A new season begins with much more excitement and drama that follows the daily activity and struggles of Permian Panthers, a well-known national football team, who by the help of their coach, who train them well to achieve success. In this new season, the Panthers struggle against having no coach at the beginning of the school year.
I can't imagine what stopped Emmy voters from lavishing this series with nominations this year, unless they failed to realize that it's not, strictly, a sports drama. I also can't imagine why [FNL] isn't a ratings success, except for the same confusion.
FNL still does no more than tell life-size stories about life-size people. In a universe of Dirty Sexy Money, that may not be enough, but while it's here, there aren't many better games in town.
The contemplation of such complex questions makes Friday Night Lights a consistently grown-up show, willing to confront fading dreams and rash decisions without quite losing faith in the unpredictable transcendence of everyday life.
I think the writers have done a fine job setting the table for Season Two and providing those lovely little moments that continue to set the show apart.
The story arcs dare to treat small-town American life in all its solemn complexity. The characters rise above inert cutouts, each following a journey, for better and worse, worth taking.
This show captures a distinct culture, and the people jockeying for places in it, trying to prove, mostly to themselves, that their lives have value. And so Friday Night Lights has more than almost any network show today.
The show doesn't back away from what happens in the premiere, and by early in episode two, we're at a point where the only way to fix it is to write out the characters involved.
