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Friday Night Lights (NBC)
…and we will all at some point in our lives fall. We will all fall. – Coach Eric Taylor
This post originally appeared on Screen*Play.
From acclaimed writer-director Peter Berg and Academy & Emmy Award winning producer Brian Grazer, comes NBC’s best new show of the upcoming fall season, Friday Night Lights. The premiere ep of Berg’s second take at H.G. Bissinger’s book ups the TV bar with incredible camera work and some of the most realistic fictional football ever seen on the small screen.
The Dillon Panthers
NBC summary: In Dillon, Texas, high school football isn’t just a sport, it’s a way of life. This year, the Dillon Panthers are expected to go all the way. That’s a lot of pressure for Eric Taylor in his first year as head coach. Not to mention, the pressure on the athletes who all have their sights set on college and the NFL. Coach Taylor is ready to mold these boys into champions and encourage them to be better men. Will they rise to the challenge?
SPOILER ALERT: At first glance, the pilot doesn’t seem much of a departure from its 2004 big-screen, big-brother with only some minor changes in name of location and characters. We meet Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), newly promoted head coach, and follow him and several players through the days of the week leading to game night.
Like the film, it immediately becomes clear that Dillon, Texas is football country as we watch Coach Taylor navigate the complexity daily life in a town that comes to a grinding halt come the big night.
An NBC news crew covering the team becomes the perfect vehicle for intros to the players including star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter), backup quarterback Matt Saracen (Zach Gifford), Brian “Smash” Williams (newcomer Gaius Charles), and Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). Like the film, Street goes down during the game and Saracen comes in to save the day.
As a once avid football fan, the gameplay action of Friday Night Lights is riveting to say the least. One can only wonder if the rest of the season will live up to the series opener with shooting on a much shorter schedule than the pilot. By following the team and coach one day at a time, the door is open to a much deeper look at the other side of life in Dillon, Texas, and some compelling storytelling. Berg also wrote the pilot.
I’ve watched the trailers, both on tv commercials and NBC’s fall lineup on their website. As an adult who grew up in small town Texas, who completely understands and can relate to the "religion" known as Texas high school football, I can see the seemingly, well-written drama/entertainment value of the show. As a parent of a 14 yr old daughter who has just joined the drill team and is totally enamoured of everything "high school", I have a different viewpoint.
As far as I can tell from the numerous trailers I just watched, the show seems to glamourize drinking/getting drunk, promescuity and sex, and bad attitudes. I want my daughter to have fun in high school. I’m glad she joined the drill team. I was on the drill team, and it was a lot of fun. But, although I do my best to raise her with positive and healthy values and morals, and she does have a good head on her shoulders, I still don’t want to do anything that would give her the idea that I think the kind of behavior this show seems to promote is acceptable.
Therefore, I will not be letting my daughter watch this show. Oh, and yes I realize that all of that stuff goes on in high school, and that it’s just portaying reality. But, that doesn’t mean I think it’s appropriate for my daughter to see on tv. She’ll be confronted with it soon enough in real life.