great performances and sensational scripts. ...Did anyone see the season ending episode last night? Has anyone in Outsports Nation EVER watched?

Yes, I watched from the beginning and loved the whole season.

I kept trying to tell people about how great a show it is.

Very glad that NBC has the shows online as is easier for my schedule to watch them there!

Can only hope for it to catch on!

LOVE IT

Love Heros and 30 Rock too!

And Ugly Betty!

P.S. The Theme Song of Friday Night Lights is AMAZING!

Really captures the loneliness of a town out in the middle of nowhere where the church of football reigns eternal.



Drew

I watched but then got disconnected with it. Especially with it going against American Idol, at times. It was also preempted a few times here in the Houston area. I will buy the DVD once it comes out. So I can watch it at my leisure.

I finally watched the final two episodes that the B/f had tivo-ed for me. Wow! Those two episodes really summed up the entire season so well. It was almost as if it were a series finale, wrapping up the story arcs all season long, including the coach played by Kyle Chandler not going to the university football program. That really was a clincher for me. I was so emotionally wrapped up in this show that the football action paled in comparison to the their off-field antics. Ah!

An enthusiastic analysis of the series from the Chicago Trib.

Here's a little something on Kyle Chandler, star of "Friday Night Lights". He's definitely dreamy enough to keep my eyes glued to the TV on Wednesday nights.

Friday Night Lights has officially been renewed by NBC, though it's time slot is yet to be announced.

NBC announced it's lineup today. Friday Night Lights will air Fridays at 10pm. Not a great timeslot. Hopefully the show will get some great exposure this summer with the release of season one on DVD and a bunch of well-deserved Emmy nominations.

The town depicted by FNL's is Odessa, Tx, the high school is Permian. I went to high school in Abilene, Tx, in the same interscholastic district as Odessa and Midland. Each city has two high schools. At one time the district also included San Angelo and Big Spring but they've downgraded.

I went to high school a few years before 'Mojo' as seen in the movie. Up until 1960, Abilene won district about six or so years in a row and state three of those. In the '50's (or earlier), the railroad (Texas & Pacific) presented a bell (large clanger type on a frame with wheels) to the district which went to the district champ each year. I recall the night Abilene lost district the first time in nearly a decade and my sisters friend crying her eyes out because they would loose the bell. As a young boy, listening to the ballgame on the radio you could hear the haunting clang... clang... clang... clang... I think it went to Permian.

Yes, Friday nite football is as meaningful there as the show intends to depict. I haven't been there in a few years but each year one of those schools will show up in the playoffs.

On a side note, the current Qback at University of Texas, Colt McCoy, grew up in a town called Buffalo Gap and went to school in the Wylie School District. Buffalo Gap is about ten miles out of Abilene and slowly becoming a suburb. Wylie SD is a very small school district. I find it interesting that the guy went to a small school and winds up Qback at the largest state U in Texas.

That was most insightful, BnB! Thanks for sharing with us. I appreciate it.

Growing up here in California, I thought we had it crazy when it came to football. That was until I read the book "Friday Night Lights". Then, my perceptions were indeed transformed!

I LOVE THIS SHOW !!!!! I just finished last season's dvd.

Season 2 starts this Friday.

If you aren't watching, you're missing out.

It definitely should have received more EMMY nominations and consideration.

I love the show, and always record it, finally caught up on all of it this summer.

Liked the book even better.

Too bad it was really the greatest game never played...

R