Friday Night Lights
I've heard what a great show this is for a few years now. I even tried to watch an episode or two, but as seems to be common with the better TV dramas, it is very hard to start mid-season. You need to start at the beginning and watch the characters and storylines develop. Right now Pat and I are watching it via the Roku box (the gift that keeps on giving!) which channels programs via Netflix download. We're close to the end of season one and have season 2 queued up to watch next.
The show is set in a small Texas town called Dillon, which is large enough to field a competitive football team. Football is right next to religion in towns all across Texas. (Both my husband and his brother were raised and educated in Texas and experienced this first hand.) Coach Taylor and his wife come to Dillon where they experience culture shock, ethical and moral dilemmas, unexpected developments and their daughter's budding adolescent issues. The show could be a soap opera but it is not. Each character is fully developed and confronted with choices--and they don't always make the right one. Even the head cheerleader does not behave as a stereotype, although she meets the criteria.
Granted, the show is not as gritty as watching THE WIRE or DEADWOOD This is network television after all, but they don't shy away from teenagers drinking routinely and having sex, not to mention the effects of hero worship on both the players as gods among boys and the other "lesser" kids who struggle to get attention. I could easily have hated the young turk football players, but the show makes it so keenly obvious that their exhalted position is a very fleeting thing. The coaches, assistants, and myriad others involved in the team (which is handled like a big university team as far as expenses) are obviously reliving their past glory days through these boys, not to mention any number of washed up men in their twenties who were experiencing the same heady fame just a few years past. Most of the boys recognize they have but a couple short football seasons to make an opportunity for a better life later, and the stress they are under is heart-wretching. At the same time, their casual acceptance of favors from "rally girls", parents, patrons, teachers, etc has the opposite effect and makes me want to slap them silly.
Fortunately, Coach Taylor and his wife are there to provide a moral compass. Not that the Coach is perfect. More than once, he has allowed himself to be persuaded into actions that were ethically dubious, because he did not ask the right questions, but then had to deal with the consequences. So far, I have only been disappointed by one show conclusion, that wrapped up an episode involving racial tension on the team. I thought the ending was a bit pat, given the depth of the issue.
I'm not a football fan and barely grasp the game, but I still enjoy this show immensely. The football sequences are exciting to watch, even for a non-fan, and the story lines are engaging. Nearly every episode ends on a hook that makes Pat and me want to watch another one right away. If you haven't seen this show yet--start with season one. i heartily recommend it.
The show is set in a small Texas town called Dillon, which is large enough to field a competitive football team. Football is right next to religion in towns all across Texas. (Both my husband and his brother were raised and educated in Texas and experienced this first hand.) Coach Taylor and his wife come to Dillon where they experience culture shock, ethical and moral dilemmas, unexpected developments and their daughter's budding adolescent issues. The show could be a soap opera but it is not. Each character is fully developed and confronted with choices--and they don't always make the right one. Even the head cheerleader does not behave as a stereotype, although she meets the criteria.
Granted, the show is not as gritty as watching THE WIRE or DEADWOOD This is network television after all, but they don't shy away from teenagers drinking routinely and having sex, not to mention the effects of hero worship on both the players as gods among boys and the other "lesser" kids who struggle to get attention. I could easily have hated the young turk football players, but the show makes it so keenly obvious that their exhalted position is a very fleeting thing. The coaches, assistants, and myriad others involved in the team (which is handled like a big university team as far as expenses) are obviously reliving their past glory days through these boys, not to mention any number of washed up men in their twenties who were experiencing the same heady fame just a few years past. Most of the boys recognize they have but a couple short football seasons to make an opportunity for a better life later, and the stress they are under is heart-wretching. At the same time, their casual acceptance of favors from "rally girls", parents, patrons, teachers, etc has the opposite effect and makes me want to slap them silly.
Fortunately, Coach Taylor and his wife are there to provide a moral compass. Not that the Coach is perfect. More than once, he has allowed himself to be persuaded into actions that were ethically dubious, because he did not ask the right questions, but then had to deal with the consequences. So far, I have only been disappointed by one show conclusion, that wrapped up an episode involving racial tension on the team. I thought the ending was a bit pat, given the depth of the issue.
I'm not a football fan and barely grasp the game, but I still enjoy this show immensely. The football sequences are exciting to watch, even for a non-fan, and the story lines are engaging. Nearly every episode ends on a hook that makes Pat and me want to watch another one right away. If you haven't seen this show yet--start with season one. i heartily recommend it.