Clear Eyes, Full Hearts. Can Lose?
NBC/Bill Records
Friday Night Lights on NBC has had the dubious pleasure of being a show whose story parallels its existence as a TV show: a highly regarded, big-hearted, setback-plagued underdog fighting every week against the prospect of elimination and hoping some Hail Mary will save it. (Despite some encouraging hints, there's been no word on whether the low-rated drama will be renewed, so you'll forgive me if I slip into the past tense.)
The season finale airs tonight, with the Dillon Panthers going to the Texas state high school football championship, and I don't want to take the slightest chance of spoiling anything for those few who have stuck with this great show all season. I'll just say that the finale choked me up, that the producers clearly took care to make an episode that would be a great series as well as season finale if it comes to that, and that it hit so many of the notes that made its last year so memorable.
There's a storyline between Coach and Tami Taylor that reminds you the show is, at heart, the story of a couple who are a team in every sense of the word, and that it understands how marriage is both sustaining and tremendous work. There is the show's ability to capture the suffocation and supportiveness of small-town life, without romanticizing it or ironizing its deeply held values. There is a moving locker-room soliloquy explaining just what the team slogan--"Clear eyes/ Full hearts/ Can't lose"--really means. And there are connections between characters you'd never expect to connect--until they do, and then it makes perfect sense.
There is, finally, a just-on-the-good-side-of-corny exchange between Taylor and his team as they arrive at the stadium for the big game:
TAYLOR: Does it get any better than this?
PANTHERS: [In unison] No, sir.
TAYLOR: No, hell, I don't think it does. Let it soak in.
Let it soak in.
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1
I've heard so many good things about this show, I plan to get caught up on it over the summer. Regarding a possible second season, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello is reporting today that NBC has ordered six additonal scripts -- surely a good sign.
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2
This is definitely one of the best shows on NBC. I hope it can survive, since it's writing it tremendously good. I personally think if NBC could keep on making shows for a stale series like "Law and Order" and all of it's offspring, surely they can keep "Friday Night Lights" burning bright into next season.
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3
If the writers want to ensure a second-season pickup, they should just give a few of the linebackers special powers, strand the team on an island, and have them solve weekly murders with zooming forenso-cams. Works every time.
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4
Certainly the best show on NBC, and one of the best dramas anywhere... including HBO. Hope NBC renews it and then makes a big push to get the DVDs out well in advance of the second season debut to build some audience. It was great last week to see FNL's recognition from the Peabody Awards. Like previous winners Battlestar Galactica and The Shield, maybe that will help them stay in production... or -- like previous winners Boomtown and Deadwood -- maybe it won't. I'm really hoping for the former!
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5
This show is one of the best shows that there is. It's just one of those shows that everyone can connect with some how, and everyone in it is incredibly talented. Quite honestly, it's something that I look forward to every Wednesday night. I was just going to be upset that I'd have to wait until the next season, but I know I will hate it if such an awesome shows just ends completely. I really hope that it keeps going into another season because I am sure that the more people that watch it, the more people that will love it.
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6
This really is a great show. My husband and I love it. It's a midweek treat for us. We're sad this is the season finale. The storylines are wonderful and the relationships hit home. I can't help but think that more people aren't watching it because they think it's about football and nothing else. I'm glad we have a least a few more episodes next season...I'm anxious to see how the storylines will blend with the next school year. Does anyone remember another show with Kyle Chandler called "Homefront" set in the 40's? That was cancelled and it was a good show.
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7
We absolutely LOVE this show. The writing, the acting, the characters are all wonderful. The show has a warm, comfy, homey feel that we love. Please, PLEASE NBC, bring 'em back.
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8
We love this show too. My husband and I watch it every week. I really hate that it's only an hour. I want it to go on and on. My mother watches the show too. I don't understand why the ratings are so low? I am really sick of the NCIS, Law & Order, etc. shows. We need more good family dramas.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 7 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 7 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 8 hours ago
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