Friday Night Lights (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Friday Night Lights is an American
sports drama television
series
adapted by Peter Berg
, Brian Grazer
and David Nevins from a book
and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football
team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team coach Eric Taylor
(Kyle Chandler
) and his family. The show uses this small town backdrop to address many issues facing contemporary American
culture, including school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, and lack of economic opportunities.
Produced by NBCUniversal, Friday Night Lights premiered on October 3, 2006, airing for two seasons on NBC
. Facing cancelling the series, NBC struck a deal with DirecTV
that saw the next three seasons of the show air first on DirecTV's The 101 Network before being rebroadcast on NBC after The 101 Network had completed airing the season. The series ended its run on The 101 Network after five seasons on February 9, 2011.
Friday Night Lights never obtained a sizable audience. It was a critical success, however, lauded for its realistic portrayal of Middle America and deep personal exploration of its central characters. The show was awarded a Peabody Award
, a Humanitas Prize
, and a Television Critics Association
Award, as well as several technical Primetime Emmy Awards. At the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards the show was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series
. Kyle Chandler
and Connie Britton
also scored multiple nominations for the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress awards for a drama series. Executive producer Jason Katims was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
. Both Chandler and Katims won the Emmy in 2011.
and the 2004 film based on it. The book, published in 1990 and written by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, details the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers
, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas
. The book itself was intended as a work of journalism and is assumed to be completely factual. The characters in the book are not renamed, and the book makes no attempt to conceal their identities. The Universal Pictures film, which stars Billy Bob Thornton
and was directed by Bissinger's second cousin Peter Berg
, based its characters on the real-life residents of Odessa circa 1988.
The show chose not to use Odessa as the setting and instead used it as inspiration for the fictionalized town of Dillon, Texas, though the football team did retain the Panthers name. Berg made a number of conscious choices in carrying elements from the film to the series, such that much of the work that went into the creation of the pilot
duplicated the work that was done on the film. One of these choices included casting Connie Britton to play Head Coach Eric Taylor's wife and Brad Leland to play football booster Buddy Garrity, in roles similar to the ones they played in the film.
Filming for the show's Austin, Texas
-based pilot began in February 2006. Berg described filming the pilot and eventually the show in Texas as "a deal breaker" for his weekly participation in the project. The show features a number of homages to its Texas heritage. In filming the pilot, Berg ensured this homage by featuring Texas Longhorn coach Mack Brown as a Dillon booster and having a caller to the fictional "Panther Radio" compare Panthers' coach Eric Taylor to Brown. The pilot also incorporated much of the surrounding area. Football scenes for the pilot were filmed at Pflugerville High School's Kuempel Stadium and at the RRISD Complex. The Dillon Panther football team and coaches' uniforms were based heavily on the uniforms of the real life Pflugerville Panthers. Additionally, some of the scenes were filmed at Texas School for the Deaf.
In addition to physical locations, characters in the show were inspired by Berg's observation of local high school students while preparing to film the movie. For example, Jason Street, the character whose promising football career is ended by a spinal injury in the pilot, was inspired by a real-life incident in which David Edwards
, a player from San Antonio’s Madison High, was paralyzed during a November 2003 game. Berg was at the game when the incident took place and it had a profound effect on him, leading him to base the pilot around a similar incident.
of each scene. If the actors felt that something was not true to their character or a mode of delivery didn't work, they were free to change it provided they still hit the vital plot points.
The freedom given to the cast was complemented by the fact that the show was filmed without rehearsal and without extensive blocking. Camera operators were trained to follow the actors, rather than the actors standing in one place and having cameras fixed around them. This allowed the actors to not only feel free to make changes but to feel safe in making those changes because the infrastructure would work around them. Executive producer Jeffrey Reiner described this method as "no rehearsal, no blocking, just three cameras and we shoot."
Working in this fashion had a profound influence on everyone involved with the show, with series star Kyle Chandler going so far as to say "When I look back at my life, I'm going to say, 'Wow, [executive producer] Peter Berg really changed my life.'" Executive producer and head writer Jason Katims
echoed this sentiment, saying "When I first came on [the FNL] set, I thought, it’s interesting — this is what I imagined filmmaking would be, before I saw what filmmaking was."
and Pflugerville
, though there were discussions at the close of the first season about a possible move to New Mexico or Arizona. Representing roughly $33 million a year in revenue for the area in which it was filmed, both cities were aggressive in courting the production company after the State of Texas failed to pay all of the rebates that were promised to the show's producers. The show remained in Austin, however, as a result of Texas passing legislation to match the offers of other states and the production company having a preference to stay in the Austin area.
Friday Night Lights is unusual in its use of actual locations as opposed to prefabricated stage sets and its lack of any sound stage for filming. This, along with the production team using hundreds of locals as extras, gives the series an authentic look.
The drive towards authenticity continued in the show's documentary style filming technique, which employed three cameras for each shoot and shot entire scenes in one take; most productions film a scene from each angle and typically repeat the scene several times while readjusting lighting to accommodate each shot. The first takes usually made the final cut. By filming a scene all at once, the producers tried to create an environment for the actors that was more organic and allowed for the best performances.
This desire for authenticity in the production extended to the football games as well, with the series making heavy use of the uniforms, cheerleaders, fans, and the stadium of the real-life Pflugerville Panthers. Producers even shot Pflugerville games and used them as game footage in the show. Added to that were real life University of Southern California football announcers Peter Arbogast and Paul McDonald who provided off-screen commentary during the football game sequences. The facilities, colors, and bobcat logos of Texas State University
in San Marcos, Texas served as the setting and creative inspiration for the fictional Texas Methodist University. The field's name on the show is Herrmann Field, named after George Herrmann, the head coach of the Pflugerville Panthers.
On June 20, 2010 scenes were filmed at Temple University, depicted as the fictional Braemore College instead.
One episode, from Julie's senior year in high school, was filmed in Boston, at Boston College
, Boston University
, and Tufts University
.
to create a site that allowed students to upload video and photos, as well as create blogs about their local football teams. Students who participated were eligible for one of ten $5,000 scholarships. The focus of this promotion was a deal that would provide NBC and the show promotion on Bebo’s network of youth oriented sites including Piczo
, Hi5
, Tickle, Ringo and FastWeb
.
To complement this promotion, NBC sent out “School Spirit” kits to 1,000 high schools around the country. These kits included posters, pom-poms, mini-footballs and disposable cameras all bearing the show’s logo. The kits also contained copies of the show’s Pilot episode on DVD. This promotional trick was something the network returned to for its second season promotion, when it teamed with HouseParty.com to send out 1,000 "Party Kits" which contained advance copies of the Season 2 opener along with other promotional material.
NBC also paired with Toyota to create the "Hometown Sweepstakes," in which students could earn cash grants of up to $50,000 for their school’s athletic program. It was open to high-school students ages 14 to 18 and was designed to draw people to the show’s official web site, where they could download AOL Instant Messenger Icons, screensavers, and desktop wallpaper. Students that registered could also download free movie theater passes to special early screenings of the pilot episode. These movie theater screenings took place in 50 cities nationwide and ran until a week before the show premiered on NBC.
This early strategy caused several marketing problems for the long term, the most notable of which was the lack of female viewers. The early marketing campaign created an audience of almost exclusively young men and repelled women with its football-heavy slant. This in turn deprived the show of a large audience who would enjoy the more character-driven elements.
Given this dilemma, NBC chose to aggressively switch course and pursue the female demographic in the later part of the season. The network designed a strategy based around accentuating the personal elements of the show, even going so far as to rechristen the show with the tagline "It’s about life." NBC Marketing President Vince Manze stressed that their goal was to let people know the show was not just about football but about family and relationships as well.
The network again took their case to movie theaters by running 30-second spots featuring cast members and fans being interviewed about the show.
.
In addition to the free ad-support offerings, every episode of Friday Night Lights became available for download on the iTunes Store
on February 10, 2007 for $1.99 per episode. As a special promotion, the pilot was initially offered as a free download. The first 2 seasons are now on Zune Marketplace. All five seasons of Friday Night Lights are available for streaming from the Netflix "On Demand" subscription service.
In Australia, Season 4 began screening on Foxtel on December 10, 2010, and ABC began showing Season 1 on free to air in 2011.
In New Zealand, C4 broadcast the series every Friday at 8:30pm, beginning with the pilot episode on August 3, 2008. In Greece Friday Night Lights scored a 3,1% in its premiere and after 11 episode alter channel removed it from the schedule. However it was announced that the remaining episodes will return in 2010. It returned on the schedule on Fall 2010 with the first three seasons airing daily at 03:15am. In Germany, TNT Serie
broadcasted FNL beginning in February 2009.
acquired syndication rights for the first four seasons and began airing reruns September 6, 2010, but it was pulled as of October 18, 2010, due to low ratings. On July 2011, it was announced that ESPN Classic
has acquired the rights of all the five seasons of the show and will start airing it from July 12.
