Friday Night Lights

I'd heard some good things about Friday Night Lights, an NBC show that was still running as of recently (I know the lead, Kyle Chandler, just won an Emmy), but I had never seen an episode of it before this fall. An interest in Minka Kelly prompted me to take a look at the first season, all 22 episodes.

Based on the film, directed by Peter Berg, which in turn was based on a nonfiction book by Buzz Bissinger, the TV series has a great framework for a show, and in some respects is frighteningly penetrating about its glimpses into its character lives. But, ultimately, over 22 episodes my interest started to flag, as I realized it was headed into daytime drama material, which usually doesn't occur to a good show until its third or fourth season. After five seasons of this stuff, I can't imagine how sudsy it might have gotten, and I don't want to know.

The best thing about Friday Night Lights is how it captures something that is ultimately very sad: the obsession a small town in Texas has for its high school football team. I've never lived in a small Texas town (I did live in Houston for a while), but I can imagine that the show gets this right, as everyone lives and dies with every move the team makes. The kids are made into stars and have too much pressure on them (signs with their name and number are posted in front of their houses). I can also imagine this is because in places like the fictional Dillon, Texas, there's nothing else to do.

The show, created by Berg, is also innovative in its camera work. A handheld camera is used, and actors were not instructed to hit marks--instead, they were free to move improvisationally, so as to give it an overall effect of a documentary. This lent an immediacy to the action that I found very interesting, even not noticing after it a while.

The season followed the Dillon Panthers and their new coach (Chandler) through their season, in which they overcome several obstacles to make it to the state championship. In the opening game, the star quarterback (Scott Porter), is injured, and is paralyzed below the waist. The insecurity-riddled backup (Zack Gilford), takes his place, and also falls in love with the coach's daughter (Aimee Teegarden). Porter's girlfriend (Minka Kelly), a cheerleader, is tested by the injury, and ends up fooling around with the team's bad boy (Taylor Kitsch).

There are also issues with steroids, the recruitment of a Katrina-refugee, bipolar disorder, estranged fathers and sons, younger men with older women, an unexpected pregnancy, an attempted rape, a student beaten up by a football player, etc. Like I said, strictly daytime drama stuff. It's handled intelligently, but after a while I just was rolling my eyes.

And then there's the football. Almost every episode revolves around a game. Sports in movies and television are almost never handled in a realistic fashion, but Friday Night Lights gets most of it right. The problem I had with it is how many games can one team play that are won on the last play from scrimmage? Not even the Cardiac Cards of the late '70s had that many. And the plays that the Panthers win on defy logic--in one game, with 13 seconds to go, in their own territory, they call a pitchout to their great running back (Gaius Charles). I'm sorry--I don't care how great a running back you have, you've got to be throwing the ball down field with only 13 seconds left. Of course, Charles takes it in for the win.

Chandler is very good as the coach who is obsessed with football but also is a loving family man, and Connie Britton (who I believe is the only cast member left over from the movie) is effective as his long-suffering wife. Most of the high school kids are played by actors who are too old for the part--a common TV problem. Adrianne Palicki, as the school's hot mama/slut, looks nothing like any girl I went to high school with. I think the most moving portrayal, though, is by Brad Leland, who plays the primary booster for the team, a car dealership owner who is just too involved with football than is right. He's something of an asshole, but as his life falls apart, you can't help but feel sorry for him. It's a very good performance.