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« Roush Dispatch
Keeping the (Friday Night) Lights On
I usually save these things for the Ask Matt Q&A, but I opened the following e-mail from Bill C shortly before watching this week’s episode of Friday Night Lights, and it haunted me (and, frankly, annoyed me) throughout the episode, which I found to be one of the most accessibly and endearingly entertaining of the entire season.
Here’s what Bill wrote: “Would it be a real tragedy if Friday Night Lights got canceled? It’s not like we’re talking about a show that, however good it is, does not [sic] match the consistency and creative heights of superior shows like 24, House and Grey’s Anatomy.”
Way to use the double negative there, a bit of a metaphor considering the disdain shown for one of the finest dramas network TV has produced in years.
In my world of TV appreciation, which has to be flexible enough to include everything from guilty pleasures to reality shows, there are two types of top-tier TV. First and foremost, there are the great entertainments, hours of sheer pleasure and excitement, a category to which 24 and Grey’s Anatomy surely belong. (House, on the other hand, I find to be a merely good show built around a great character.)
Then there’s the sort of TV that transcends TV, the occasional series that jolts us into a higher state of awe as we are introduced to characters and settings that seem so real, living lives that are so openly and honestly portrayed, that you can’t shake them from week to week. And regardless how long the show is allowed to survive, you know it’s something you’ll never forget.
Friday Night Lights is that sort of show. Right up there with the best of HBO (The Sopranos in its glory years, The Wire any given season) and the best of the Herskovitz-Zwick dramas (thirtysomething, Once and Again).
Would it be a tragedy if Friday Night Lights got canceled? Tragedy’s an awfully loaded word. A tragedy is what happened to the people in Florida recently. Tragedy is what happened (and is still happening) to Katrina’s victims. Tragedy is what’s happening in Iraq.
If Friday Night Lights got canceled, it would be a shame. It would have been a crying shame if it had been canceled before completing its first season. Thankfully, it looks as if NBC is giving the show a full run to play this gem of a season out. If that’s all we get, I can live with that. Because what we’re getting is exceptional TV.
This week’s episode alone dealt with issues of race, gender, family and personal relationships with an absorbing intimacy, honesty and range of emotions that I defy anyone to find anywhere else in prime time right now.
The tragedy, such as it is, is that more of America hasn’t discovered this wonderful show. In years to come, when people discover this show on DVD, they’ll wonder what they were thinking and where they were looking when Friday Night Lights was on its game. Which it is each and every week, at least for now.
[A note to loyal readers: If you don't see a new Dispatch for the next week or so, don't fear I've gone off my own game. I've merely gone away for a bit, to escape New York's deep freeze and to celebrate Valentine's Day in a warmer climate. I'll be back to catch up on the sweeps after Presidents' Day. Enjoy.]
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Feb 8, 2007 10:46 AM
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Thanks for this Matt. I agree that I will enjoy FNL as long as it's on the air and if we don't get a second season it will be a shame, but, I will definitely never forget it (especially once I purchase the 1st season DVD, hopefully it won't be a complete series DVD). No other show that I currently watch is able to bring me to tears every week (not even Ghost Whisperer) or deals with issues that are so real.
I don't understand when people want to bash (and even hope for it to fail in some cases) a show that other people think are good just because they don't agree (especially when they never even viewed an episode). Then you have those that will say they watched an episode and still don't get it. Okay, that's fine you don't get it, we do.
I hear of tons of great shows that I can't watch mainly because of schedule conflicts such as Medium, House, etc. but I would never talk bad about them just because I don't have any interest in watching them.
I didn't mean for this to be a rant, I just love this show so much and I have one more thing to say. It is obvious to me that Bill C is not a loyal viewer of the show because if he were that question wouldn't have ever entered his mind.
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Feb 8, 2007 11:44 AM
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Matt, I couldn't agree with you more. Friday Night Lights is a show that transcends every other show around it. It is just so damn good.
If Friday Night Lights doesn't come back for a second season, it will be a shame. A real shame.
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Feb 8, 2007 11:45 AM
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I really love this show. Why did NBC move it to Wednesday night when there is so much competition from popular shows? I don't watch anything on Tuesday night now. Not one of the big networks has anything on that night I want to see at any time slot. I use that night to catch up on some of my recorded shows. I sincerely hope that before NBC cancels FNL completely, they will give it a fair chance at a day and time slot that is not so overloaded with other very popular shows. Seems like moving it to Wednesday doomed it for good.
Thanks for supporting such a bright and shining example of what television ought to be, Matt. Here's hoping we can keep it glowing for a long time to come.
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Feb 8, 2007 12:37 PM
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I agree across the board; the acting, writing, production, even the details like the music are all spot on. I'm thrilled that we're getting a full season at the least; as long as there is resolution in the season finale, it will be worth it to at least get this year.
Matt: any opinion on last night's Lost?
