Here’s a small excerpt of what I wrote about Friday Night Lights the day of its first season finale.

Trying to tell someone about a good TV show usually means you have anywhere for 30 - 90 seconds to hook them. Most people are not into television as much as the people I work and go to school with. [My friend] Nate tells me, via his David Foster Wallace essay, that TV is a huge clusterf*ck of mirrored psychological quirks for both the public in general and specifically fiction writers. I’ve read, in my oft-recommended Everything Bad is Good for You, that modern day television is making us smarter when it’s good. Nevertheless, whatever someone thinks about TV, they will give you at least 30 - 90 seconds to talk about it. The social rules of small talk dictate you get 30 - 90 seconds about most anything (except the weather, which gets a minimum of a minute).

In 30-2-90, here’s the way I’d describe Friday Night Lights:

It’s based on a book written by this journalist who lived in a small Texas town - you know, one of those towns that revolve around football. He lived in this town and wrote this book about this season where the star quarterback was severely injured and the team had to overcome adversity to do well in the playoffs for the town. The book did well and became a movie - unfortunately starring Billy Bob Thornton - around 2004. The TV show is about the fictional town of Dillon Texas and their football team that is supposed to go the state this year, but the star quarterback is paralyzed during the first game. But, it’s not just about that. The show isn’t really about football, it’s more about the relationships of the people in the town, and small town life in general. It kind of reminds me of high school and how people acted back then. It’s also serialized, so it’s kind of like a soap-opera.

In terms of the content, all the above information is correct, but reading it back to myself right now, it doesn’t sound like something I’d want to watch. Maybe I’m the only one who describes it this badly, but I find it difficult to explain the things I really like about FNL. There isn’t really a hook like other really popular shows:
-It’s a suspense show about terrorism that takes place in real time

BAM!
-These people are in a plane crash and are stranded on a desert island, but through the slow revelation of their pasts through flashbacks, we learn that things are much more sinister and complex than that.

POW!
-Two FBI agents explore strange happenings. One believes in the paranormal because his sister was abducted by aliens, and the other is attractive and skeptical…and a redhead

ZAP!
-Heroes…one’s actually named Hiro. And we’re going to sloganize our plotlines (”Save the Cheerleader, Save the World”)

Uh…sure, why not.

All I’m saying is that you really have to sit down and watch one, maybe two episodes to notice the nuances in character, the fantastic acting (mostly from the actors who play Coach Taylor and his wife Tami Taylor - the Taylors deserve some sort of award), and the accurate portrayal of small-town life and falling in love during that f*cked-up period of high school.

Then, Friday Night Lights kind of stumbled during its sophomore season, only to barely get picked up by DirecTV for a third, 13-episode season, which surprised the crap out of me by returning to being really good.

[The good news for those of you convinced by my old write up? You can see ALL of Season One on HULU Free!]

And I’m glad things worked out, because there are TWO more DirecTV-sponsored seasons on the way…

From EW:

Sources at NBC are now confirming what I first reported earlier this month: DirecTV and NBC have come to terms on a deal that ensures Friday Night Lights will stick around for not one but two more seasons!
And I repeat: Touch-freaking-down!
Although NBC declined to comment, my Peacock insider says the pact guarantees that FNL will see a fourth and fifth season of 13 episodes each. Similar to this season’s shared-window experiment, DirecTV will get first crack at the episodes followed by an encore run on NBC.

w00t!
w00t!