"Friday Night Lights"

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:26 pm

Long interview with Peter Berg on NPR's Fresh Air today.

He talks about his goals for the show vs. what he did in the movie and talks about their production techniques, which results in the look of the show.

Fresh Air has podcasts available on iTunes or download it directly from freshair.npr.org.

Probably available tomorrow unless your NPR station hasn't aired today's show yet.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:35 am

Well it may not be about football but what do you know, another cardiac kids finish.

So coach Taylor's decision is the cliffhanger.

There are a lot of stories they could follow but the guy who plays Taylor is one of the main stars of the show so they can't let him go. But would it really work to have him at some college, probably away from the wife and daugher and new baby?

The show is nominally about high school sports in a small town so they couldn't really feature too many scenes of a QB coach at a Div. I school.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:08 am

You can see they tied up some of the loose ends...so that there potentially could be a cliffhanger with the Taylor decision, but it seems like they ended it the way they did so the series could go away without too many questions yet to be answered. It was a rather disappointing finale in my opinion.

Badger_Fan · Post by **Badger_Fan** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:23 am

Good news for those of us who really got into this show...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111796 ... id=14&cs=1

NBC renews 'Friday Night Lights'
Low-rated football drama gets 2nd season
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

"Friday Night Lights" has scored a second season from NBC.

The "Friday Night Lights" touchdown came in the fourth quarter with just seconds left on the clock. News ends weeks of speculation over whether the critically acclaimed but low-rated show would pull off a last-minute Hail Mary.

The stats weren't stellar for the primetime pigskin player after all. Season to date, "Friday Night Lights" has averaged only a 2.3 rating/6 share and 6.1 million viewers overall. With those low numbers, an order for "Friday Night Lights" wasn't guaranteed.

But NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly has championed the show as part of NBC's "first be best, then be first" mantra -- and the net already renewed another highly praised but low-rated skein, the Tina Fey laffer "30 Rock."

Net wasn't ready to officially confirm the order Thursday -- preferring to make the grand reveal during its New York upfront presentation Monday -- but is expected to order a full 22 episodes of the drama. Move is sure to spur a spate of high-fives among the nation's TV critics.

NBC Universal TV Studio and Imagine TV are behind "Friday Night Lights," which comes from exec producer Peter Berg (who wrote and directed the feature on which the show was based), as well as Jason Katims, Brian Grazer, David Nevins and Sarah Aubrey. Kyle Chandler stars as coach Eric Taylor in the show set in the world of small-town Texas high school football.

"We were confident but all experienced enough to know that anything can happen," Berg said of the show's prospects. "It was never a sure thing. All I can say is that Kevin Reilly and Jeff Zucker are men of their word."

Berg said he was told that "Lights" will most likely air later than its current 8 p.m. slot -- a move the producers have been advocating.

"Lights" already received a six script order last month, giving the show's writers an early jump.

NBC "hasn't asked for any changes," Berg said. "They've embraced the personality of the show. Hopefully, we can continue to grow."

"Friday Night Lights" also stars Connie Britton, Scott Porter, Gaius Charles, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gifford, Minka Kelly, Aimee Teegarden, Adrianne Palicki and Jesse Plemons.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:58 am

FANTASTIC! Thanks for the news.

Take care,
PK

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:03 pm

Awesome.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri May 11, 2007 1:32 pm

Putting it on later won't help the ratings. But it's great they're ordering 22 episodes. Maybe they can get away from the last-second finishes.

Great news about 30 Rock, although Alec Baldwin is rumored to be wanting out because of the voice mail scandal.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri May 11, 2007 2:05 pm

Moving it later will help because it won't have to go up against American F*cking Idol. Even when you aren't on in the same time slot, the damn show skews ratings.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sat May 12, 2007 8:13 pm

EXCELLENT!

CrazyPsycho · Post by **CrazyPsycho** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:27 pm

New NBC schedule was released today. They've got FNL listed at 10PM on Fridays. Not exactly the best slot, but I could care less.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:28 pm

CrazyPsycho wrote:New NBC schedule was released today. They've got FNL listed at 10PM on Fridays. Not exactly the best slot, but I could care less.

I watch numbers at that time!

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:40 pm

CrazyPsycho wrote:New NBC schedule was released today. They've got FNL listed at 10PM on Fridays. Not exactly the best slot, but I could care less.

Yikes. That's a 'cancel me' timeslot.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:03 pm

webdanzer wrote:
CrazyPsycho wrote:New NBC schedule was released today. They've got FNL listed at 10PM on Fridays. Not exactly the best slot, but I could care less.
Yikes. That's a 'cancel me' timeslot.

It's also a "we don't care about the ratings on that night" time slot. So it could be good. Hell, Las Vegas was destined for cancellation after being put on Friday nights...and it did alright and got another season. It may be a good thing. Hell...as long as we get all 22 (or however many they ordered) episodes, I'll be happy.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:03 pm

Good news: "Friday Night Lights" saved for a third season thanks to a unique deal with DirectTV:

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/n ... h-directv/

I'm stoked. It's a superb show that deserves to live.

Take care,
PK

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:10 pm

Great news! Thanks for the info.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:11 pm

Nice...I wonder if DirecTV will find a way to show it exclusively on their system or if they'll distribute it on other providers.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:25 pm

Woohoo!

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:11 pm

I think it's relatively good news, but I'm not nearly as excited about the show anymore as you guys are. Seems like they were trying very, very hard last season to push me away, and they just about succeeded. Too many internal character inconsistencies, too many forgotten threads or straight up reversals of plot lines, too much soap opera, too many quick flips of characters' basic natures, and of course the hit-or-miss improvisational style from scene to scene really doesn't do it for me.

I like the fact that they make the show, make it in Texas, and so on, but this past season I just didn't enjoy the actual product as much as I'd hoped. The good news is they have a chance to redeem themselves with the 3rd season.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:35 pm

When the girls volleyball is more prevalent than the football...the series is going the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, it's still better than most of the sh*t on tv, but they are going the wrong way.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:59 pm

My guess is, DTV may get an exclusive for putting episodes on their In Demand setup. Which requires hooking up your DVR to a broadband connection.

I haven't done it yet but I guess they would push the shows to your DVR.

Ironic cuz I have Comcast cable Internet.

That murder plot was a lot to bear. Apparently there is a real-life counterpart to the Jason Street character, a guy who got paralyzed trying to make a tackle.

Smash going to a small school could be interesting but will they follow him as much after he leaves Dillon?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:01 pm

wco81 wrote:That murder plot was a lot to bear. Apparently there is a real-life counterpart to the Jason Street character, a guy who got paralyzed trying to make a tackle.

Luckily they didn't drag that murder plot on for too long. And the guy who Jason Street was modeled after in "real life" just died in the last couple weeks.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:49 pm

this is great news! me and my wife LOVE this show. It's one we always watch together.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:44 pm

OCT 1 on the 101.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:34 pm

bdunn13 wrote:OCT 1 on the 101.

Sweet! Thanks.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:35 pm

Don't forget to set your DVRs this evening. This will be your only reminder