Friday Night Lights (TV series)

Friday Night Lights
Intertitle, seasons 4–5
Genre	Sports drama Teen drama Family drama
Created by	Peter Berg
Starring	Kyle Chandler Connie Britton Gaius Charles Zach Gilford Minka Kelly Adrianne Palicki Taylor Kitsch Jesse Plemons Scott Porter Aimee Teegarden Michael B. Jordan Matt Lauria Jurnee Smollett Madison Burge Grey Damon
Theme music composer	W. G. Snuffy Walden
Opening theme	Friday Night Lights Theme
Composer	W. G. Snuffy Walden
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	76 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Sarah Aubrey Peter Berg Brian Grazer Jason Katims David Nevins
Production locations	Austin, Texas Pflugerville, Texas
Cinematography	Todd McMullen David Boyd Ian Ellis
Running time	43 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC The 101 Network
Release	October 3, 2006 (2006-10-03) – February 9, 2011 (2011-02-09)

Friday Night Lights is an American sports 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 a high school football team from a fictional town called Dillon: a small, close-knit community in rural Texas. Particular focus is given to team coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his family. The show uses this small town backdrop to address many issues facing contemporary American culture, including school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, and lack of economic opportunities.

Produced by NBCUniversal, Friday Night Lights premiered on October 3, 2006, airing for two seasons on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Although the show had garnered critical acclaim and passionate fans, the series suffered low ratings and was in danger of cancellation after the second season. To save the series, NBC struck a deal with DirecTV to co-produce three more seasons of the show with each subsequent season premiering on DirecTV's 101 Network after which NBC rebroadcast the series a few months later. The series ended its run on The 101 Network after five seasons on February 9, 2011.

Friday Night Lights never obtained a sizable audience. It was a critical success, however, lauded for its realistic portrayal of Middle America and deep personal exploration of its central characters. The show was awarded a Peabody Award, a Humanitas Prize, and a Television Critics Association Award, as well as several technical Primetime Emmy Awards. At the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards the show was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton also scored multiple nominations for the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress awards for a drama series. Executive producer Jason Katims was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Both Chandler and Katims won the Emmy in 2011. The show placed No. 71 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list.

Production

Inspiration

Main article: Friday Night Lights (film)

Friday Night Lights takes its inspiration from the non-fiction book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream and the 2004 film based on it. The book, published in 1990 and written by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, details the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. The book itself was intended as a work of journalism and is assumed to be completely factual. The characters in the book are not renamed, and the book makes no attempt to conceal their identities. The Universal Pictures film, which stars Billy Bob Thornton and was directed by Bissinger's second cousin Peter Berg, based its characters on the real-life residents of Odessa c. 1988.

Conception

Once filming on the movie was completed, Berg turned his attention to adapting the story for television. Berg later expressed that he regretted having to jettison many of the interpersonal topics from the book because of the time constraints of a feature film. Creating a TV series, particularly one based on fictional characters, allowed many of those elements to be brought back and addressed in-depth.

The show chose not to use Odessa as the setting and instead used it as inspiration for the fictionalized town of Dillon, Texas, though the football team did retain the Panthers name. Berg made a number of conscious choices in carrying elements from the film to the series, such that much of the work that went into the creation of the pilot duplicated the work that was done on the film. One of these choices included casting Connie Britton to play Head Coach Eric Taylor's wife and Brad Leland to play football booster Buddy Garrity, in roles similar to the ones they played in the film.

Filming for the show's Austin, Texas-based pilot began in February 2006. Berg described filming the pilot and eventually the show in Texas as "a deal breaker" for his weekly participation in the project. The show features a number of homages to its Texas heritage. In filming the pilot, Berg ensured this homage by featuring Texas Longhorn coach Mack Brown as a Dillon booster and having a caller to the fictional "Panther Radio" compare Panthers' coach Eric Taylor to Brown. The pilot also incorporated much of the surrounding area. Football scenes for the pilot were filmed at Pflugerville High School's Kuempel Stadium and at the RRISD Complex. The Dillon Panther football team and coaches' uniforms were based heavily on the uniforms of the real life Pflugerville Panthers. Additionally, some of the scenes were filmed at Texas School for the Deaf.

In addition to physical locations, characters in the show were inspired by Berg's observation of local high school students while preparing to film the movie. For example, Jason Street, the character whose promising football career is ended by a spinal injury in the pilot, was inspired by a real-life incident in which David Edwards, a player from San Antonio’s Madison High, was paralyzed during a November 2003 game. Berg was at the game when the incident took place and it had a profound effect on him, leading him to base the pilot around a similar incident.

Performances

Though scripted like any hour-long television drama, the show's producers decided at the outset to allow the cast leeway in what they said and did on the show, including the delivery of their lines and the blocking of each scene. If the actors felt that something was not true to their character or a mode of delivery didn't work, they were free to change it provided they still hit the vital plot points.

The freedom given to the cast was complemented by the fact that the show was filmed without rehearsal and without extensive blocking. Camera operators were trained to follow the actors, rather than the actors standing in one place and having cameras fixed around them. This allowed the actors to not only feel free to make changes but to feel safe in making those changes because the infrastructure would work around them. Executive producer Jeffrey Reiner described this method as "no rehearsal, no blocking, just three cameras and we shoot."