In an attempt to bolster series ratings, NBC repositioned reruns of the show to air on its sister network Bravo during the weeks leading up to the season one finale on NBC. These episodes aired on a schedule of one hour every Friday and three hours every Saturday. Bravo is known to have an audience that is upscale and largely female, which is in line with NBC's then-President Kevin Reilly’s (now at FOX) new strategy for selling the show. When questioned about this strategy, he admitted to regrets over initially marketing the show incorrectly saying “It’s been so clear to me that [the marketing for] the show ended up confusing people in terms of what [the public thought] it was supposed to be.” He said that he felt the show is, at its core, a “women's show” and his wish is that the marketing had reflected that to a greater extent.
NBC has used this method of ratings-bolstering with limited success in the past, most notably during the ratings-challenged final season of The West Wing.
Once the 2006-2007 television season ended, NBC planned to air reruns throughout the summer in the hopes of gaining new viewers during the summer hiatus. Despite rising ratings for the reruns, NBC abruptly pulled them from the network's schedule on June 24, 2007. NBC resumed airing reruns in late August/early September and would be timed to the Season 1 DVD release.
Shortly thereafter, reports began to surface that the show's producer, NBC Universal
, was marketing the series to other networks including The CW Television Network
, TNT
, and the owner of E!
and G4
about possible arrangements for a third season. Similar deals such as the one where NBC
shared airing rights for Law & Order: Criminal Intent
with the USA Network
were a template for these discussions.
Unconfirmed reports of a third-season renewal surfaced on March 5, 2008 when Nikki Finke
reported on a possible cost-sharing partnership between NBC and DirecTV. The alleged agreement would have first run episodes airing exclusively on DirecTV and being airing reruns on NBC at a later date. TV Guides Michael Ausiello confirmed these reports on April 2, 2008. This was later confused when USA Today ran a report that NBC has confirmed their fall line-up, including Friday Night Lights. On NBC.com, the page for the show indicates a "2009 Series Return to NBC" and "returning to NBC with new episodes next season!" that were visible in early April 2008. Season three premiered exclusively on DirecTV channel 101, with the episodes replaying on NBC beginning on January 16, 2009. In March 2009, various outlets reported that DirecTV and NBC have renewed the show for two more seasons. It has been confirmed that DirecTV, in a joint venture with NBC once again, has picked up Friday Night Lights for two more 13-episode seasons. According to the official Friday Night Lights show site on NBC.com, the header reads "New Season Begins Summer 2010," which contradicts NBC's original plans to air the episodes, which would have already aired in the fall on DirecTV, mid-season, where it would have had more of a chance to obtain a sizable audience.
That said, the exposition given in a deleted scene can often change the intent of material that aired, such as in a deleted scene from the episode "Blinders". In the episode that aired, the character of Tim Riggins gives some prejudicial advice in regards to racial tension developing on the team. Only in the deleted scenes is it revealed that this advice was actually taken verbatim from advice his father had given to him and not necessarily what the character would have done had he not been trying to emulate his father.
. While screen time of characters varies from episode to episode, the show is most focused on Panthers' football coach Eric Taylor
(Kyle Chandler
), who strives to balance his emphasis on family, his status in a sometimes confrontational community, and his personal ambitions. His family - wife Tami Taylor (Connie Britton
), a guidance counselor turned principal at Dillon High, and teenage daughter Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden
) - are also central to the show. When Tami becomes pregnant and gives birth to Gracie Taylor, tensions within the family increase and Julie becomes more rebellious.
Outside of the Taylor family, the show focuses on the respective lives of the Dillon's high school football players. In the series' first episode, star quarterback Jason Street
(Scott Porter
) suffers an injury that leads to an end to his football career and a disability that he resists and then learns to cope with throughout the series. Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly
), who at the time of Jason's injury was his girlfriend, parallels his story, as she goes from a Panther cheerleader to a Christian youth leader.
As a result of Jason's injury, shy and nervous Matt Saracen
(Zach Gilford
) becomes the Panthers' starting quarterback and eventually dates Julie. It is also revealed that Matt's father is serving in Iraq and that he must therefore care for his grandmother Lorraine Saracen (Louanne Stephens) by himself, with help only from his best friend Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons
), and eventual live-in nurse and love interest Carlotta Alonso (Daniella Alonso). Brash star running back Brian "Smash" Williams's
(Gaius Charles
) quest for a college football scholarship and fullback Tim Riggins
(Taylor Kitsch
) tale of on-and-off alcoholism
and party-life are told as well. Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki
) also stars as a town vixen who goes from Tim's occasional girlfriend to Landry's lover following Landry's defense of her from a rapist.
and the paralysis
of star quarterback Jason Street. These two events set off a chain reaction that leads the series through its first season.
Coach Taylor's career depends on his ability to get the Dillon Panthers to the state championship. If the team suffers a losing streak, he knows his family, which includes daughter Julie, will no longer be welcome in Dillon.
Meanwhile, Tami Taylor lands a job as a counselor at the local high school. Over the course of the season, she becomes a support and a mentor to many of the students and her position plays a pivotal role in the season finale, which leaves viewers wondering whether Eric will leave Dillon to accept a coveted coaching job with a university.
Matt Saracen and Jason Street must struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds. Street must learn to live without the use of his legs in a town that seems to be moving on without him, while Saracen must rise to be worthy of the position he has inherited. As Street's friendship with Herc, his rehab roommate and wheelchair rugby teammate, grows stronger, so does his will and independence. The new role of QB1 is an unenviable task for the timid Matt, as he also must care for his ill grandmother while his father is fighting in Iraq. Causing further headaches, Matt falls in love with Coach Taylor's daughter, Julie, who loathes Texas life and dislikes football. She nevertheless falls for Matt because of his bumbling awkwardness and, above all, his modest decency. Their relationship slowly blossoms over the course of the season.
Also explored is the pressure on the cocky, driven Brian "Smash" Williams. Easily the most promising player on the Panthers' roster, he works hard to achieve excellence and sees his future career as instrumental in providing his family a better life. Life has been hard for Williams' family since his father was killed in a car accident, and financial constraints have led his mother Corrine to take multiple jobs just to get the family by. At one point, he decides that he's willing to risk his health by using performance enhancing drugs to make sure he gets a college football scholarship.
Tim Riggins is an unfocused alcoholic with absentee parents and no prospects beyond high school. However, he is shown to be a loyal friend with a good heart. Unfortunately, his good intentions seem to be repeatedly derailed by his own missteps.
Tyra Collette, like many of the other characters, comes from a broken home, where her mom falls in and out of abusive relationships. Tyra begins the season as Tim’s girlfriend, but as Season One progresses, thanks to Tami Taylor and Landry Clark — the school math geek and Saracen’s best friend — she starts to see the faintest glimmer of hope that she might get out of Dillon and discontinue the cycle that her mother and her sister (a stripper) seem destined to continue.
Meanwhile, Lyla goes through some of the biggest changes as she begins the season as a bubbly, optimistic, sweet-natured girl. Faced with the heartbreaking reality of Jason's injury, she begins seeing Tim Riggins to cope with her frustration. Though Jason and Lyla reconcile after he becomes aware of this, Jason begins growing closer to another woman and at the same time Lyla learns about her father's many adulterous affairs. It is at this point that Lyla moves past her dependence on other men to grow into a more independent woman.
with a new college coaching job at fictional TMU, while Tami is in Dillon with their newborn baby. However, as the Panthers experience internal difficulties with a new coach, and as Tami forges a new relationship with her replacement counselor at the school, Coach Taylor decides to return to Dillon. Even with his return, his daughter Julie begins to frustrate her mother, as she ends her romantic relationship with Matt and begins one with an older man, "The Swede." This trend continues as she begins a friendship with a teacher that her mother feels is inappropriate.
Meanwhile, Coach Taylor attempts to win games with the Panthers but faces a number of issues. Tim is banned from the team as a result of missing a game to convince Jason to not have stem-cell surgery in Mexico. This leads to difficulties for Tim, who eventually ends up homeless before being taken back onto the team and returning to live with his brother.
Lyla Garrity becomes increasingly involved in an organization for young Christians. She befriends a young convict, Santiago, who eventually is placed under the legal care of her father. Under Buddy's prompting, Santiago becomes the new linebacker for the Panthers.
At the same time, Smash is courted by a number of college recruiters, leading to tension between him and his mother. Smash accepts a scholarship to the prestigious TMU. However, Smash punches a white teenager who sexually harasses his sister when they're at the movies. This turns into a blown-out-of-proportion racial incident, and Smash is deemed someone to have "character issues". His scholarship to TMU is revoked. He later commits to Whitmore University, a smaller historically black college that is more highly regarded for its academics than its athletic programs. The football coach at Whitmore has a strong relationship with Coach Taylor, and had been scouting Smash since he was in middle school.
Matt, on the other hand, begins a relationship with a cheerleader before leaving her for his grandmother's new live-in nurse, Carlotta.
