“Friday Night Lights” back on NBC
Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose.
As previous reports had predicted, NBC has found a way to keep the lights on.
(For David Bianculli’s podcast with Kyle Chandler, go here.)
NBC Entertainment honcho Ben Silverman told writers on a conference call today that if he had to sit next to somebody on the plane telling him this was their favorite show and not to cancel it, he couldn’t take it.
See? You don’t have to ship tons of peanuts to an executive. Just book the same flights he or she is on and make them want to scratch their eyes out.
What wife hasn’t looked at her husband just like this when he’s been making a horse’s hind-end out of himself. The fabulous team of Connie Britton as Tami Taylor and Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor make “Friday Night Lights” one show that shouldn’t be missed. NBC Photo: Bill Records
This fall, 13 episodes of “Friday Night Lights” will air exclusively on DirecTV beginning Wednesday, Oct 1. Then, following the Super Bowl in January 2009, the episodes will replay on NBC.
“Friday Night Lights” also has been honored two years in a row (2006/2007) as an American Film Institute (AFI) Television Program of the Year and received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 2006. The series also received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series (2007).
Expanding on the hit feature film and best-selling book “Friday Night Lights,” the award-winning series centers on life in Dillon, Texas, where high school football brings the community together — and the drama of small town life threatens to tear it apart. Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler, “Grey’s Anatomy”) faced countless challenges during his first season as head coach of the Dillon Panthers, ultimately leading the team to a state championship.
Finally returning to Dillon (after leaving briefly for a coaching job at a college which put his marriage and the fate of the Panther’s team in jeopardy), Coach Taylor juggles his responsibility to his family, the team, and the growing pressures from the community. His wife, Tami (Connie Britton, “24”), has her hands full with a career as the Dillon High School student counselor, a new baby and ultra-sensitive teenaged daughter, Julie (Aimee Teegarden, “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”); reckless fullback Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch, The “Covenant”) can never seem to get a break and without a stable adult guardian at home, finds comfort in all the wrong places.
In the aftermath of Tyra Colette’s (Adrianne Palicki, “South Beach”) deadly encounter with an obsessed stalker, she tries to sort out her feelings for Landry (Jesse Plemons, “Grey’s Anatomy”), who at times makes all the right moves on and off the field; and Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly, “The Kingdom”) takes on a new job as a deejay at a Christian radio station, further confusing her relationships with a new beau and Riggins.
Star quarterback Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford, “The Last Winter”) finds a new romance, but when it ends, is overwhelmed with abandonment issues. Meanwhile, Jason Street’s (Scott Porter, “Music & Lyrics by…”) struggle to start a new life outside of high school and football has him exploring interesting avenues. What should be the best year of high school for Brian “Smash” Williams (Gaius Charles, NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU”) is short-lived after he runs headlong into racial bias and when UT revokes his scholarship, Smash must rethink his future plans.