Working in this fashion had a profound influence on everyone involved with the show, with series star Kyle Chandler going so far as to say "When I look back at my life, I'm going to say, 'Wow, [executive producer] Peter Berg really changed my life.'" Executive producer and head writer Jason Katims echoed this sentiment, saying "When I first came on [the FNL] set, I thought, it’s interesting – this is what I imagined filmmaking would be, before I saw what filmmaking was."

Filming

All five seasons of Friday Night Lights were filmed in Austin and Pflugerville, though discussions at the close of the first season considered a possible move to New Mexico or Arizona. Enjoying roughly $33 million a year in revenue from the show, both cities were aggressive in courting the production company after the State of Texas failed to pay all of the rebates that were promised to the show's producers. The show remained in Austin, however, as a result of Texas passing legislation to match the offers of other states and the production company having a preference to stay in the Austin area.

Friday Night Lights is unusual in its use of actual locations as opposed to prefabricated stage sets and its lack of any sound stage for filming. This, along with the production team using hundreds of locals as extras, gives the series an authentic look.

The drive towards authenticity continued in the show's documentary style filming technique, which employed three cameras for each shoot and shot entire scenes in one take; most productions film a scene from each angle and typically repeat the scene several times while readjusting lighting to accommodate each shot. The first takes usually made the final cut. By filming a scene all at once, the producers tried to create an environment for the actors that was more organic and allowed for the best performances.

This desire for authenticity in the production extended to the football games as well, with the series making heavy use of the uniforms, cheerleaders, fans, and the stadium of the real-life Pflugerville Panthers. Producers even shot Pflugerville games and used them as game footage in the show. Added to that were real life University of Southern California football announcers Peter Arbogast and Paul McDonald who provided off-screen commentary during the football game sequences. The facilities, colors, and bobcat logos of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas served as the setting and creative inspiration for the fictional Texas Methodist University. The field's name on the show is Herrmann Field, named after George Herrmann, the head coach of the Pflugerville Panthers.

On June 20, 2010 scenes were filmed at Temple University, depicted as the fictional Braemore College instead.

One episode, from Julie's senior year in high school, was filmed in Boston, at Boston College, Boston University, and Tufts University.

Marketing

The show was initially targeted at the youth market and focused heavily on the football element. NBC teamed with social networking site Bebo to create a site that allowed students to upload video and photos, as well as create blogs about their local football teams. Students who participated were eligible for one of ten $5,000 scholarships. The focus of this promotion was a deal that would provide NBC and the show promotion on Bebo’s network of youth oriented sites including Piczo, Hi5, Tickle, Ringo and FastWeb.

Promotional Website with Toyota.

To complement this promotion, NBC sent out “School Spirit” kits to 1,000 high schools around the country. These kits included posters, pom-poms, mini-footballs and disposable cameras all bearing the show’s logo. The kits also contained copies of the show’s Pilot episode on DVD. This promotional trick was something the network returned to for its second season promotion, when it teamed with HouseParty.com to send out 1,000 "Party Kits" which contained advance copies of the Season 2 opener along with other promotional material.

NBC also paired with Toyota to create the "Hometown Sweepstakes," in which students could earn cash grants of up to $50,000 for their school’s athletic program. It was open to high-school students ages 14 to 18 and was designed to draw people to the show’s official web site, where they could download AOL Instant Messenger Icons, screensavers, and desktop wallpaper. Students that registered could also download free movie theater passes to special early screenings of the pilot episode. These movie theater screenings took place in 50 cities nationwide and ran until a week before the show premiered on NBC.

This early strategy caused several marketing problems for the long term, the most notable of which was the lack of female viewers. The early marketing campaign created an audience of almost exclusively young men and repelled women with its football-heavy slant. This in turn deprived the show of a large audience who would enjoy the more character-driven elements.

Given this dilemma, NBC chose to aggressively switch course and pursue the female demographic in the later part of the season. The network designed a strategy based around accentuating the personal elements of the show, even going so far as to rechristen the show with the tagline "It’s about life." NBC Marketing President Vince Manze stressed that their goal was to let people know the show was not just about football but about family and relationships as well.

The network again took their case to movie theaters by running 30-second spots featuring cast members and fans being interviewed about the show.

Distribution

Online episodes

NBC has been aggressive in its online promotion of Friday Night Lights. Streaming videos such as cast interviews and the full episode from the previous week have been available on NBC.com since the series’ inception. In December 2006, NBC expanded this selection to include every episode of the season. The move to offer every episode was made for only a few select shows and represents a marketing push on NBC's part. Beyond NBC.com it was announced on March 14, 2007 that the show would be part of an expanded lineup available via MobiTV.

In addition to the free ad-support offerings, every episode of Friday Night Lights became available for download on the iTunes Store on February 10, 2007 for $1.99 per episode. As a special promotion, the pilot was initially offered as a free download. The first 2 seasons are now on Zune Marketplace. All five seasons of Friday Night Lights are available for streaming from the Netflix "On Demand" subscription service. Currently, seasons 4 and 5 are available on Hulu Plus.