Additionally, the early season follows an arc where Landry kills and hides the body of a man who attempted to rape Tyra, leading to a romance between the two. Eventually, guilt builds within Landry and he confesses. Charges are not pressed, although tension between him and Tyra remains.
Jason Street impregnates a woman in what was supposed to be a one-night stand at the end of season two. Jason pleads with the woman to keep the child and promises to take care of the two.
This season ends on a cliffhanger due to the writer's strike. The show's head writer and executive producer, Jason Katims
, stated that this last episode was “not in any way viewed as the season finale... If we were leading to the end of the season [under normal circumstances], we would have most likely brought the story around to the coach and his family again,” and there would have been a strong football element as well, Katims said. Seven of the 22 episodes NBC ordered for Season 2 weren’t made.
Smash Williams, who injured his knee during the previous year's playoffs, rediscovers his love for the game, gets a tryout with a college, and succeeds in winning a spot on their team. Tyra starts dating a cowboy named Cash, leading to complications in her relationship with Landry. Tim and Lyla start dating, and Tim pursues a college football scholarship. Billy Riggins gets engaged to Tyra's older sister Mindy. He, Tim, Herc, and Jason decide to flip Buddy Garrity's house for a profit. Jason Street eventually finds a job at a sports agency in New York City and moves to the northeast to be close to his girlfriend and newborn baby. Tami Taylor becomes the principal of Dillon High School and fights with Buddy Garrity about the allocation of funds toward a Jumbotron.
While Eric Taylor and Buddy Garrity were making a visit to a possible recruit who just moved into town, the coach learns of a plot to have him replaced as head coach of the Dillon Panthers. They learn that Joe McCoy wants Taylor replaced with Wade Aikman, J.D.'s personal coach. After the school's administration meets to decide who gets the coaching job, Aikman is offered the job at Dillon High School, while Taylor is offered the job of coaching the Lions of East Dillon High, which is reopening after years of being closed...
As Coach begins putting together his new Lion team, he realizes that he's in for more than he bargained for. The players that try out are less than desirable, but Coach gets a lucky break with a couple of new faces. The first is Vince Howard, a black student who has gotten in trouble with the law too many times. He is given one last chance if he plays football for the East Dillon Lions. Although he has no prior experience, he has natural talent and becomes the team's first star quarterback. The second break comes to the Lions when Buddy Garrity reveals to Eric that the address on file for the Panthers new prodigy running back, Luke Cafferty, is nothing more than a mailbox in front of an empty lot, and Luke is really zoned to go to East Dillon.
The football season is one focused around growth and reestablishing a sense of Lion pride. The culmination of their hard work is tested in their last game of the season as they play The Dillon Panthers led by JD McCoy. In an amazing show of perseverance, the East Dillon Lions defeat the Dillon panthers, ruining the Panthers' chance at playoffs.
In season four, the character Matt Saracen struggles with staying in Dillon and living as a townie. After returning from a hunting trip with Tim Riggins, he finds out that his father was killed in Iraq. The episode "The Son" shows Matt going through the five stages of grief as he comes to accept the death of his father, a man he claims to hate. This episode garnered much buzz online and resulted in a failed campaign for Zach Gilford to get an Emmy nomination in the guest actor category, however the episode did get an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. After this emotionally charged episode, Matt abruptly moves to Chicago without saying goodbye to his girlfriend or best friend. He returns briefly in the finale and makes amends with both Julie and Landry, who ends up flying back to Chicago with Matt.
The character of Tim Riggins has developed over time from an unfocused and moody alcoholic to a young man of character and dependability. Sometimes that dependability is reflected in his uncanny ability to make the wrong choices for the right reasons, which usually involve his brother. Even though he has proven his ability to help others correct their misguided choices, unfortunately there is no one who does this for Tim. In this season, his irresponsible, headstrong, but lovable brother again entices Tim into another wrong choice by convincing Tim that the only way they can make any money is by transforming their newly opened garage into a chop shop. Just as they finally end this side business and Tim has enough for the down payment on a large amount of land he's been dreaming about, the police show up to arrest him at the garage. True to his character, he makes the decision to take the rap and allows his brother to be with his new wife and child. The season ends as Tim walks toward the jail.
, and Tim Riggins has three more months in jail. Becky experiences turmoil in her living situation and moves in with Billy and Mindy while developing a closer relationship with Luke. With Vince leading the Lions, along with Luke Cafferty, new recruit Hastings Ruckle, and the rest of the team standing strong behind him, Eric Taylor has strong hopes for the team to go to state. But as Vince's past comes back to haunt him, it seems that the team will have to deal with struggles off the field, as well as on. Vince's troubles also cause his relationship with Jess to take a hit. Julie's college experience is nothing like she imagined and she is forced to take a good look at what she wants. Buddy Garrity becomes a father again when Buddy Jr., who developed problems in California, is sent back to Dillon to get help from his father.
Julie looks for support first from her parents,and then from her old boyfriend Matt Saracen, who is living in Chicago and attending art school. Julie drives up to spend some time with him, but leaves still confused about her future. Tim is up for parole, and with the help of Coach Taylor and Buddy Garrity, is approved for early release. Buddy gives him a job as a bartender at his bar. Tim is angry with his brother Billy and threatens to move to Alaska to work on the pipeline, but luckily his old flame Tyra Collette comes back to Dillon just in time to call him out on his crappy relationship with Billy and after they spend the night together, she asks him to show her his land, and this episode closes with Tyra asking, "Alaska, Tim?" to which Tim guiltily smiles.
In the last episode, East Dillon wins the state championship after Coach Taylor and Vince share a moment of respect for each other. Coach Taylor then moves with his wife to Philadelphia as she accepts the job as Dean of Admissions at a prestigious school, and the show ends showing them living happily. Tim and Tyra talk about their dreams and a potential future at his new homesite. Julie is engaged with Matt and lives with him in Chicago. Vince is the quarterback of the "Superteam" of East/West Dillon joined with Buddy Jr. and Tinker. Jess is living in Dallas, and helping to student coach a team and is following her dreams. Billy is expecting twins with Mindy. Luke Cafferty is seen with Becky at the bus depot departing for the Army. The second to the last scene is of Tim and Billy, taking a break while putting up the frame of Tim's new house. They sit back, crack open a beer, and Billy toasts, "Texas Forever?" to which Timmy responds emphatically, "Texas Forever" and they clink their beers.
, a former columnist for ESPN Magazine implored readers of his column in the September 24, 2007 issue to watch the show, calling it "the greatest sports-related show ever made." Positive reviews also came from USA Today
, the San Francisco Chronicle
, the Arizona Republic, and the Boston Globe and international sources, with The Guardian
s Jonathan Bernstien calling the pilot "accomplished and engaging" and the Metro
awarding it 4 out of 5 stars.
Throughout its inaugural season many online journalists used the frequency of their medium to heap regular praise on the show. Matt Roush of TV Guide
dedicated several of his “Roush Dispatch” columns to the show calling the last episodes of season one “terrifically entertaining” while Zap2it.com's "TVGal" asked her readers to "promise to watch [the last 4 episodes of] Friday Night Lights." TV Guide's Michael Ausiello
called the season one finale "predictably flawless."
The show's pilot did, however, receive negative reviews as well. The Philadelphia Inquirers review was particularly harsh, calling the show a "standard high school sports soap opera." The Los Angeles Times
and the Texas Monthly
also were critical of the show.
Season two reviews were considerably less positive than for the first, with the Landry and Tyra murder plot being particularly panned by critics. The Los Angeles Times said that the show had lost its innocence, while the Boston Globe said the event was "out of sync with the real-life tone of the show." Others were more positive, though, with Variety
saying "faith should be shown in showrunner/writer Jason Katims" while the New York Times said "to hold 'Friday Night Lights' to a measure of realism would be to miss what are its essentially expressionistic pleasures."
Time
magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #4.
It also led to the creation of several websites dedicated specifically to the show, including general information sites as well as several sites dedicated specifically to securing a second season for the show. Sites with this goal in mind included fightforlights.com, which has collected positive press clippings about the show, savefridaynightlights.com which has organized an online petition for its renewal, and a MySpace
page, which includes video, audio and text about the show.
The Save FNL Campaign raised a total of $15,840 for 18,750 footballs, $2061 for charity, and $924 worth of DVDs for troops stationed overseas. The first shipment of 50 boxes of footballs was sent to Ben Silverman at NBC on February 28, 2009, and the second was sent to Jeff Zucker on March 3, 2009.
magazine, Entertainment Weekly
and The New York Times
. Friday Night Lights has also received a prestigious Peabody Award
, three AFI awards
, an Emmy Award
for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, an ACE Eddie Award for editing, an NAACP Image Award
for Outstanding Directing, a Television Critics Association Award, and has earned multiple Writers Guild of America
nominations.
The show's two leading actors, Kyle Chandler
and Connie Britton
, received Emmy nominations for their performances in 2010, while executive producer Jason Katims
won a Humanitas Prize
for writing and is nominated for a second one.