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Feb 8, 2007 12:43 PM
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To NBC's credit (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong), I believe they moved the show to Wednesday's at 8:00 so that it wouldn't be in competition with American Idol. If they had left it there it wouldn't even be able to muster the measly 6 million people that watch it on Wednesday's.
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Feb 8, 2007 12:43 PM
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I have to tell you that FNL quickly rose to the top of my favorite show list this season. I just love the scenes with the Taylors. I would hate for it to be cancelled. Perhaps because of the title, people haven't tuned in, thinking it was mainly about football. I too would be greatly disappointed if it were cancelled. Thanks for supporting it.
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Feb 8, 2007 12:46 PM
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Matt - thanks again for your continued support of what has become my favorite TV show of recent memory. I watch a lot of TV, too much TV by most peoples standards and this show has captured me like none other that I can remember. It is right up there with the best of the best during their best seasons. I got on NBC last year because of their lack-of-support on some of the new shows that came out like Threshold and Invasion but I have to give them credit for supporting this classic!!
People - please tell your friends and family that they will not be disappointed by this show. It is not about football - last nights episode spent way more time on the girls Powder-Puff game then it did on the guys Playoff game. It is about honest-to-goodness life and how people deal with life's situations!!
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Feb 8, 2007 12:58 PM
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Thanks, Matt, for once again, highlighting the absolute glory that is FNL. And I have to say, you probably shouldn't be too bothered, since Bill C's taste in TV is defined by Grey's Anatomy being "consistent and creative." I do watch Grey's, but there is nothing consistent, nor all that creative about it. It's a soap opera. Compared to Friday Night Lights, Grey's is a joke. It's mindless entertainment, where FNL is heartwrenchingly realistic, detailed, and absolutely and beautifully true to life. Ironically, though, the episodes of Grey's that I thought were actually truly enjoyable (but very contrived) were the ones featuring Kyle Chandler. Either way, I've chosen to stop worrying about the second season (for the moment) and just enjoy the wonderful, wonderful ride.
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Feb 8, 2007 1:36 PM
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I've watched it three times and it bores me. I know people like it and but I just don't see it.
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Feb 8, 2007 1:49 PM
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I have tried to watch FNL twice, but it just doesn't hold my interest. It seems predictable and juvenile. I plan to view an upcoming episode soon. Maybe the third time will charm me. Finally, I must state that I strongly disagree with your comparison of FNL to the Wire. The genres are worlds apart, and the Wire is one of the finest shows I have ever viewed.
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Feb 8, 2007 1:51 PM
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Right on Matt. Friday Night Lights is what good television is. It's like reading a good book that makes you think about this world and the people in it and what makes them do the things they do. It is different because it is real, more real than some of the so-called reality television is. My uncle travels to Texas every week and he watched one episode of FNL and said that it is exactly what life is like down in the small towns of Texas.
I am sure that Bill C is an inteligent man, but I disagree with his claim that FNL doesn't match the creative heights that 24 and Grey's Anatomy hit. It hits a different creative note, a note that never fails to make me tear up every week. A show that can take a real-life situation; spinal cord injury, racism, steriods, poor vs rich and put it on TV without it being cloying or trashy is tremendously creative.
It is a shame when once again more people in America are watching American Idol, a show in which the biggest issues is whether to show the good singers or the bad ones, when a show like Friday Night Lights struggles each and every week for viewers. Thanks Matt and pass on thanks to Mike Ausiello for spreading the good things about this show and keeping hope alive that it will be one for another season or two.
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Feb 8, 2007 2:01 PM
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I only started watching FNL a few weeks ago. Caught up on most of the episodes on NBC.com, still missing a couple in between the pilot and episode 5 or 6. But it quickly became my favorite show this season. If we don't get another season, it will be a shame. The acting/directing, etc. is so superb. The story lines are so real. How can we get more people on board watching this show?
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Feb 8, 2007 2:42 PM
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Matt,
I've been pleasantly surprised by the TV version of FNL this season on NBC. I enjoyed both the book and movie version and thought that a weekly TV version just wouldn't hold up. Was I wrong!!!!
I am addicted (in a good way) to the this show and its characters and can't wait for my weekly Wednesday fix.
Once in a while NBC does get it right with programming and this show reminds me of another quality NBC show from last decade that had strong characters and social messages that NBC stayed with for two years, I'll Fly Away, the great Sam Waterson-Regina Taylor vehicle.
Here's hoping that NBC gives FNL at least one or two years more so we can see Matt Sarcen's senior season.
Thanks for the good words about this show!!!!
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Feb 8, 2007 3:19 PM
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Friday Night Lights definitely is a different and special television experience.
I don't know that I've ever been so invested in a television show, that I actually think I'm in Dillon, TX.... that's got to be something special.
It would really be a shame if it doesn't see a 2nd season.
But, God forbid, if it doesn't get a 2nd season, I would at the very least have a proper ending. (RIP American Dreams!)
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Feb 8, 2007 3:50 PM
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