International broadcasts

The second series initially aired in the UK on ITV4 on Tuesdays at 7 pm, starting May 4, 2010, before being moved to 1:30 am on Thursdays. Friday Night Lights will be shown, starting from the beginning on Sky Atlantic HD on Tuesday February 14, 2012.

In Australia, Season 4 began screening on Foxtel on December 10, 2010, and ABC2 showed Season 1 on free to air in 2011.

In New Zealand, C4 broadcast the series every Friday at 8:30 pm, beginning with the pilot episode on August 3, 2008. In Greece Friday Night Lights scored a 3,1% in its premiere and after 11 episode alter channel removed it from the schedule. However it was announced that the remaining episodes will return in 2010. It returned on the schedule on Fall 2010 with the first three seasons airing daily at 03:15 am. In Germany, TNT Serie broadcasted FNL beginning in February 2009.

In India Sony's new English entertainment channel Six has started broadcasting it.

FOX TV ASIA has also started broadcasting it in the Philippines.

Syndication

ABC Family acquired syndication rights for the first four seasons and began airing reruns September 6, 2010, but it was pulled as of October 18, 2010, due to low ratings. In July 2011, it was announced that ESPN Classic has acquired the rights of all the five seasons of the show and started airing the series beginning on July 12, 2011.

In an attempt to bolster series ratings, NBC repositioned reruns of the show to air on its sister network Bravo during the weeks leading up to the season one finale on NBC. These episodes aired on a schedule of one hour every Friday and three hours every Saturday. Bravo is known to have an audience that is upscale and largely female, which is in line with NBC's then-President Kevin Reilly’s (now at FOX) new strategy for selling the show. When questioned about this strategy, he admitted to regrets over initially marketing the show incorrectly saying “It’s been so clear to me that [the marketing for] the show ended up confusing people in terms of what [the public thought] it was supposed to be.” He said that he felt the show is, at its core, a “women's show” and his wish is that the marketing had reflected that to a greater extent.

NBC has used this method of ratings-bolstering with limited success in the past, most notably during the ratings-challenged final season of The West Wing.

Once the 2006–2007 television season ended, NBC planned to air reruns throughout the summer in the hopes of gaining new viewers during the summer hiatus. Despite rising ratings for the reruns, NBC abruptly pulled them from the network's schedule on June 24, 2007. NBC resumed airing reruns in late August/early September and would be timed to the Season 1 DVD release.

DirecTV

During the 2007–2008 writers' strike, NBC Universal's decision to release the Season 2 DVD with only the 15 produced episodes and comments by NBC chief Ben Silverman led to speculation that the show would be canceled.

Shortly thereafter, reports began to surface that the show's producer, NBC Universal, was marketing the series to other networks including The CW Television Network, TNT, and the owner of E! and G4 about possible arrangements for a third season. Similar deals such as the one where NBC shared airing rights for Law & Order: Criminal Intent with the USA Network were a template for these discussions.

Unconfirmed reports of a third-season renewal surfaced on March 5, 2008 when Nikki Finke reported on a possible cost-sharing partnership between NBC and DirecTV. The alleged agreement would have first run episodes airing exclusively on DirecTV and being airing reruns on NBC at a later date. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello confirmed these reports on April 2, 2008. This was later confused when USA Today ran a report that NBC has confirmed their fall line-up, including Friday Night Lights. On NBC.com, the page for the show indicates a "2009 Series Return to NBC" and "returning to NBC with new episodes next season!" that were visible in early April 2008. Season three premiered exclusively on DirecTV channel 101, with the episodes replaying on NBC beginning on January 16, 2009. In March 2009, various outlets reported that DirecTV and NBC have renewed the show for two more seasons. It has been confirmed that DirecTV, in a joint venture with NBC once again, has picked up Friday Night Lights for two more 13-episode seasons. According to the official Friday Night Lights show site on NBC.com, the header reads "New Season Begins Summer 2010," which contradicts NBC's original plans to air the episodes, which would have already aired in the fall on DirecTV, mid-season, where it would have had more of a chance to obtain a sizable audience.

Deleted scenes

As part of their online push for the show, NBC made the rare move of posting deleted scenes from each episode on its web site, though deleted scenes are normally held until a DVD release. These scenes often provide information that is revealed later in the episode or series. An example is a scene from the episode entitled "I Think We Should Have Sex", in which it is established that the character of Walt Riggins has resumed living in the same house as his son Tim. The scene, while providing exposition on the relationship, serves only to establish a living arrangement that is made evident in subsequently aired scenes.

That said, the exposition given in a deleted scene can often change the intent of material that aired, such as in a deleted scene from the episode "Blinders". In the episode that aired, the character of Tim Riggins gives some prejudicial advice in regards to racial tension developing on the team. Only in the deleted scenes is it revealed that this advice was actually taken verbatim from advice his father had given to him and not necessarily what the character would have done had he not been trying to emulate his father.