In 2011, the show which was honoured by four Emmy nominations, finally won the award of best actor in a drama series for Kyle Chandler and the award of best writing in a drama series for Jason Katims.
rankings.
, the least viewed ITV channel, and being aired opposite the first leg of the Barcelona
-Liverpool
tie in the first knockout round of the 2006-07
UEFA Champions League
in soccer
.
reported the results of having, for the first time, monitored viewers who use a Digital Video Recorder
to record shows for later viewing. These ratings, called "live plus seven", include all viewers who use a DVR to record the show and then watch it within a week of its initial airing.
According to the Nielsen numbers, DVR viewers increased Friday Night Lights ratings by 7.5% overall in December. When Nielsen monitored viewers again in April 2007 the increase went up to 17% for the week ending on April 8.
These numbers are up to some debate though with Medialife Magazine reporting the "live-plus-seven-day" rating for Friday Night Lights as 35 percent higher than its live rating in DVR homes.
In the study, Friday Night Lights tied for the 11th most watched show by affluent viewers. According to the study viewers of the show have a median household income
of $65,000 per year.
, was released in 2007, and included music from The Killers, OutKast
, and Explosions in the Sky
, who had produced the score for the film. The second soundtrack, Friday Night Lights Vol. 2
, was released in 2010, and included the main "Friday Night Lights Theme" by W. G. Walden
.
creator Peter Berg
was trying to pitch a second movie with the cast of the series which would pick up where the show left off, to Universal Pictures. During Television Critics Association's Summer Press Tour on August 1, 2011, Berg confirmed that the script was completed and the movie is on track for a potential 2012 release.
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adapted by Peter Berg
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, Brian Grazer
Brian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
and David Nevins from a book
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a 1990 non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas as they made a run towards the Texas state championship...
and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team coach Eric Taylor
Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
Eric Taylor is a fictional character in the NBC/DirecTV drama television series Friday Night Lights played by Kyle Chandler. He is introduced as the head coach of the Dillon High School football team, the Dillon Panthers...
(Kyle Chandler
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler is an American film and television actor best known for his roles in the television shows Early Edition as Gary Hobson, Deputy Jackson Lamb in the film Super 8, and as Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead...
) and his family. The show uses this small town backdrop to address many issues facing contemporary American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
culture, including school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, and lack of economic opportunities.
Produced by NBCUniversal, Friday Night Lights premiered on October 3, 2006, airing for two seasons on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Facing cancelling the series, NBC struck a deal with DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
that saw the next three seasons of the show air first on DirecTV's The 101 Network before being rebroadcast on NBC after The 101 Network had completed airing the season. The series ended its run on The 101 Network after five seasons on February 9, 2011.
Friday Night Lights never obtained a sizable audience. It was a critical success, however, lauded for its realistic portrayal of Middle America and deep personal exploration of its central characters. The show was awarded a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, a Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
, and a Television Critics Association
Television Critics Association
The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming...
Award, as well as several technical Primetime Emmy Awards. At the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards the show was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
This page lists the winners and nominees for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, since its institution in 1951. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys ceremonies, and has changed names many times in its history. It was first called Best Dramatic Show...
. Kyle Chandler
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler is an American film and television actor best known for his roles in the television shows Early Edition as Gary Hobson, Deputy Jackson Lamb in the film Super 8, and as Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead...
and Connie Britton
Connie Britton
Connie Britton is an American actress. She is best known for the roles of Nikki Faber on Spin City and on Friday Night Lights as Tami Taylor. Her most notable films are Friday Night Lights and A Nightmare on Elm Street...
also scored multiple nominations for the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress awards for a drama series. Executive producer Jason Katims was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is awarded to one television episode each year at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Often regarded as the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an individual episode of television, the nominees and winners often reflect outstanding achievement in...
. Both Chandler and Katims won the Emmy in 2011.
Inspiration
Friday Night Lights takes its inspiration from the non-fiction book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a DreamFriday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a 1990 non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas as they made a run towards the Texas state championship...
and the 2004 film based on it. The book, published in 1990 and written by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, details the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers
Permian High School
Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is part of the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book Friday Night Lights which in turn inspired a movie and TV series of the same name.-History:...
, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...
. The book itself was intended as a work of journalism and is assumed to be completely factual. The characters in the book are not renamed, and the book makes no attempt to conceal their identities. The Universal Pictures film, which stars Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
and was directed by Bissinger's second cousin Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
, based its characters on the real-life residents of Odessa circa 1988.
Conception
Once filming on the movie was completed, Berg turned his attention to adapting the story for television. Berg later expressed that he regretted having to jettison many of the interpersonal topics from the book because of the time constraints of a feature film. Creating a TV series, particularly one based on fictional characters, allowed many of those elements to be brought back and addressed in-depth.The show chose not to use Odessa as the setting and instead used it as inspiration for the fictionalized town of Dillon, Texas, though the football team did retain the Panthers name. Berg made a number of conscious choices in carrying elements from the film to the series, such that much of the work that went into the creation of the pilot
Pilot (Friday Night Lights)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the sports drama television series Friday Night Lights. The episode premiered on the NBC network on October 3, 2006. It introduces the men and women involved with the Dillon Panthers, a Texas high school football team...
duplicated the work that was done on the film. One of these choices included casting Connie Britton to play Head Coach Eric Taylor's wife and Brad Leland to play football booster Buddy Garrity, in roles similar to the ones they played in the film.
Filming for the show's Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
-based pilot began in February 2006. Berg described filming the pilot and eventually the show in Texas as "a deal breaker" for his weekly participation in the project. The show features a number of homages to its Texas heritage. In filming the pilot, Berg ensured this homage by featuring Texas Longhorn coach Mack Brown as a Dillon booster and having a caller to the fictional "Panther Radio" compare Panthers' coach Eric Taylor to Brown. The pilot also incorporated much of the surrounding area. Football scenes for the pilot were filmed at Pflugerville High School's Kuempel Stadium and at the RRISD Complex. The Dillon Panther football team and coaches' uniforms were based heavily on the uniforms of the real life Pflugerville Panthers. Additionally, some of the scenes were filmed at Texas School for the Deaf.
In addition to physical locations, characters in the show were inspired by Berg's observation of local high school students while preparing to film the movie. For example, Jason Street, the character whose promising football career is ended by a spinal injury in the pilot, was inspired by a real-life incident in which David Edwards
David Edwards (football player and motivational speaker)
David Edwards was an American high school football player whose paralysis following an injury suffered during play led to work as a motivational speaker.-Biography:Edwards was born in Austin, Texas...
, a player from San Antonio’s Madison High, was paralyzed during a November 2003 game. Berg was at the game when the incident took place and it had a profound effect on him, leading him to base the pilot around a similar incident.
Performances
Though scripted like any hour-long television drama, the show's producers decided at the outset to allow the cast leeway in what they said and did on the show, including the delivery of their lines and the blockingBlocking (stage)
Blocking is a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. The term derives from the practice of 19th century theatre directors such as Sir W. S...
of each scene. If the actors felt that something was not true to their character or a mode of delivery didn't work, they were free to change it provided they still hit the vital plot points.
The freedom given to the cast was complemented by the fact that the show was filmed without rehearsal and without extensive blocking. Camera operators were trained to follow the actors, rather than the actors standing in one place and having cameras fixed around them. This allowed the actors to not only feel free to make changes but to feel safe in making those changes because the infrastructure would work around them. Executive producer Jeffrey Reiner described this method as "no rehearsal, no blocking, just three cameras and we shoot."
Working in this fashion had a profound influence on everyone involved with the show, with series star Kyle Chandler going so far as to say "When I look back at my life, I'm going to say, 'Wow, [executive producer] Peter Berg really changed my life.'" Executive producer and head writer Jason Katims
Jason Katims
Jason Katims is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known for Relativity, which he created and wrote for; Roswell, which he developed, produced, and wrote for; Boston Public, which he co-wrote; Pepper Dennis, a short-lived dramedy starring Rebecca Romijn on The WB;...
echoed this sentiment, saying "When I first came on [the FNL] set, I thought, it’s interesting — this is what I imagined filmmaking would be, before I saw what filmmaking was."
Filming
All five seasons of Friday Night Lights were filmed in AustinAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and Pflugerville
Pflugerville, Texas
Pflugerville is a city in Travis and Williamson counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 16,335 at the 2000 census. A July 1, 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 39,653...
, though there were discussions at the close of the first season about a possible move to New Mexico or Arizona. Representing roughly $33 million a year in revenue for the area in which it was filmed, both cities were aggressive in courting the production company after the State of Texas failed to pay all of the rebates that were promised to the show's producers. The show remained in Austin, however, as a result of Texas passing legislation to match the offers of other states and the production company having a preference to stay in the Austin area.
Friday Night Lights is unusual in its use of actual locations as opposed to prefabricated stage sets and its lack of any sound stage for filming. This, along with the production team using hundreds of locals as extras, gives the series an authentic look.
