I completely agree with you, Matt. Friday Night Lights is hands down the best show on television.
Admittedly, since I’m from rural Texas and a fan of high school football, I’m culturally predisposed to love the show. But even if I weren’t I’d still adore it for one of the reasons you noted: The Taylors.
The Taylors are unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the small screen. There has simply never been a more honest and sympathetic portrayal of a married couple—much less a Christian couple with a rock-solid marriage—produced in Hollywood. Even scenes in which the Taylors fight (and they argue about as often as any normal couple) reveals more genuine love and emotion than all of the sex scenes in the history of television combined.
Take, for example, this clip from a previous season:
Eric and Tami Taylor are the best advertisements for marriage I’ve ever seen in pop culture.
If you haven’t watched Friday Night Lights yet, rent the first six episodes of the first season. A few episodes is often necessary before you get accustomed to the pace and setting—it didn’t grab me at first but when it did, it didn’t let go. I suspect if you give it a chance you’ll soon be hooked too.
May 26th, 2010 | 10:27 am
Joe, I completely agree — it’s the most realistic (and maybe only) depiction of small-town, working-class American life on television right now.
You didn’t mention the fact that Julie Taylor, the coach’s teenage daughter, is experiencing a crisis of faith this season. She doesn’t want to go to church anymore, not with all the hypocrites trying to ruin her dad’s life. She presses her mom for reasons why they go to church, and the best Tami can come up with is some mumbling about “community.” I’m interested to see where this goes…some family fights ahead.
Come on, Tami.
May 26th, 2010 | 11:44 am
Saw the first season of this – it was average. It’s not even as good as the first season of Big Love for example.
Second season looked dreadful so I didn’t even begin it.
Must of had one hell of a turn around.
The idea that this is a worthy sucessor to Lost seems completely crazy.
May 26th, 2010 | 11:55 am
David,
Yah, I wasn’t too pleased by Tami’s response to that either. But like much in the show, I worry it’s (alas) all too accurate.
Joe, thanks for reiterating my point about the Taylors, and highlighting that clip. It’s a great example of what I was flailing to articulate.
Matt
May 26th, 2010 | 12:00 pm
The Field Office Saw the first season of this – it was average. It’s not even as good as the first season of Big Love for example.
I love “Big Love” too but the fact is that’s fairly easy to make an intriguing show based on a gimmick (polygamy, mysterious island) while its much, much more difficult to produce a decent drama from real life.
The idea that this is a worthy sucessor to Lost seems completely crazy.
Years from now FNL will still be talked about as one of the greatest shows ever on TV while Lost will be considered a gimmick that was fascinating while it was on, but completely forgettable after it ended.
As Aristotle said, you can’t judge a man’s life to be good until after his death. Much the same is true for TV shows. Now that its over we can see that Lost was a pile of red herrings smothered in sentimental sauce.
May 26th, 2010 | 2:19 pm
I 100 percent agree that Friday Night Lights is just good ol’, heartfelt story-telling without all the gimmicks. And today, that makes this show very unique.
Nice choice of clip of Coach and Mrs. Coach. In response to Tami presenting her case that she and Eric have a mature relationship, that they are mature people who could withstand a separation for the sake of Eric’s dream job, I LOVED Eric’s honest response:
“Well, you know what? No. In that sense I’m not mature, I’m not mature. I can’t handle that …”
I literally KNOW people who lived through this same type of situation or relocation when their kids were still in high school.
May 26th, 2010 | 3:07 pm
First season average? Wow. I wonder what your definition of good television is. Because to me, the first season (and third and fourth) of Friday Night Lights is it. It seems too many people nowadays need a show to be full of gimmicks and fantastical twists in order to entertain them.
May 27th, 2010 | 9:26 pm
Absolutely agree with Matt and Joe. What other show has the guts to use a *hymn* as the backing track to its climax, as one recent episode did? (Not just any hymn either, the monumental — to me anyway — “Come Thou Fount.”)
This has been the only worthwhile show on network television for ages.
May 28th, 2010 | 12:56 pm
Joe,
I just started watching FNL and I’m loving it. Great show. Can’t say enough good things.
Slight problem: Does it bother you that Matt Saracen’s dad has been in the army for upwards of twenty years, but he is a corporal?
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