Plot

Characters

Main article: List of Friday Night Lights characters

As a show about the community of Dillon, Texas and how the high school 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 – wife Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), a guidance counselor turned principal at Dillon High, and teenage daughter Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) – are also central to the show. Coach Taylor and Tami are the only two characters to appear in every episode. When Tami becomes pregnant and gives birth to Gracie Bell Taylor (Madilyn Landry), 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 disability that he resists and then 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 fullback Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch)'s tale of on-and-off alcoholism, party-life and complicated familial dynamic to brother/surrogate father, Billy Riggins (Derek Phillips), are told as well. Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki) also stars as a town vixen who desperately wants to leave Dillon and live a better life. Occasional girlfriend to Tim, she eventually comes to share a complicated relationship with Landry Clarke.

Story

See also: List of Friday Night Lights episodes

Season One

Main article: Friday Night Lights (season 1)

Season one revolves around two main events: the ascension of coach Eric Taylor to the position of head coach and the paralysis of star quarterback Jason Street. These two events set off a chain reaction that leads the series through its first season.

Coach Taylor's career depends on his ability to get the Dillon Panthers to the state championship. If the team suffers a losing streak, he knows his family, which includes daughter Julie, will no longer be welcome in Dillon.

Meanwhile, Tami Taylor lands a job as a counselor at the local high school. Over the course of the season, she becomes a support and a mentor to many of the students and her position plays a pivotal role in the season finale, which leaves viewers wondering whether Eric will leave Dillon to accept a coveted coaching job with a university.

Matt Saracen and Jason Street must struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds. Street must learn to live without the use of his legs in a town that seems to be moving on without him, while Saracen must rise to be worthy of the position he has inherited. As Street's friendship with Herc, his rehab roommate and wheelchair rugby teammate, grows stronger, so does his will and independence. The new role of QB1 is an unenviable task for the timid Matt, as he also must care for his ill grandmother while his father is fighting in Iraq. Causing further headaches, Matt falls in love with Coach Taylor's daughter, Julie, who loathes Texas life and dislikes football. She nevertheless falls for Matt because of his bumbling awkwardness and, above all, his modest decency. Their relationship slowly blossoms over the course of the season.

Also explored is the pressure on the cocky, driven Brian "Smash" Williams. Easily the most promising player on the Panthers' roster, he works hard to achieve excellence and sees his future career as instrumental in providing his family a better life. Life has been hard for Williams' family since his father was killed in a car accident, and financial constraints have led his mother Corrine to take multiple jobs just to get the family by. At one point, he decides that he's willing to risk his health by using performance enhancing drugs to make sure he gets a college football scholarship.

Tim Riggins is an unfocused alcoholic with absentee parents and no prospects beyond high school. However, he is shown to be a loyal friend with a good heart. Unfortunately, his good intentions seem to be repeatedly derailed by his own missteps.

Tyra Collette, like many of the other characters, comes from a broken home, where her mom falls in and out of abusive relationships. Tyra begins the season as Tim’s girlfriend, but as Season One progresses, thanks to Tami Taylor and Landry Clark – the school math geek and Saracen’s best friend – she starts to see the faintest glimmer of hope that she might get out of Dillon and discontinue the cycle that her mother and her sister (a stripper) seem destined to continue.

Meanwhile, Lyla goes through some of the biggest changes as she begins the season as a bubbly, optimistic, sweet-natured girl. Faced with the heartbreaking reality of Jason's injury, she begins seeing Tim Riggins to cope with her frustration. Though Jason and Lyla reconcile after he becomes aware of this, Jason begins growing closer to another woman and at the same time Lyla learns about her father's many adulterous affairs. It is at this point that Lyla moves past her dependence on other men to grow into a more independent woman.

Season Two

Main article: Friday Night Lights (season 2)

Season two begins with Coach Taylor living and working in Austin as an assistant coach at fictional TMU, while wife Tami remains in Dillon with daughter Julie and newborn baby Gracie. Tami is struggling with the demands of the new baby and with Julie's rebellious behavior. The Panthers' new coach, MacGregor, creates friction between Smash and Matt by showing blatant favoritism to Smash, drives Tim so hard he passes out during practice from dehydration and is hospitalized, alienates assistant coach Jason Street by his condescending manner, and alienates Boosters president Buddy Garrity by barring him from team practices. When Smash and Matt actually come to blows on the field and a crucial game is lost, Buddy engineers the firing of the new coach and persuades Taylor that both the team and his family are suffering in his absence. Taylor agrees to return.

Julie continues to act out. She ends her romantic relationship with Matt, whom she sees as turning into a replica of her father, and pursues an older man, "the Swede," who works with her as a lifeguard at the local pool. When she finds the Swede has no interest in a serious relationship, she begins a friendship with a young teacher that her mother feels is inappropriate. Tami confronts the teacher at school, but some students overhear the conversation and spread rumors about Julie; Julie is mortified and furious at her mother.

Meanwhile, Coach Taylor attempts to win games with the Panthers but faces a number of issues.