The drive towards authenticity continued in the show's documentary style filming technique, which employed three cameras for each shoot and shot entire scenes in one take; most productions film a scene from each angle and typically repeat the scene several times while readjusting lighting to accommodate each shot. The first takes usually made the final cut. By filming a scene all at once, the producers tried to create an environment for the actors that was more organic and allowed for the best performances.
This desire for authenticity in the production extended to the football games as well, with the series making heavy use of the uniforms, cheerleaders, fans, and the stadium of the real-life Pflugerville Panthers. Producers even shot Pflugerville games and used them as game footage in the show. Added to that were real life University of Southern California football announcers Peter Arbogast and Paul McDonald who provided off-screen commentary during the football game sequences. The facilities, colors, and bobcat logos of Texas State University
Texas State University–San Marcos
Texas State University–San Marcos is a doctoral-granting university located in San Marcos, Texas...
in San Marcos, Texas served as the setting and creative inspiration for the fictional Texas Methodist University. The field's name on the show is Herrmann Field, named after George Herrmann, the head coach of the Pflugerville Panthers.
On June 20, 2010 scenes were filmed at Temple University, depicted as the fictional Braemore College instead.
One episode, from Julie's senior year in high school, was filmed in Boston, at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, and Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
.
Marketing
The show was initially targeted at the youth market and focused heavily on the football element. NBC teamed with social networking site BeboBebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
to create a site that allowed students to upload video and photos, as well as create blogs about their local football teams. Students who participated were eligible for one of ten $5,000 scholarships. The focus of this promotion was a deal that would provide NBC and the show promotion on Bebo’s network of youth oriented sites including Piczo
Piczo
Piczo, Inc is a privately held blog company for teens, based in San Francisco, California. Investors included Catamount, Sierra Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, and Mangrove Capital Partners.In March of 2009, Piczo was acquired by Stardoll....
, Hi5
Hi5 (website)
hi5 is a social networking website based in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 2003 by Ramu Yalamanchi. By 2008, comScore reported that hi5 had become the third most popular social networking site in terms of monthly unique visitors....
, Tickle, Ringo and FastWeb
FastWeb
FastWeb is a free online scholarship matching service and college search service founded by Internet pioneer Larry Organ in 1995. The company was one of the first 100 commercial websites in the United States...
.
To complement this promotion, NBC sent out “School Spirit” kits to 1,000 high schools around the country. These kits included posters, pom-poms, mini-footballs and disposable cameras all bearing the show’s logo. The kits also contained copies of the show’s Pilot episode on DVD. This promotional trick was something the network returned to for its second season promotion, when it teamed with HouseParty.com to send out 1,000 "Party Kits" which contained advance copies of the Season 2 opener along with other promotional material.
NBC also paired with Toyota to create the "Hometown Sweepstakes," in which students could earn cash grants of up to $50,000 for their school’s athletic program. It was open to high-school students ages 14 to 18 and was designed to draw people to the show’s official web site, where they could download AOL Instant Messenger Icons, screensavers, and desktop wallpaper. Students that registered could also download free movie theater passes to special early screenings of the pilot episode. These movie theater screenings took place in 50 cities nationwide and ran until a week before the show premiered on NBC.
This early strategy caused several marketing problems for the long term, the most notable of which was the lack of female viewers. The early marketing campaign created an audience of almost exclusively young men and repelled women with its football-heavy slant. This in turn deprived the show of a large audience who would enjoy the more character-driven elements.
Given this dilemma, NBC chose to aggressively switch course and pursue the female demographic in the later part of the season. The network designed a strategy based around accentuating the personal elements of the show, even going so far as to rechristen the show with the tagline "It’s about life." NBC Marketing President Vince Manze stressed that their goal was to let people know the show was not just about football but about family and relationships as well.
The network again took their case to movie theaters by running 30-second spots featuring cast members and fans being interviewed about the show.
Online episodes
NBC has been aggressive in its online promotion of Friday Night Lights. Streaming videos such as cast interviews and the full episode from the previous week have been available on NBC.com since the series’ inception. In December 2006, NBC expanded this selection to include every episode of the season. The move to offer every episode was made for only a few select shows and represents a marketing push on NBC's part. Beyond NBC.com it was announced on March 14, 2007 that the show would be part of an expanded lineup available via MobiTVMobiTV
MobiTV, Inc. claims to be a leading provider of "end-to-end mobile media solutions". The MobiTV converged media platform delivers live TV, video on-demand and the ability to download and store content for offline viewing to millions of users on all major wireless networks and major mobile...
.
In addition to the free ad-support offerings, every episode of Friday Night Lights became available for download on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
on February 10, 2007 for $1.99 per episode. As a special promotion, the pilot was initially offered as a free download. The first 2 seasons are now on Zune Marketplace. All five seasons of Friday Night Lights are available for streaming from the Netflix "On Demand" subscription service.
International broadcasts
The second series initially aired in the UK on ITV 4 on Tuesdays at 7pm, starting May 4, 2010, before being moved to 1:30 AM on Thursdays.In Australia, Season 4 began screening on Foxtel on December 10, 2010, and ABC began showing Season 1 on free to air in 2011.
In New Zealand, C4 broadcast the series every Friday at 8:30pm, beginning with the pilot episode on August 3, 2008. In Greece Friday Night Lights scored a 3,1% in its premiere and after 11 episode alter channel removed it from the schedule. However it was announced that the remaining episodes will return in 2010. It returned on the schedule on Fall 2010 with the first three seasons airing daily at 03:15am. In Germany, TNT Serie
TNT Serie
TNT Serie is a German television channel dedicated to television series.The station is operated by Turner Broadcasting System and launched on 28 January, 2009. Since 1 June, 2009 the channel is broadcasting around the clock...
broadcasted FNL beginning in February 2009.
Syndication
ABC FamilyABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
acquired syndication rights for the first four seasons and began airing reruns September 6, 2010, but it was pulled as of October 18, 2010, due to low ratings. On July 2011, it was announced that ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic
ESPN Classic is a sports channel that features reruns of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such programs includes biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added commentary on the event...
has acquired the rights of all the five seasons of the show and will start airing it from July 12.
In an attempt to bolster series ratings, NBC repositioned reruns of the show to air on its sister network Bravo during the weeks leading up to the season one finale on NBC. These episodes aired on a schedule of one hour every Friday and three hours every Saturday. Bravo is known to have an audience that is upscale and largely female, which is in line with NBC's then-President Kevin Reilly’s (now at FOX) new strategy for selling the show. When questioned about this strategy, he admitted to regrets over initially marketing the show incorrectly saying “It’s been so clear to me that [the marketing for] the show ended up confusing people in terms of what [the public thought] it was supposed to be.” He said that he felt the show is, at its core, a “women's show” and his wish is that the marketing had reflected that to a greater extent.
NBC has used this method of ratings-bolstering with limited success in the past, most notably during the ratings-challenged final season of The West Wing.
Once the 2006-2007 television season ended, NBC planned to air reruns throughout the summer in the hopes of gaining new viewers during the summer hiatus. Despite rising ratings for the reruns, NBC abruptly pulled them from the network's schedule on June 24, 2007. NBC resumed airing reruns in late August/early September and would be timed to the Season 1 DVD release.
DirecTV
During the 2007-2008 writers' strike, NBC Universal's decision to release the Season 2 DVD with only the 15 produced episodes and comments by NBC chief Ben Silverman led to speculation that the show would be canceled.Shortly thereafter, reports began to surface that the show's producer, NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
, was marketing the series to other networks including The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
, TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
, and the owner of E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
and G4
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
about possible arrangements for a third season. Similar deals such as the one where NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
shared airing rights for Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
with the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
were a template for these discussions.
Unconfirmed reports of a third-season renewal surfaced on March 5, 2008 when Nikki Finke
Nikki Finke
Nikki Finke is an American journalist and blogger. She is Founder and Editor in chief and President of Deadline.com, a website with original content consisting of her and other veteran showbiz journalists' reporting and commentary on the business of the entertainment industry formerly known as...
reported on a possible cost-sharing partnership between NBC and DirecTV. The alleged agreement would have first run episodes airing exclusively on DirecTV and being airing reruns on NBC at a later date. TV Guides Michael Ausiello confirmed these reports on April 2, 2008. This was later confused when USA Today ran a report that NBC has confirmed their fall line-up, including Friday Night Lights. On NBC.com, the page for the show indicates a "2009 Series Return to NBC" and "returning to NBC with new episodes next season!" that were visible in early April 2008. Season three premiered exclusively on DirecTV channel 101, with the episodes replaying on NBC beginning on January 16, 2009. In March 2009, various outlets reported that DirecTV and NBC have renewed the show for two more seasons. It has been confirmed that DirecTV, in a joint venture with NBC once again, has picked up Friday Night Lights for two more 13-episode seasons. According to the official Friday Night Lights show site on NBC.com, the header reads "New Season Begins Summer 2010," which contradicts NBC's original plans to air the episodes, which would have already aired in the fall on DirecTV, mid-season, where it would have had more of a chance to obtain a sizable audience.
