Reviews by Matt

Let’s be honest, I watch a lot of TV. I am too afraid to count how many shows and how many hours I watch a week. There are only four shows I would not give up. These are “Lost,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Scrubs” and “Friday Night Lights.” What is it about these four shows that earn them this honor? Each has something that makes it stand out above all the other TV I watch. I could go into each of them, and I have in previous reviews, but this is review is for one show: “Friday Night Lights”

Dillon, Texas is Panthers Football. For a more in depth plot summery see my season one or season two reviews.

I have loved this show since episode one. There is so much to love in each and every episode. The writing and the acting are superior to just about everything else on TV. It has been critically acclaimed but has been a ratings bomb. After the first season NBC did the unthinkable, they renewed it for a second season. They show came back and did what they could to reinvent the show in order to hook more viewers. The writer’s strike was a hard time for the show. The ratings still were never good and I was convinced they were doomed for cancellation. NBC was not ready to give up on the show. So for season three they split the cost of the show with Direct TV. “Friday Night Lights” would air on Direct TV in September and on NBC in January.
This was all in hopes of getting the show to a profitable level.

I did watch the first episode in September, just not as the networks would have liked. I wanted to watch the rest, but I decided that I would wait until NBC started airing the episodes. It was tough, especially when Entertainment Weekly named the episode “Hello Goodbye” the best episode of television of the year. I did it, I waited and now that season three has started on NBC, I can finally see what the hype has been about.

Season two was more about the people in the town and the game was an afterthought. While I enjoyed the season, I was disappointed that they sold out. It threw away what I loved and replaced it with unneeded drama. They show has gotten back to what made season one as special as it was. The focus is back on football and the events surrounding Friday night’s game.

The dramatic heart of the show is the Taylor family. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) has an entire town he has to please. The town members scrutinize his every move and one misstep ends with the town outraged. Tammy Taylor (Connie Britton) is now the principal of Dillon High and finds herself dealing with budgets, teachers leaving, no air conditioning in the school and keeping the teachers happy. She has less time at home to see her daughters, Julie and her one-year-old, Gracie.

I am very optimistic about this season. I have heard nothing but good things about what is to come. It was hard to not watch the episodes before now, but it seems to be paying off. I will continue to watch this show and support it passionately until the show eventually gets canceled or gains a huge audience and continues for years.

“Friday Night Lights” airs on Friday at 9 p.m. on NBC.