Tim is kicked off the team after missing a week of practice when he leaves on the spur of the moment to go with Jason Street to Mexico to look for a treatment for Jason's paralysis. On returning to Dillon, Tim finds that a neighbor woman with whom he had a brief affair is now seeing his brother Billy and has all but moved into their house. Tim moves out but has trouble finding another place to live and ultimately returns. Coach Taylor allows him to rejoin the team after he shows up at practice and on his own initiative apologizes to everyone on the team for his lack of commitment.

Lyla Garrity becomes increasingly involved in an organization for young Christians. As part of a religious outreach program she befriends a young convict, Santiago, who is released from juvenile detention shortly after they first meet. She gets him a job at her father Buddy's car dealership. Buddy encourages Santiago to try out for football after noticing his superior speed and coordination. When Taylor expresses interest in the boy, it is discovered that his only parent has left town and he has no adult in his life. Buddy agrees to take legal responsibility for him.

Smash is courted by a number of college recruiters. He makes it clear his priority is a quick route to the NFL, leading to tension between him and his mother, who insists his priority should be getting an education. Smash accepts a scholarship to the prestigious TMU. However, Smash punches a white teenager who sexually harasses his sister when they're at the movies. This turns into a blown-out-of-proportion racial incident, and Smash is deemed someone to have "character issues". His scholarship to TMU is revoked. He later commits to Whitmore University, a smaller historically black college that is more highly regarded for its academics than its athletic programs. The football coach at Whitmore has a strong relationship with Coach Taylor, and had been scouting Smash since he was in middle school.

Matt begins a relationship with a cheerleader before leaving her for his grandmother's new live-in nurse, Carlotta.

Additionally, the early season follows an arc where Landry kills and hides the body of a man who attempted to rape Tyra, leading to a romance between the two. Eventually, guilt builds within Landry and he confesses. Charges are not pressed, although tension between him and Tyra remains.

Jason Street impregnates a woman in what was supposed to be a one-night stand at the end of season two. Jason pleads with the woman to keep the child and promises to take care of the two.

This season ends on a cliffhanger due to the writer's strike. The show's head writer and executive producer, Jason Katims, stated that this last episode was “not in any way viewed as the season finale... If we were leading to the end of the season [under normal circumstances], we would have most likely brought the story around to the coach and his family again,” and there would have been a strong football element as well, Katims said. Seven of the 22 episodes NBC ordered for Season 2 weren’t made.

Season Three

Main article: Friday Night Lights (Season 3)

The season began with Coach Taylor having failed to lead the Panthers to another State championship the year before, creating new pressure for him. Quarterback Matt Saracen's position is threatened by the arrival of freshman J.D. McCoy, an amazing natural talent who comes from a rich family with an overbearing father, Joe. Matt moves to wide receiver after Taylor names J.D McCoy the starting quarterback, but Matt is pushed back into his former role in the playoffs. He and Julie reconcile and rekindle their romance.

Smash Williams, who injured his knee during the previous year's playoffs, rediscovers his love for the game, gets a tryout with Texas A&M, and succeeds in winning a spot on their team. Tyra starts dating a cowboy named Cash, leading to complications in her relationship with Landry. Tim and Lyla start dating, and Tim pursues a college football scholarship. Bill Riggins gets engaged to Tyra's older sister Mindy. He, Tim, Herc, and Jason decide to flip Buddy Garrity's house for a profit. Jason Street eventually finds a job at a sports agency in New York City and moves to the northeast to be close to his girlfriend and newborn baby. Tami Taylor becomes the principal of Dillon High School and fights with Buddy Garrity about the allocation of funds toward a Jumbotron.

While Eric Taylor and Buddy Garrity were making a visit to a possible recruit who just moved into town, the coach learns of a plot to have him replaced as head coach of the Dillon Panthers. They learn that Joe McCoy wants Taylor replaced with Wade Aikman, J.D.'s personal coach. After the school's administration meets to decide who gets the coaching job, Aikman is offered the job at Dillon High School, while Taylor is offered the job of coaching the Lions of East Dillon High.

Season Four

Main article: Friday Night Lights (Season 4)

Season 4 kicks off with Eric Taylor struggling as the East Dillon High coach. The team, field, and conditions are a complete change from the privileged and sparkling conditions at West Dillon.

As Coach begins putting together his new Lion team, he realizes that he's in for more than he bargained for. The players that try out are less than desirable, but Coach gets a lucky break with a couple of new faces. The first is Vince Howard, a black student who has gotten in trouble with the law too many times. He is given one last chance if he plays football for the East Dillon Lions. Although he has no prior experience, he has natural talent and becomes the team's first star quarterback. The second break comes to the Lions when Buddy Garrity reveals to Eric that the address on file for the Panthers new prodigy running back, Luke Cafferty, is nothing more than a mailbox in front of an empty lot, and Luke is really zoned to go to East Dillon.

The football season is one focused around growth and reestablishing a sense of Lion pride. The culmination of their hard work is tested in their last game of the season as they play The Dillon Panthers led by JD McCoy. In an amazing show of perseverance, the East Dillon Lions defeat the Dillon panthers, ruining the Panthers' chance at playoffs.