Deleted scenes
As part of their online push for the show, NBC made the rare move of posting deleted scenes from each episode on its web site, though deleted scenes are normally held until a DVD release. These scenes often provide information that is revealed later in the episode or series. An example is a scene from the episode entitled "I Think We Should Have Sex," in which it is established that the character of Walt Riggins has resumed living in the same house as his son Tim. The scene, while providing exposition on the relationship, serves only to establish a living arrangement that is made evident in subsequently aired scenes.That said, the exposition given in a deleted scene can often change the intent of material that aired, such as in a deleted scene from the episode "Blinders". In the episode that aired, the character of Tim Riggins gives some prejudicial advice in regards to racial tension developing on the team. Only in the deleted scenes is it revealed that this advice was actually taken verbatim from advice his father had given to him and not necessarily what the character would have done had he not been trying to emulate his father.
Characters
As a show about the community of Dillon, Texas and how the high school football team affects the town as a whole, Friday Night Lights has an ensemble castEnsemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
. While screen time of characters varies from episode to episode, the show is most focused on Panthers' football coach Eric Taylor
Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
Eric Taylor is a fictional character in the NBC/DirecTV drama television series Friday Night Lights played by Kyle Chandler. He is introduced as the head coach of the Dillon High School football team, the Dillon Panthers...
(Kyle Chandler
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler is an American film and television actor best known for his roles in the television shows Early Edition as Gary Hobson, Deputy Jackson Lamb in the film Super 8, and as Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead...
), who strives to balance his emphasis on family, his status in a sometimes confrontational community, and his personal ambitions. His family - wife Tami Taylor (Connie Britton
Connie Britton
Connie Britton is an American actress. She is best known for the roles of Nikki Faber on Spin City and on Friday Night Lights as Tami Taylor. Her most notable films are Friday Night Lights and A Nightmare on Elm Street...
), a guidance counselor turned principal at Dillon High, and teenage daughter Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden
Aimee Teegarden
Aimee Richelle Teegarden is an American actress. She starred as Julie Taylor in the NBC series Friday Night Lights, Jenny Randall in the horror film Scream 4, and Nova Prescott in the Disney film Prom.-Career:...
) - are also central to the show. When Tami becomes pregnant and gives birth to Gracie Taylor, tensions within the family increase and Julie becomes more rebellious.
Outside of the Taylor family, the show focuses on the respective lives of the Dillon's high school football players. In the series' first episode, star quarterback Jason Street
Jason Street
Jason Mitchell Street is a fictional character in the NBC/DirecTV television drama Friday Night Lights, portrayed by Scott Porter...
(Scott Porter
Scott Porter
Matthew Scott Porter , better known as Scott Porter, is an American actor and occasional singer known for his role as Jason Street in the NBC television drama Friday Night Lights. His character was injured during a football game in the pilot episode and became a paraplegic...
) suffers an injury that leads to an end to his football career and a disability that he resists and then learns to cope with throughout the series. Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly
Minka Kelly
Minka Dumont Kelly is an American actress. She starred in the NBC series Friday Night Lights as Lyla Garrity from 2006 to 2009 and has also had roles in The Roommate and the reboot series Charlie's Angels.-Early life:Kelly was born in Los Angeles...
), who at the time of Jason's injury was his girlfriend, parallels his story, as she goes from a Panther cheerleader to a Christian youth leader.
As a result of Jason's injury, shy and nervous Matt Saracen
Matt Saracen
Matthew "Matt" Saracen is a fictional character in the NBC/DirecTV television drama series Friday Night Lights portrayed by the actor Zach Gilford...
(Zach Gilford
Zach Gilford
Zach Gilford is an American actor best known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC television drama series Friday Night Lights. Gilford starred alongside Terrell Owens in the 2008 NBA Celebrity All-Star game....
) becomes the Panthers' starting quarterback and eventually dates Julie. It is also revealed that Matt's father is serving in Iraq and that he must therefore care for his grandmother Lorraine Saracen (Louanne Stephens) by himself, with help only from his best friend Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons
Jesse Plemons
Jesse Plemons is an American film and television actor best known for playing Landry Clarke on NBC's Friday Night Lights.-Career:...
), and eventual live-in nurse and love interest Carlotta Alonso (Daniella Alonso). Brash star running back Brian "Smash" Williams's
Smash Williams
Brian "Smash" Williams is a fictional character in the NBC/DirecTV drama television series Friday Night Lights portrayed by actor Gaius Charles. He is the starting running back of the Dillon High School Panthers. Considered the most talented player on the roster after quarterback Jason Street,...
(Gaius Charles
Gaius Charles
Gaius Charles is an American stage, television and film actor best known for playing Brian "Smash" Williams on NBC's Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...
) quest for a college football scholarship and fullback Tim Riggins
Tim Riggins
-External links:*...
(Taylor Kitsch
Taylor Kitsch
-Early life and modeling career:Kitsch was born in Kelowna, British Columbia. He has two older brothers and two younger half sisters. Originally set to become a professional hockey player, he played for the Langley Hornets in the Canadian BCHL before a bad knee injury ended his career...
) tale of on-and-off alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and party-life are told as well. Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki is an American actress best known for her role as Tyra Collette on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...
) also stars as a town vixen who goes from Tim's occasional girlfriend to Landry's lover following Landry's defense of her from a rapist.
Season One
Season one revolves around two main events: the ascension of coach Eric Taylor to the position of head coachHead coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
and the paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
of star quarterback Jason Street. These two events set off a chain reaction that leads the series through its first season.
Coach Taylor's career depends on his ability to get the Dillon Panthers to the state championship. If the team suffers a losing streak, he knows his family, which includes daughter Julie, will no longer be welcome in Dillon.
Meanwhile, Tami Taylor lands a job as a counselor at the local high school. Over the course of the season, she becomes a support and a mentor to many of the students and her position plays a pivotal role in the season finale, which leaves viewers wondering whether Eric will leave Dillon to accept a coveted coaching job with a university.
Matt Saracen and Jason Street must struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds. Street must learn to live without the use of his legs in a town that seems to be moving on without him, while Saracen must rise to be worthy of the position he has inherited. As Street's friendship with Herc, his rehab roommate and wheelchair rugby teammate, grows stronger, so does his will and independence. The new role of QB1 is an unenviable task for the timid Matt, as he also must care for his ill grandmother while his father is fighting in Iraq. Causing further headaches, Matt falls in love with Coach Taylor's daughter, Julie, who loathes Texas life and dislikes football. She nevertheless falls for Matt because of his bumbling awkwardness and, above all, his modest decency. Their relationship slowly blossoms over the course of the season.
Also explored is the pressure on the cocky, driven Brian "Smash" Williams. Easily the most promising player on the Panthers' roster, he works hard to achieve excellence and sees his future career as instrumental in providing his family a better life. Life has been hard for Williams' family since his father was killed in a car accident, and financial constraints have led his mother Corrine to take multiple jobs just to get the family by. At one point, he decides that he's willing to risk his health by using performance enhancing drugs to make sure he gets a college football scholarship.
Tim Riggins is an unfocused alcoholic with absentee parents and no prospects beyond high school. However, he is shown to be a loyal friend with a good heart. Unfortunately, his good intentions seem to be repeatedly derailed by his own missteps.
Tyra Collette, like many of the other characters, comes from a broken home, where her mom falls in and out of abusive relationships. Tyra begins the season as Tim’s girlfriend, but as Season One progresses, thanks to Tami Taylor and Landry Clark — the school math geek and Saracen’s best friend — she starts to see the faintest glimmer of hope that she might get out of Dillon and discontinue the cycle that her mother and her sister (a stripper) seem destined to continue.
Meanwhile, Lyla goes through some of the biggest changes as she begins the season as a bubbly, optimistic, sweet-natured girl. Faced with the heartbreaking reality of Jason's injury, she begins seeing Tim Riggins to cope with her frustration. Though Jason and Lyla reconcile after he becomes aware of this, Jason begins growing closer to another woman and at the same time Lyla learns about her father's many adulterous affairs. It is at this point that Lyla moves past her dependence on other men to grow into a more independent woman.
Season Two
Season two begins with Coach Taylor in AustinAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
with a new college coaching job at fictional TMU, while Tami is in Dillon with their newborn baby. However, as the Panthers experience internal difficulties with a new coach, and as Tami forges a new relationship with her replacement counselor at the school, Coach Taylor decides to return to Dillon. Even with his return, his daughter Julie begins to frustrate her mother, as she ends her romantic relationship with Matt and begins one with an older man, "The Swede." This trend continues as she begins a friendship with a teacher that her mother feels is inappropriate.
Meanwhile, Coach Taylor attempts to win games with the Panthers but faces a number of issues. Tim is banned from the team as a result of missing a game to convince Jason to not have stem-cell surgery in Mexico. This leads to difficulties for Tim, who eventually ends up homeless before being taken back onto the team and returning to live with his brother.
