You Must Watch..."Friday Night Lights"

My significant other suggested I create a blog schedule to help keep me organized (like a TV schedule, with certain types of posts on certain days).  So, here it is: Must See Monday.  Each Monday I’ll talk about something I’m watching, reading, etc.

To start, I can't resist mentioning one of my favorites on TV, Friday Night Lights.  Now, this show isn't new (in fact, it's final season is airing right now) and I know lots of baby writers who also love this show (because the writing is so darn good) but I only started watching recently.  I actually had read (and enjoyed) excerpts of the nonfiction book of the same name on which the Peter Berg movie was based.  But, I missed seeing that movie so I guess when the show came out, I also let it pass me by (and then it moved from NBC to DirecTV).  On the bright side, I now get to devour all the seasons at once instead of having to wait.

What’s so great about Friday Night Lights?

Well, for starters, I think it has an awesome pilot.  Seriously, if you can watch it without laughing, getting pumped, cheering, biting your nails, tearing up, or some combination of all of these, I’m not certain you’re human. 

The show also has an amazing cast of characters you can’t help but love (even with their flaws).  All the characters (even the small ones) are complex.  What do I mean by complex?  Well, sometimes they do the right and totally awesome thing and sometimes they do the wrong and totally terrible thing, but they’re never dumb robots or chess pieces.  I hate watching “complex” characters who you’re supposed to believe are “flawed” but are actually just doing whatever dumb (and usually unbelievable) thing their writer has made them do to move their plot forward.  I always believe Friday Night Lights.  Even when characters do bad things, dumb things, or hurt one another (which they do often) I understand from their point of view why they do those things (even if I don’t agree with them).

Furthermore, the backdrop of having to win weekly football games and what winning those games means to each character (maybe their job, or their future, or their self respect) provides great tension from episode to episode.  The stakes are always high, even if it is JUST a high school football game, it doesn't feel that way.  You become invested in the team like they’re your home team and you can’t help but root for them to win.  

Finally, in the spirit of today's holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I thought it was worth mentioning that the show has been nominated over the past few years for four NAACP Image Awards (and two of those were for writing).  Likewise, the show has not been afraid to tackle difficult issues like racism in multiple episodes (and in ways that are not cliched).

So go on, check it out if you haven't yet.  Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!