In season four, the character Matt Saracen struggles with staying in Dillon and living as a townie. After returning from a hunting trip with Tim Riggins, he finds out that his father was killed in Iraq. The episode "The Son" shows Matt going through the five stages of grief as he comes to accept the death of his father, a man he claims to hate. This episode garnered much buzz online and resulted in a failed campaign for Zach Gilford to get an Emmy nomination in the guest actor category; however, the episode did get an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. After this emotionally charged episode, Matt abruptly moves to Chicago without saying goodbye to his girlfriend or best friend. He returns briefly in the finale and makes amends with both Julie and Landry, who ends up flying back to Chicago with Matt.

The character of Tim Riggins has developed over time from an unfocused and moody alcoholic to a young man of character and dependability. Sometimes that dependability is reflected in his uncanny ability to make the wrong choices for the right reasons, which usually involve his brother. Even though he has proven his ability to help others correct their misguided choices, unfortunately there is no one who does this for Tim. In this season, his irresponsible, headstrong, but lovable brother again entices Tim into another wrong choice by convincing Tim that the only way they can make any money is by transforming their newly opened garage into a chop shop. Just as they finally end this side business and Tim has enough for the down payment on a large amount of land he's been dreaming about, the police show up to arrest him at the garage. True to his character, he makes the decision to take the rap and allows his brother to be with his new wife and child. The season ends as Tim walks toward the jail.

Season Five

Main article: Friday Night Lights (Season 5)

Season 5, the final season, opens with summer wrapping up in Dillon: Billy Riggins joins Coach Taylor as a special teams coach for the East Dillon Lions. Tami is the new guidance counselor at East Dillon, where she is faced with the challenge of a particularly difficult student named Epyck. Landry is departing for Rice University, and Tim Riggins has three more months in jail. Becky experiences turmoil in her living situation and moves in with Billy and Mindy and develops a family of her own with them, while also developing a closer relationship with Luke. With Vince leading the Lions, along with Luke Cafferty, new recruit Hastings Ruckle, and the rest of the team standing strong behind him, Eric Taylor has strong hopes for the team to go to state. But as Vince's past comes back to haunt him, it seems that the team will have to deal with struggles off the field, as well as on. Vince's troubles also cause his relationship with Jess to take a hit. Julie's college experience is nothing like she imagined and she is forced to take a good look at what she wants. Buddy Garrity becomes a father again when Buddy Jr., who developed problems in California, is sent back to Dillon to get help from his father.

Julie looks for support first from her parents, and then from her old boyfriend Matt Saracen, who is living in Chicago and attending art school. Julie drives up to spend some time with him, but leaves still confused about her future. Tim is up for parole, and with the help of Coach Taylor and Buddy Garrity, is approved for early release. Buddy gives him a job as a bartender at his bar. Tim is angry with his brother Billy and threatens to move to Alaska to work on a pipeline, but Tyra Collette comes back for a visit to Dillon and tells him he needs to repair his relationship with Billy. After they spend the night together, she asks Tim to show her his land, and the episode closes with Tyra asking, "Alaska, Tim?" to which Tim smiles a guilty smile.

In the last episode, East Dillon wins the state championship after Coach Taylor and Vince share a moment of respect for each other. Coach Taylor then moves with his wife to Philadelphia as she accepts the job as Dean of Admissions at a prestigious school, and the show ends showing them living happily. Tim and Tyra talk about their dreams and a potential future at his new home site. Julie is engaged with Matt and lives with him in Chicago. Vince is the quarterback of the "Superteam" of East/West Dillon joined with Hastings, Buddy Jr., and Tinker. Jess is living in Dallas, and helping to student coach a team and is following her dreams. Billy is expecting twins with Mindy. Luke Cafferty is seen with Becky at the bus depot departing for the Army. The second to the last scene is of Tim and Billy, taking a break while putting up the frame of Tim's new house. They sit back, crack open a beer, and Billy toasts, "Texas Forever?" to which Timmy responds emphatically, "Texas Forever" and they clink their beers. The series ends with Eric coaching a new high school team in Philadelphia, (in a noticeably smaller stadium than those in Texas.) After practice, Eric recites the phrase: "Clear eyes, full hearts..." After not getting the normal response of "Can't lose," he says, "We'll deal with that later." Tami then shows up and the two walk off the field as the lights turn off.

Reception

Critical response

Although the series never had a high viewership, it was met with critical acclaim and has a strong fan-base. Virginia Heffernan wrote for the New York Times that "if the season is anything like the pilot, this new drama about high school football could be great – and not just television great, but great in the way of a poem or painting." The Washington Post similarly praised the series as "[e]xtraordinary in just about every conceivable way." Bill Simmons, a former columnist for ESPN Magazine implored readers of his column in the September 24, 2007 issue to watch the show, calling it "the greatest sports-related show ever made." Positive reviews also came from USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Arizona Republic, and the Boston Globe and international sources, with The Guardian's Jonathan Bernstien calling the pilot "accomplished and engaging" and the Metro awarding it 4 out of 5 stars.