Lyla Garrity becomes increasingly involved in an organization for young Christians. She befriends a young convict, Santiago, who eventually is placed under the legal care of her father. Under Buddy's prompting, Santiago becomes the new linebacker for the Panthers.
At the same time, Smash is courted by a number of college recruiters, leading to tension between him and his mother. Smash accepts a scholarship to the prestigious TMU. However, Smash punches a white teenager who sexually harasses his sister when they're at the movies. This turns into a blown-out-of-proportion racial incident, and Smash is deemed someone to have "character issues". His scholarship to TMU is revoked. He later commits to Whitmore University, a smaller historically black college that is more highly regarded for its academics than its athletic programs. The football coach at Whitmore has a strong relationship with Coach Taylor, and had been scouting Smash since he was in middle school.
Matt, on the other hand, begins a relationship with a cheerleader before leaving her for his grandmother's new live-in nurse, Carlotta.
Additionally, the early season follows an arc where Landry kills and hides the body of a man who attempted to rape Tyra, leading to a romance between the two. Eventually, guilt builds within Landry and he confesses. Charges are not pressed, although tension between him and Tyra remains.
Jason Street impregnates a woman in what was supposed to be a one-night stand at the end of season two. Jason pleads with the woman to keep the child and promises to take care of the two.
This season ends on a cliffhanger due to the writer's strike. The show's head writer and executive producer, Jason Katims
Jason Katims
Jason Katims is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known for Relativity, which he created and wrote for; Roswell, which he developed, produced, and wrote for; Boston Public, which he co-wrote; Pepper Dennis, a short-lived dramedy starring Rebecca Romijn on The WB;...
, stated that this last episode was “not in any way viewed as the season finale... If we were leading to the end of the season [under normal circumstances], we would have most likely brought the story around to the coach and his family again,” and there would have been a strong football element as well, Katims said. Seven of the 22 episodes NBC ordered for Season 2 weren’t made.
Season Three
The season began with Coach Taylor having failed to lead the Panthers to another State championship the year before, creating new pressure for him. Quarterback Matt Saracen's position is threatened by the arrival of freshman J.D. McCoy, an amazing natural talent who comes from a rich family with an overbearing father, Joe. Matt moves to wide receiver after Taylor names J.D McCoy the starting quarterback, but Matt is pushed back into his former role in the playoffs. He and Julie reconcile and rekindle their romance.Smash Williams, who injured his knee during the previous year's playoffs, rediscovers his love for the game, gets a tryout with a college, and succeeds in winning a spot on their team. Tyra starts dating a cowboy named Cash, leading to complications in her relationship with Landry. Tim and Lyla start dating, and Tim pursues a college football scholarship. Billy Riggins gets engaged to Tyra's older sister Mindy. He, Tim, Herc, and Jason decide to flip Buddy Garrity's house for a profit. Jason Street eventually finds a job at a sports agency in New York City and moves to the northeast to be close to his girlfriend and newborn baby. Tami Taylor becomes the principal of Dillon High School and fights with Buddy Garrity about the allocation of funds toward a Jumbotron.
While Eric Taylor and Buddy Garrity were making a visit to a possible recruit who just moved into town, the coach learns of a plot to have him replaced as head coach of the Dillon Panthers. They learn that Joe McCoy wants Taylor replaced with Wade Aikman, J.D.'s personal coach. After the school's administration meets to decide who gets the coaching job, Aikman is offered the job at Dillon High School, while Taylor is offered the job of coaching the Lions of East Dillon High, which is reopening after years of being closed...
Season Four
Season 4 kicks off with Eric Taylor struggling as the East Dillon High coach. The team, field, and conditions are a complete change from the privileged and sparkling conditions at West Dillon.As Coach begins putting together his new Lion team, he realizes that he's in for more than he bargained for. The players that try out are less than desirable, but Coach gets a lucky break with a couple of new faces. The first is Vince Howard, a black student who has gotten in trouble with the law too many times. He is given one last chance if he plays football for the East Dillon Lions. Although he has no prior experience, he has natural talent and becomes the team's first star quarterback. The second break comes to the Lions when Buddy Garrity reveals to Eric that the address on file for the Panthers new prodigy running back, Luke Cafferty, is nothing more than a mailbox in front of an empty lot, and Luke is really zoned to go to East Dillon.
The football season is one focused around growth and reestablishing a sense of Lion pride. The culmination of their hard work is tested in their last game of the season as they play The Dillon Panthers led by JD McCoy. In an amazing show of perseverance, the East Dillon Lions defeat the Dillon panthers, ruining the Panthers' chance at playoffs.
In season four, the character Matt Saracen struggles with staying in Dillon and living as a townie. After returning from a hunting trip with Tim Riggins, he finds out that his father was killed in Iraq. The episode "The Son" shows Matt going through the five stages of grief as he comes to accept the death of his father, a man he claims to hate. This episode garnered much buzz online and resulted in a failed campaign for Zach Gilford to get an Emmy nomination in the guest actor category, however the episode did get an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. After this emotionally charged episode, Matt abruptly moves to Chicago without saying goodbye to his girlfriend or best friend. He returns briefly in the finale and makes amends with both Julie and Landry, who ends up flying back to Chicago with Matt.
The character of Tim Riggins has developed over time from an unfocused and moody alcoholic to a young man of character and dependability. Sometimes that dependability is reflected in his uncanny ability to make the wrong choices for the right reasons, which usually involve his brother. Even though he has proven his ability to help others correct their misguided choices, unfortunately there is no one who does this for Tim. In this season, his irresponsible, headstrong, but lovable brother again entices Tim into another wrong choice by convincing Tim that the only way they can make any money is by transforming their newly opened garage into a chop shop. Just as they finally end this side business and Tim has enough for the down payment on a large amount of land he's been dreaming about, the police show up to arrest him at the garage. True to his character, he makes the decision to take the rap and allows his brother to be with his new wife and child. The season ends as Tim walks toward the jail.
Season Five
Season 5, the final season, opens with summer wrapping up in Dillon: Billy Riggins joins Coach Taylor as a special teams coach for the East Dillon Lions. Tami is the new guidance counselor at East Dillon, where she is faced with the challenge of a particularly difficult student named Epyck. Landry is departing for Rice UniversityRice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, and Tim Riggins has three more months in jail. Becky experiences turmoil in her living situation and moves in with Billy and Mindy while developing a closer relationship with Luke. With Vince leading the Lions, along with Luke Cafferty, new recruit Hastings Ruckle, and the rest of the team standing strong behind him, Eric Taylor has strong hopes for the team to go to state. But as Vince's past comes back to haunt him, it seems that the team will have to deal with struggles off the field, as well as on. Vince's troubles also cause his relationship with Jess to take a hit. Julie's college experience is nothing like she imagined and she is forced to take a good look at what she wants. Buddy Garrity becomes a father again when Buddy Jr., who developed problems in California, is sent back to Dillon to get help from his father.
Julie looks for support first from her parents,and then from her old boyfriend Matt Saracen, who is living in Chicago and attending art school. Julie drives up to spend some time with him, but leaves still confused about her future. Tim is up for parole, and with the help of Coach Taylor and Buddy Garrity, is approved for early release. Buddy gives him a job as a bartender at his bar. Tim is angry with his brother Billy and threatens to move to Alaska to work on the pipeline, but luckily his old flame Tyra Collette comes back to Dillon just in time to call him out on his crappy relationship with Billy and after they spend the night together, she asks him to show her his land, and this episode closes with Tyra asking, "Alaska, Tim?" to which Tim guiltily smiles.
In the last episode, East Dillon wins the state championship after Coach Taylor and Vince share a moment of respect for each other. Coach Taylor then moves with his wife to Philadelphia as she accepts the job as Dean of Admissions at a prestigious school, and the show ends showing them living happily. Tim and Tyra talk about their dreams and a potential future at his new homesite. Julie is engaged with Matt and lives with him in Chicago. Vince is the quarterback of the "Superteam" of East/West Dillon joined with Buddy Jr. and Tinker. Jess is living in Dallas, and helping to student coach a team and is following her dreams. Billy is expecting twins with Mindy. Luke Cafferty is seen with Becky at the bus depot departing for the Army. The second to the last scene is of Tim and Billy, taking a break while putting up the frame of Tim's new house. They sit back, crack open a beer, and Billy toasts, "Texas Forever?" to which Timmy responds emphatically, "Texas Forever" and they clink their beers.
Critical response
Although the series never had a high viewership, it was met with critical acclaim and has a strong fan-base. Virginia Heffernan wrote for the New York Times that "if the season is anything like the pilot, this new drama about high school football could be great — and not just television great, but great in the way of a poem or painting." The Washington Post similarly praised the series as "[e]xtraordinary in just about every conceivable way." Bill SimmonsBill Simmons
William J. "Bill" Simmons III is a sports columnist, author, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!...
