I had heard a lot of good things about Friday Night Lights, so I decided to check it out. I think it's a good concept for a TV series-the idea of following a small town Texas football team, which is the hear t and soul of the tiny Dillon, over the course of season. They took the basic framework from reality that inspired the fine film from Peter Berg. They were able to develop characters more fully than in the film and expand on some themes and issues like race, teen sex, steroids, academic cheating, corruption, fidelity, non traditional families, are among these themes and issues addressed. For example the star quarterback is injured in a play in the first game and is paralyzed and we follow his plight to come to terms with his condition as he looks to quad rugby as his salvation. Then we have the coach and his family, his wife (a counselor at the school), and his daughter a student at school. Then there’s the laconic, pretty boy loner fullback Tim Riggins. The naïve and overwhelmed quarterback pressed into duty, Matt Severson, and the loud brash, but talented halfback “Smash” Williams. The there are other characters that are girlfriends/friends/family members to the main core. In particular I can’t remember many shows that had this many non-nuclear families. The soundtrack is impressive without being intrusive. My only complaint is that it sometimes gets too melodramatic, especially where there is some editorializing football commentary over voicing. But I enjoyed Season 1 enough to continue to follow this show, which I have heard is in danger of being canceled due to low ratings. And that would be a shame.
Can't remember the episode, but Gerald Collier had a song featured on this show. I'll try to recall the specifics and let you know.
Posted by: mjv | February 26, 2008 at 08:28 AM
Actually lots of good music on this show. I should check one of the fan sites for information on the music. My brother is a big fan of Explosions In The Sky, an Austin instrumental band that has had a lot of music featured on the show.
Posted by: MC | February 26, 2008 at 02:04 PM