Throughout its inaugural season many online journalists used the frequency of their medium to heap regular praise on the show. Matt Roush of TV Guide dedicated several of his "Roush Dispatch" columns to the show calling the last episodes of season one "terrifically entertaining" while Zap2it's "TVGal" asked her readers to "promise to watch [the last 4 episodes of] Friday Night Lights." TV Guide's Michael Ausiello called the season one finale "predictably flawless."

The show's pilot did, however, receive negative reviews as well. The Philadelphia Inquirer's review was particularly harsh, calling the show a "standard high school sports soap opera." The Los Angeles Times and the Texas Monthly also were critical of the show.

Season two reviews were considerably less positive than for the first, with the Landry and Tyra murder plot being particularly panned by critics. The Los Angeles Times said that the show had lost its innocence, while the Boston Globe said the event was "out of sync with the real-life tone of the show." Others were more positive, though, with Variety saying "faith should be shown in showrunner/writer Jason Katims" while the New York Times said "to hold 'Friday Night Lights' to a measure of realism would be to miss what are its essentially expressionistic pleasures."

Time Out New York's Andrew Johnston included the series in his list of the ten best TV shows for both 2006 and 2007, stating "Who'd have thought a tribute to heartland values would turn out to be the most avant-garde show on TV? The music and random close-ups said more than the dialogue in Peter Berg's phenomenal football drama." Time magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 Returning Series of 2007, ranking it at No. 4. Alan Sepinwall placed it in his "Best of the '00s in TV: Best Dramas" and wrote: "Few shows are as willing to so directly confront the emotions of its characters, aided by central performances — as one of TV’s most realistic and loving couples — from Chandler and Connie Britton." Friday Night Lights's last season was lauded by critics as it was included on numerous best lists. Poniewozik ranked it No. 7 on his list of 2011's Top 10 TV Series, saying, "The final season of this drama came down, as you would expect, to a final dramatic game. But the real action was always just as much in the stands". He also ranked the final episode "Always" No. 1 on 2011's Top 10 TV Episodes list. Paste Magazine also named it one of the 20 best TV shows of 2011 and Slant Magazine ranked Friday Night Lights No. 10 on its list of 2011's 25 Best TV Shows, concluding "The show's true concerns—obsession, class, family—were articulated beautifully as ever in the quiet, familiar relationships between a town and its team, and a coach and his wife". The Salt Lake Tribune in its list of the Top 10 series of 2011 ranked Friday Night Lights No. 1 explaining "For five seasons, Friday Night Lights was both the simplest and most complex show on TV. It felt like real life, and real life is complicated." TV Guide named the show among its Best TV Shows of 2011 praising the fact that "Friday Night Lights left its fans with the best portrait of a marriage ever on TV". It was also included on The Huffington Post's and E! Online's 2011's Best TV Shows.

Young members of the Friday Night Lights cast

Fan response

Friday Night Lights enjoys what former NBC President Kevin Reilly called a "passionate and vocal [fanbase]". This fan dedication has shown itself in everything from advertisers expressing their support for the show to news outlets getting massive amounts of support mail after running positive pieces about the show.

It also led to the creation of several websites dedicated specifically to the show, including general information sites as well as several sites dedicated specifically to securing a second season for the show. Sites with this goal in mind included fightforlights.com, which has collected positive press clippings about the show, savefridaynightlights.com which has organized an online petition for its renewal, and a MySpace page, which includes video, audio and text about the show.

Fan campaigns

After some statements made by NBC's Entertainment head Ben Silverman about the future of the show and the fact that everything seemed to point that Friday Night Lights wouldn't be back after the writers' strike, fans put together several campaigns. Best Week Ever suggested sending lightbulbs to NBC's offices. Save FNL Campaign raised money to send footballs and contributions to charity foundations that were related to the show.

The Save FNL Campaign raised a total of $15,840 for 18,750 footballs, $2061 for charity, and $924 worth of DVDs for troops stationed overseas. The first shipment of 50 boxes of footballs was sent to Ben Silverman at NBC on February 28, 2009, and the second was sent to Jeff Zucker on March 3, 2009.

Accolades

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights has continually been hailed as one of the Top 10 best shows of the year by critics and publications such as Time magazine, Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times. Friday Night Lights has also received a prestigious Peabody Award, three AFI awards, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, an ACE Eddie Award for editing, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing, a Television Critics Association Award, and has earned multiple Writers Guild of America nominations.

The show's two leading actors, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, received Emmy nominations for their performances in 2010, while executive producer Jason Katims won a Humanitas Prize for writing and is nominated for a second one.

In 2011, after concluding its run, the show was honored by four Emmy nominations and won the award of best actor in a drama series for Kyle Chandler and the award of best writing in a drama series for Jason Katims.

Television ratings

U.S. ratings

Main article: Friday Night Lights (U.S. Ratings)

Though it was critically acclaimed, Friday Night Lights never enjoyed high ratings, having consistently placed below 50 in the Nielsen rankings. Its first season held an average of 6.1 million viewers, while in its second season, 6.2 million. Ratings dropped in the third and fourth seasons, drawing an average of 4.58 and 3.85 million viewers respectively.