, a former columnist for ESPN Magazine implored readers of his column in the September 24, 2007 issue to watch the show, calling it "the greatest sports-related show ever made." Positive reviews also came from USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, the Arizona Republic, and the Boston Globe and international sources, with The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Jonathan Bernstien calling the pilot "accomplished and engaging" and the Metro
Metro (Associated Metro Limited)
Metro is a free daily newspaper in the United Kingdom published by Associated Newspapers Ltd . It is available from Monday to Friday each week on many public transport services across the United Kingdom.-History:The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in 14 UK urban centres...
awarding it 4 out of 5 stars.
Throughout its inaugural season many online journalists used the frequency of their medium to heap regular praise on the show. Matt Roush of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
dedicated several of his “Roush Dispatch” columns to the show calling the last episodes of season one “terrifically entertaining” while Zap2it.com's "TVGal" asked her readers to "promise to watch [the last 4 episodes of] Friday Night Lights." TV Guide's Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello is an American television industry journalist and actor. He was a Senior Writer at TV Guide and its companion website, TVGuide.com. On May 28, 2008, Ausiello left TV Guide for Entertainment Weekly and posted his first blog for Entertainment Weekly on July 2, 2008...
called the season one finale "predictably flawless."
The show's pilot did, however, receive negative reviews as well. The Philadelphia Inquirers review was particularly harsh, calling the show a "standard high school sports soap opera." The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and the Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Austin, Texas. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. and was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, Texas Monthly chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the environment, industry, and education...
also were critical of the show.
Season two reviews were considerably less positive than for the first, with the Landry and Tyra murder plot being particularly panned by critics. The Los Angeles Times said that the show had lost its innocence, while the Boston Globe said the event was "out of sync with the real-life tone of the show." Others were more positive, though, with Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
saying "faith should be shown in showrunner/writer Jason Katims" while the New York Times said "to hold 'Friday Night Lights' to a measure of realism would be to miss what are its essentially expressionistic pleasures."
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at #4.
Fan response
Friday Night Lights enjoys what former NBC President Kevin Reilly called a "passionate and vocal [fanbase]". This fan dedication has shown itself in everything from advertisers expressing their support for the show to news outlets getting massive amounts of support mail after running positive pieces about the show.It also led to the creation of several websites dedicated specifically to the show, including general information sites as well as several sites dedicated specifically to securing a second season for the show. Sites with this goal in mind included fightforlights.com, which has collected positive press clippings about the show, savefridaynightlights.com which has organized an online petition for its renewal, and a MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page, which includes video, audio and text about the show.
Fan campaigns
After some statements made by NBC's Entertainment head Ben Silverman about the future of the show and the fact that everything seemed to point that Friday Night Lights wouldn't be back after the writers' strike, fans put together several campaigns. Best Week Ever suggested sending lightbulbs to NBC's offices. Save FNL Campaign raised money to send footballs and contributions to charity foundations that were related to the show.The Save FNL Campaign raised a total of $15,840 for 18,750 footballs, $2061 for charity, and $924 worth of DVDs for troops stationed overseas. The first shipment of 50 boxes of footballs was sent to Ben Silverman at NBC on February 28, 2009, and the second was sent to Jeff Zucker on March 3, 2009.
Awards and nominations
Friday Night Lights has continually been hailed as one of the Top 10 best shows of the year by critics and publications such as TimeTime
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Friday Night Lights has also received a prestigious Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, three AFI awards
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
, an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, an ACE Eddie Award for editing, an NAACP Image Award
NAACP Image Award
An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
for Outstanding Directing, a Television Critics Association Award, and has earned multiple Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
nominations.
The show's two leading actors, Kyle Chandler
Kyle Chandler
Kyle Martin Chandler is an American film and television actor best known for his roles in the television shows Early Edition as Gary Hobson, Deputy Jackson Lamb in the film Super 8, and as Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead...
and Connie Britton
Connie Britton
Connie Britton is an American actress. She is best known for the roles of Nikki Faber on Spin City and on Friday Night Lights as Tami Taylor. Her most notable films are Friday Night Lights and A Nightmare on Elm Street...
, received Emmy nominations for their performances in 2010, while executive producer Jason Katims
Jason Katims
Jason Katims is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known for Relativity, which he created and wrote for; Roswell, which he developed, produced, and wrote for; Boston Public, which he co-wrote; Pepper Dennis, a short-lived dramedy starring Rebecca Romijn on The WB;...
won a Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
for writing and is nominated for a second one.
In 2011, the show which was honoured by four Emmy nominations, finally won the award of best actor in a drama series for Kyle Chandler and the award of best writing in a drama series for Jason Katims.
U.S. ratings
Friday Night Lights has not met with much ratings success, having consistently placed below 50 in the NielsenNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
rankings.
International ratings
According to the Media Guardian (a UK newspaper) the show's pilot, which aired on February 21, 2007, was watched by a mere 26,000 viewers in the UK. This is attributed to the program airing on ITV4ITV4
ITV4 is a British television station which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action...
, the least viewed ITV channel, and being aired opposite the first leg of the Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
-Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
tie in the first knockout round of the 2006-07
UEFA Champions League 2006-07
The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan and Liverpool on 23 May 2007...
UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
in soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
.
DVR ratings
On December 29, 2006 Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
reported the results of having, for the first time, monitored viewers who use a Digital Video Recorder
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
to record shows for later viewing. These ratings, called "live plus seven", include all viewers who use a DVR to record the show and then watch it within a week of its initial airing.
According to the Nielsen numbers, DVR viewers increased Friday Night Lights ratings by 7.5% overall in December. When Nielsen monitored viewers again in April 2007 the increase went up to 17% for the week ending on April 8.
These numbers are up to some debate though with Medialife Magazine reporting the "live-plus-seven-day" rating for Friday Night Lights as 35 percent higher than its live rating in DVR homes.
Affluent viewers
On March 5, 2007 Media Life Magazine reported that Friday Night Lights was one of the most popular shows among "affluent viewers." This was determined using a report from Magna Global who in turn used analysis done by Nielsen Media Research. Affluence in the study was determined by yearly income.In the study, Friday Night Lights tied for the 11th most watched show by affluent viewers. According to the study viewers of the show have a median household income
Median household income
The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...
of $65,000 per year.
Soundtracks
Two soundtracks with music featured on the show were released. The first, Friday Night LightsFriday Night Lights (television soundtrack)
Friday Night Lights is the soundtrack for the television series Friday Night Lights, a program inspired by the film of the same name.Although post-rock band Explosions in the Sky wrote most of the film's soundtrack, the music for the television series was a more accessible affair, with bands such...
, was released in 2007, and included music from The Killers, OutKast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
, and Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky is an American post-rock band from Texas. The band has garnered popularity beyond the post-rock scene for their elaborately developed guitar work, narratively styled instrumentals, what they refer to as "cathartic mini-symphonies," and their enthusiastic and emotional live shows...
, who had produced the score for the film. The second soundtrack, Friday Night Lights Vol. 2
Friday Night Lights Vol. 2 (television soundtrack)
Friday Night Lights Vol. 2 is the second soundtrack for the NBC television series Friday Night Lights, a program inspired by the film of the same name. It was released by Arrival Records/Scion Music Group and is distributed by Fontana Distribution....
, was released in 2010, and included the main "Friday Night Lights Theme" by W. G. Walden
W. G. Walden
W. G. Snuffy Walden is a musician and composer for television shows. He has been awarded or nominated for numerous Emmy Awards and BMI Awards.- Early life :...
.
Movie Sequel
On July 2011, it was reported that Friday Night LightsFriday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights is a 2004 drama film which documents the coach and players of a high school football team and the Texas city of Odessa that supports and is obsessed with them. The book on which it was based, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, was authored by H. G...
creator Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
was trying to pitch a second movie with the cast of the series which would pick up where the show left off, to Universal Pictures. During Television Critics Association's Summer Press Tour on August 1, 2011, Berg confirmed that the script was completed and the movie is on track for a potential 2012 release.
DVD release
| Season | |Originally aired | |DVD release date | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... | |Region 2 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
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| 1 | 22 | 2006-07 | 5 | U.S./CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... : August 28, 2007 |
UK: October 29, 2007 / FR: August 24, 2010 | ||
Running Time: 955 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features:
|
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| 2 | 15 | 2007-08 | 4 | U.S./CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... : April 22, 2008 |
UK: N/A / FR: February 22, 2011 | ||
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Running Time: 685 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features:
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| 3 | 13 | 2008-09 | 4 | U.S./CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... : May 19, 2009 |
UK: N/A / FR: July 26, 2011 | ||
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Running Time: 540 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features:
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| 4 | 13 | 2009-10 | 3 | U.S./CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... : August 17, 2010 |
UK: N/A, N/A | ||
|
Running Time: 566 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features:
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| 5 | 13 | 2010-11 | 5 | U.S./CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... : April 15, 2011 |
UK: N/A, N/A | ||
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| 1-5 | 76 | 2006–2011 | 19 | U.S./CAN Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... : October 4, 2011 |
UK: N/A, N/A | ||
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