Friday Night Lights

I only recently became hooked on this show, having obsessed for perhaps too long about a certain metaphysical fantasy set on a desert island and about a certain stylish melodrama about one man's Mafia family. This show has no gangland hits, no sixties nostalgia about Madison Avenue, no housewives( or chemistry teachers) dealing drugs, no musical numbers,no recondite references to Egyptian hieroglyphics or quantum physics. Yet despite all these terrible flaws,( clever sarcasm) it is a masterpiece. I am not anti-Lost. I enjoyed the show immensely, for all its flaws. However, this show is , in some ways, superior. It is, in fact a photo-realistic picture of life in a small town in Texas, beautifully written and wonderfully acted. I rank it with certain other shows that were overlooked and are now sadly forgotten by all but a few people with good taste: The Call To Glory, Homefront, and I'll Fly Away,among others. In some ways, this is a show worthy of the golden age of TV "sooial drama", Naked City, The Defenders, Mr. Novak, Ben Casey, The Fugitive( a social commentary disguised as a thriller), Route 66, Slattery's People and East Side West Side. Like the best episodes of those shows, Friday Night Lights offers more questions than answers. This show is one of the best ever. I pray to a sometimes enigmatic providence that it does not perish from the airwaves.

Simply put, this is reality. If someone had affixed a camera to my head, 24 hours a day, when I was in high school, you couldn't have gotten a better picture of life. I know someone like every single character in this show. The story lines, the acting, the cast, couldn't be any better in this show. For those who haven't made it to high school yet, in Texas, this is your future. Wonderful, wonderful drama. I didn't even hear about this show (don't have time for much TV) until season 4. Watched one episode and I was hooked. Went out and bought every episode and sat down and watched every one in about two days. Didn't want to turn it off. I had always thought that The Shield was the best show ever on TV....until I was introduced to this tremendous story about life.

I can't find a strong enough word in my vocabulary to describe how spectacular and engrossing this show is. I remember when I first heard about it eight or so years ago when the show premiered. To be honest, after seeing the movie, I thought it would be cheesy and not all that good. After Breaking Bad ended, I needed a new show to watch and while searching for the best shows available on Netflix streaming, this was near the top of the list. And I can truly say even after watching something as incredible as Breaking Bad, I think this show is almost more special in its own way. It doesn't need violence and drugs to be entertaining. I remember right after watching the pilot, I couldn't stop and stayed up till 7 am watching. It will pull you in that quickly, especially if you are a football fan. Not that you cant watch it if you don't like football or don't know much about it. I absolutely love football. Love watching it and played it in high school. But football is absolutely the least interesting aspect of this show. The first episode of the series goes through each day leading up to the first game of the season. After watching it I thought every episode would be that way. But after seeing the end of the pilot I realized the show is about much much more than just football. Football is just a backdrop.

The most important part of the show are the lives of the characters off the field, focusing on the head coach and his wife and their daughter, as well as the players. He is more of a father figure to these players before he is a coach. The main theme of the show is that people have dreams. It shows everyday problems that people face, which we can all relate to in one way or another. Then it shows these dreams can come true if you have someone who believes in you and is willing to help you until you reach these dreams. The show creates these characters in a pretty cliché fashion. But what makes the show so great is these characters are brought to life, making the viewer able to literally feel the emotions of these characters, even without words being spoken. For the most part, the acting is incredible by most of the cast. The way the show is shot makes you feel like you are in the room with these people. This show will move your emotions and make you laugh,cry, smile and cheer. There's not many other shows out there that can hit you with so many ranges of emotions. You really feel like you are a part of these peoples lives, and you really become connected to them. You are able to watch them change with your own eyes. You will think differently about life and football after watching it, I can guarantee that.

I know people say this all the time about shows but Friday Night Lights really is one of the most underrated shows in the history of television. It's such a great show and should be talked about even more than it is. It's on just about every "bests shows of all-time" list that you'll find and for good reason. It shows the everyday lives about popular high school athletes and others members of the community in a small Texas town where football is everything. It takes a realistic, gritty look inside their lives. The writing and acting is what makes this show so special. The cast (Kyle Chandler, Taylor Kitsch, Connie Britton, Aimee Teegarden, Minka Kelly, Michael B JordanZach Gilford, Jesse Plemons, Adrianne Palicki, etc) is just about perfect for this show too. This really is a must watch show!

The thing I really love about this show is the wardrobe. It's nice to see what lengths a wardrobe department will take to make sure the situation and people are as real as possible, such as using clothing pieces that the actors have already worn previously in episodes. Also, the acting is fantastic! I mean, the entire point of acting is to be truthful under imaginary circumstances and these actors are wonderful at accomplishing that. It's difficult to watch a show when acting is oh so obvious. I have to say though that I admire the men in this series for capturing the true love of football. I've grown up around football and seeing the same love and dedication to the sport come through in the show (and also the same feeling in the movie) is really a ray of sunshine :) Bravo!