Friday Night Lights Season 1

Published Sep 20, 2007
How do you sell a small-town Texas football show thats neither about football nor a Texas small town? Thats the challenge faced by NBC, whove kept this critically acclaimed drama on life support, hoping that critical adoration can finally translate into finding an audience. While its setting and premise offer up some heavy viewer expectations, what comes out in the football and high school drama is some weighty, compelling drama concerning the fictional small town of Dillon, Texas. The actions of the first season are set in motion when star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) suffers a severe spinal injury, putting him in a wheelchair, jeopardising his relationships with best friend/troublemaker Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) and girlfriend Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) while upending the lives and expectations of sophomore quarterback Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) and coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler). As families deal with tragedy, the town of Dillon doesnt relent on its sky-high expectations for its high school ballers - that tension brings out all the drama: how the teams teenagers live up to the overreaching dreams of the towns adults; how the on- and off-the-field challenges are met (or not), and the impact of this pressure on Taylors wife and daughter. The football scenes are remarkably shot and constructed, and as pointed out in this DVD sets "making of, the cameras consistently maintain a distance that gives the show its documentary feel and dramatic openness. The naturalness of its performances and relationships is what makes Friday Night Lights such unusual, and unusually good, drama. Given its improv feel, there are a slew of deleted scenes that hit the cutting room floor, and almost every episode here has at least a few minutes of compelling extra footage. Though based on a successful novel and feature film, Friday Night Lights hasnt reached the mainstream (or even cult) audience it deserves. While low-rated but acclaimed shows like Buffy, Battlestar Galactica or even Jericho have a clearly defined niche audience that can mobilise support, sadly there isnt a ComicCon for compelling, mature, intelligent drama. If there were, Friday Night Lights would be its Superman.
(Universal)