If you told me six months ago that a TV show would consume me for most of the summer, not only in obsession for the show itself, but also inspire me to create a new project, I would have probably said... um, okay? I mean, I would never doubt my ability to immerse myself into a movie or television show, but then, the season of television was mostly ending and we were heading into the doldrums of summer viewing. Well, was I surprised.
There have been movies that changed my life. E.T., Pulp Fiction, Rushmore, Network, Good Will Hunting, Titanic (Yes, Titanic, don't laugh), to name a few. E.T. made me want grow up to make movies when I was 8. Good Will Hunting made me realize maybe I should really consider writing them. Network showed me how great movies could really be. I've never said the same about a TV show. Maybe Freaks & Geeks. Maybe. I've enjoyed them a great deal, but non made me say, if I had to write a show like that for the rest of my life, I'd be happy. That was until I went down the Netflix Instant Rabit Hole with Friday Night Lights.
!!!!SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER ALERT!!!
For those of you not up to speed (and according to NBC that's everyone) FNL follows the ups and downs of high school football in the small town of Dillon, Texas, and how everything seems to revolve around it in the town. So, most people think that the it's a show about football. A sports show. Well, it's not. Not exactly anyway. It's about football the way Mad Men is about advertising or 30 Rock is about a comedy show. It's used as an arena to which the story moves around, but this is a show about the town.
It's about people. And one family in particular, Coach Eric and Tami Taylor (Kyle Chanderler and Connie Britton - the best depicted marriage on television!). From the get go, the Pilot pulled you in to a setting that made you know immediately who these characters were. The biggest star of the team, Jason Street (Scott Porter) who's destined to become a Pro someday, suffers a life altering injury - he becomes paralyzed. From that moment on, the town would NEVER be the same. We're introduced to his girlfriend, Lyla (the tremendously attractive Minka Kelly), rough-neck best friend Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitch - who ends up being the heart of this show to the Taylor's soul, Riggins' soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend Tyra (Adrienne Palicki), the the back-up QB, Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), who has to take the reigns and whose own story is one of the most compelling throughout the entire series (and should have been Emmy nominated for "The Son" from Season 4). And then there's Brian "Smash" Williams (Gaius Charles), the brash-ego filled other star player whose sole purpose in life it to ONLY make it to the NFL.
Whew! And that's just the beginning. The journey these characters, plus fantastic others who pepper the canvas create a world that draws you in. The pilot does feel "football heavy" but it's necessary for that to be there to make us understand the town's irrational obsession with the game. It's a town that would rather have a jumbo tron on the football field, then proper funding for good education (Tami's fight in Season 3, and she's always swimming up a waterfall in some capacity). But there's always consequences to all the choices made.
The thing about this show that stands apart, for me anyway, is how relateable it is to the realities of growing up and the community that you grow up in. You don't just follow the characters, you KNOW them. Like they're your dear friends or relatives. You feel like you went to school with kids like this (for better or worse). I can't really explain the impact other than to say that when I finished the first 3 seasons (I streamed seasons 1-3 in 5 DAYS!), I felt like I'd personally experienced it. Like the show was actual memory. I know that sounds weird, but I couldn't stop thinking about it at work. It was like a state of mourning almost, even though I knew that there would be two more seasons to watch. Just not NEARLY as fast.
I couldn't stop thinking about it so much I was like, I WISH I could write a show like that. Well, it didn't take me long. I scrounged up the story I'd had since high school that I thought I'd eventually write as a novel, and shaped it into a television show. I wrote the pilot in a week and surprised myself with what I could accomplish with it. Who knows if it'll ever make the airwaves, but it was a satisfying thing to get on paper.
After Season 4's "almost-reboot" (new school! new characters! same town!) I had to adjust to the change. We had fallen inlove with some great kids, and well, they graduated. Most of them had to move on. And Coach had to take to coaching the reopened East Dillon High school. A side joke is that they made East Dillon the "other side of the tracks", which apparently didn't exist in the first 3 seasons, but anyway... It payed off. Season 4 was IMHO the best season, and that's saying something because Seasons 1 and 3 were FANTASTIC. (Season 2, or WTF did they do in that season, is a blog post unto itself). I just wish the new awesome characters could have interacted with the old. But that's how life works. The schools and towns remain, despite kids growing up and moving on.
Anyhow, we're here now. "Expectations" the Season 5 premiere episode just aired, and I've also seen the next one too. We can breathe, because we know the characters again, and are ready for East Dillon to go from a not-very-good start-up team, to hopefully contend! We have romances to care about (Vince and Jess, Luke and Becky), there's a new kid (Hastings), and Julie has left the Taylor's nest. We'll get to experience Tami and Eric dealing with that change. Tim Riggins is in jail, but should be out soon. The great news is that the show still feels like the same old Friday Night Lights. Many shows can't always sustain consistancy, but these two episodes have not diminished my faith in the least. And I've heard rumors the old cast members (or most of them) are returning for guest stints. It should make for an amazing (and most likely very emotional) final season.
If you haven't watched, I highly recommend finding a way. Netflix makes it real easy by streaming all of the seasons. Trust me. You won't regret it.
Clear Eyes! Full Hearts! Can't Lose!
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