Friday Night Lights is an American serial drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name.
The series details events surrounding the Dillon Panthers, a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to the team’s coach, Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his family. The show uses this small-town backdrop to address many issues facing contemporary Middle America. Produced by NBC Universal, Friday Night Lights is broadcast by NBC and DirecTV (The 101 Network). Premiering on October 3, 2006 on NBC with an initial order of 13 episodes, the show was eventually picked up for a full season. NBC renewed the show for a full 22-episode second season, which began airing on October 5, 2007. Only 15 of these episodes were completed before production was stopped due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, leading to speculation that the show might be canceled. However, NBC renewed the show with DirecTV for a 13-episode third season; episodes began airing on DirecTV’s The 101 Network on 1 October 2008 and are currently being rebroadcast on NBC. To date, Friday Night Lights has aired 50 episodes, over the course of three seasons. On March 30, 2009, the show was officially renewed for two additional seasons of 13 episodes apiece. Subject to multiple timeslot changes, Friday Night Lights has yet to obtain a sizable audience. The show has, however, been a critical success and was featured on a number of critics’ top ten lists following its first season as well as being identified twice by the American Film Institute as culturally significant. Lauded by critics for its realistic portrayal of Middle America and deep personal exploration of its central characters, the show has been awarded a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award, and a Television Critics Association Award.
Plot
Characters
As a show about the community of Dillon, Texas and how the football team affects the town as a whole, Friday Night Lights has an ensemble cast. While screen time of characters varies from episode to episode, the show is most focused on Panthers’ football coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), who strives to balance his emphasis on family, his status in a sometimes confrontational community, and his personal ambitions. His family of wife Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), a guidance counselor turned principal at Dillon High, and teenage daughter Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) also are in the center of the show. When Tami becomes pregnant and gives birth to Gracie Taylor, tensions within the family increase and Julie becomes more rebellious. Outside of the Taylor family, the show focuses on the respective lives of the Dillon’s high school football players. In the series’ first episode, star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) suffers an injury that leads to an end to his football career and a wheel chair-bound life which Jason resists and learns to cope with throughout the series. Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly), who at the time of Jason’s injury was his girlfriend, parallels his story, as she goes from a Panther cheerleader to a Christian youth leader. As a result of Jason’s injury, shy and nervous Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) becomes the Panthers’ starting quarterback and eventually dates Julie. It is also revealed that Matt’s father is serving in Iraq and that he must therefore care for his grandmother Lorraine Saracen (Louanne Stephens) by himself, with help only from his best friend Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) and eventual live-in nurse and love interest Carlotta Alonso (Daniella Alonso). Brash star running-back Brian Smash Williams’s (Gaius Charles) quest for a college-football scholarship and full-back Tim Riggins’ (Taylor Kitsch) tale of on-and-off alcoholism and party-life are told as well. Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki) also stars as a town vixen who goes from Tim’s occasional girlfriend to Landry’s lover following Landry’s defense of her from a rapist.