International ratings

According to the Media Guardian (a UK newspaper) the show's pilot, which aired on February 21, 2007, was watched by a mere 26,000 viewers in the UK. This is attributed to the program airing on ITV4, the least viewed ITV channel, and being aired opposite the first leg of the Barcelona-Liverpool tie in the first knockout round of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League in soccer. BSkyB began airing the shows from season one on February 14 on Sky Atlantic.

DVR ratings

On December 29, 2006 Nielsen Media Research reported the results of having, for the first time, monitored viewers who use a Digital Video Recorder to record shows for later viewing. These ratings, called "live plus seven", include all viewers who use a DVR to record the show and then watch it within a week of its initial airing.

According to the Nielsen numbers, DVR viewers increased Friday Night Lights ratings by 7.5% overall in December. When Nielsen monitored viewers again in April 2007 the increase went up to 17% for the week ending on April 8.

These numbers are up to some debate though with Medialife Magazine reporting the "live-plus-seven-day" rating for Friday Night Lights as 35 percent higher than its live rating in DVR homes.

Affluent viewers

On March 5, 2007 Media Life Magazine reported that Friday Night Lights was one of the most popular shows among "affluent viewers" who had little experience playing football. This was determined using a report from Magna Global who in turn used analysis done by Nielsen Media Research. Affluence in the study was determined by yearly income.

In the study, Friday Night Lights tied for the 11th most watched show by affluent viewers. According to the study viewers of the show have a median household income of $65,000 per year.

Soundtracks

Two soundtracks with music featured on the show were released. The first, Friday Night Lights, was released in 2007, and included music from The Killers, OutKast, and Explosions in the Sky, who had produced the score for the film. The second soundtrack, Friday Night Lights Vol. 2, was released in 2010, and included the main "Friday Night Lights Theme" by W. G. Walden.

Movie sequel

In July 2011, it was reported that Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg was trying to pitch a second movie with the cast of the series which would pick up where the show left off, to Universal Pictures. During Television Critics Association's Summer Press Tour on August 1, 2011, Berg confirmed that the script was completed and the movie is on track for a potential 2012 release. Berg spoke further about the film in February 2012 when he stated that Jason Katims was "about done with the script". He said that the plot of the upcoming film was inspired by real-life college football coach Mike Leach. Berg didn't give any release dates or timing, indicating that making the film entirely depended on when the actors will be available. He went on to say that, "if we can get everyone in the same room at the same time, we all want to do it. We're not done with 'Friday Night Lights.' "

Asked whether he would want to reprise his role as Tim Riggins, Taylor Kitsch said no, explaining, "I’m very happy with the way I left Tim Riggins. And I’ve complete closure with it, and left on such an amazing note. So I’m very happy to let it rest."

DVD release

Season	Episodes	Originally aired	Discs	DVD release date
				Region 1	Region 2
1	22	2006–07	5	U.S./CAN: August 28, 2007	UK: October 29, 2007 / FR: August 24, 2010
Running Time: 955 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features: 5 single-sided DVDs Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) English Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH Running Time: 14 Hours, 7 Minutes Deleted Scenes on each disc Behind The Lights: Creating The First Season of Friday Night Lights Packaging: Digipak with Slip Sleeve
2	15	2007–08	4	U.S./CAN: April 22, 2008	UK: N/A / FR: February 22, 2011
Running Time: 685 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features: 4 single-sided DVDs Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) English Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH Running Time: N/A Deleted Scenes on each disc Audio Commentaries : "Last Days of Summer" with Executive Producer Jason Katims and Co-Executive Producer Jeffrey Reiner, "Are you ready for Friday Night" with stars Connie Britton and Aimee Teegarden, "There Goes the Neighborhood" with stars Jesse Plemons and Adrienne Palecki. Friday Night Lights Cast and Producers at the Paley Festival in L.A.
3	13	2008–09	4	U.S./CAN: May 19, 2009	UK: N/A / FR: July 26, 2011
Running Time: 540 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features: 4 single-sided DVDs Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) English Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH Running Time: 540 minutes Deleted Scenes on each disc (Please note that DirecTV originally aired these episodes in longer formats, but NBC has decided to cut a few scenes due to time for commercials. Deleted scenes are presented separately per episode in non-anamorphic video. Some of the music has been also changed.) 13 Minutes of a lost storyline from the emotionally charged climactic finale. Audio commentary on the season finale with executive producer Jason Katims and co-executive producer/director Jeffrey Reiner.
4	13	2009–10	3	U.S./CAN: August 17, 2010	UK: N/A, N/A
Running Time: 566 minutes Rating: NR DVD Special Features: 3 single-sided DVDs Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) English Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH Running Time: 566 minutes Some of the music has been also changed.
5	13	2010–11	3	U.S./CAN: April 15, 2011	UK: N/A, N/A
DVD Special Features: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH Running Time: NA Some of the music has been also changed.
1–5	76	2006–2011	19	U.S./CAN: October 4, 2011	UK: N/A, N/A
DVD Special Features: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH Running Time: NA All special features from the previous releases all packaged in a book filled with photography from the series

External links

• Official website from NBC
• Friday Night Lights at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com