Friday Night Lights (awesome TV series, completely free on NBC)

By the end of Season Three you will see where they are going with the storyline.

It is rather interesting.

 

Centering it around J.D. McCoy?

Asking aloud, don't tell me.

 

Spoiler

I don't know.

 

Don't worry...not gonna spoil it for you.

And just in case any of you were worried that FNL was in danger of not being asked back, just realize that ESPN was ready and willing to pick the series up after least season if DTV hadn't swooped in with their offer to NBC.

I would hope that if the show does go over to ESPN, that everything would remain unchanged.

 

I saw this show on accident when I was sick and I got hooked. I've pretty much gone through seasons 1 and 2 on hulu and caught up. The only thing that ticks me off is nbc.com and hulu don't have the complete season 3. I just noticed season 3, episode 8 is up so I'll watch it now.

I'm also curious what's going to happen in season 4.

 

So there will be a season 4? I'm guessing with a new cast and everything since most of the main cast are graduating? Or will they follow those guys post-high school?

 

That's basically what happened to me. I don't watch much tv but was flipping through one night a month or so ago and caught an episode on NBC. Got absolutely hooked and watched seasons 1 and 2 on hulu in about a week and have been following 3 since then.

 

A season 4 for this show isn't confirmed but the ending of Season 3 leaves it open for continuing the story. However, if it were cancelled, then they've already closed up the storylines of most of the main characters anyway.

My favourite part of the show is the interaction between Eric and Tammi. They've got great chemistry and the writing is fantastic. Just a few exchanges between them that have absolutely nothing to do with the story makes it that much more endearing.

 

Lyla's boring, honestly. Once you get past her relationship with Jason and his recovery, she has nothing that directly ties into the larger context. I'm glad her role decreased. Same with Jason. I think there's only so much you can do re: racial tension, but I think season 3 actually does an excellent job at getting back to the basics of football, particularly in the contrast between Saracen and McCoy and how the vast differences in their lives away from the field play into their character and leadership roles on the field. And you'll see the socioeconomic dynamic of the town come into play again in the final episodes -- won't say anything more because I don't want to spoil anything.

A lot of people didn't like the McCoy family (by the way, what a coincidental name, stud QB from Texas named McCoy...) because they took screen time away from some of their favorites, but I think it was an excellent addition. Like you said, Season 2 was essentially a giant love story in which the characters just happened to play football. I still enjoyed it because the love stories are well done and I have a lot invested emotionally in the characters, but it wasn't what made the show truly great, which is all these storylines amid the context of a football team. With the McCoy family, the writers can write the personal drama that they're so good at, and it inherently plays out in everything on the football field. I'm a fan. By the way, two other lead characters (not McCoy) aren't seniors and would be able to return for a fourth season, if there is one.

Honestly, I think the acting and characterization might be even better in S3 than S1. The only problem I have with S3 is the shortened season. Because you have only 13 episodes, and obviously you have to go through a full season, you can't explore issues with the same depth as in S1, when they had 22 episodes to chronicle an entire football season. But outside of that, I really think S3 was wonderful. You'll really enjoy the final four or five episodes.

 

Who? Julie? Lyla?

I don't know what they're going to do. If they follow the main characters in college, it isn't FNL anymore. And they've already done the Jason and Smash post football life in Dillon. The show has to revolve around the Dillon High team. They should have groomed more characters like JD. I like JD. When he got drunk, he should have made a move on Lyla.

 

I have to agree with you on Lyla. She is incredibly boring and a pretty bad actor. But very nice to look at, so I figured she would be a bigger part of the show. Though I think Tyra's life is much more interesting and the actress is far superior.

-I actually like the McCoy family. Interesting plotline.
-I like Saracen alot. his grandma is amusing, his mom is a MILF, and the thing with his dad was pretty interesting.
-Riggins and his brother carry the show, IMHO. Incredible storylines.
-Jason Street, Herk (sp?) and the baby - shoot me now. thankfully this has been put out of its misery.
-Landry was great in season 1 and dorkishly amusing but that emo chick he was into a few episodes ago made me want to gag. please no more love stories than there already are. i have a feeling most people dont like landry but i am a big fan of the character.
-julie's rebellion phase was interesting.
-as someone said earlier, the interaction between coach and his wife (talk about a MILF) is incredible and probably the backbone of the show.
-losing smash hurt alot. not just his football but his family's socioeconomic condition was pretty deep.

who are the other two non-seniors other than JD? unless they havent been introduced yet. please dont tell me that emo chick gets a bigger role.

what's with the lack of replies in here? i know this is a 2 year old thread, but i figured a sports message board would have way more fans of such a great sports drama.

 

Main characters (no, not emo chick) who aren't seniors (other than McCoy):

Spoiler

Landry, Julie

 

Spoiler

Julie makes sense. But Landry was driving to school every day in season 1 (his freshman year). He couldn't be older than 15.

I'm reading way too much into this.


EDIT: i edited my reply into a spoiler. why did you put that in a spoiler? does it become a big deal later in the show that they aren't seniors? just a bit confused. i figured you were talking about new characters with the secrecy.

 

Completely agree on this. I wish they had re-explored Tyra's S1 storyline of essentially the girl trying to escape football in a town that revolves around it. I think she's one of the most interesting characters on the show, she's smoking hot, and the actress is outstanding... but it seems like they didn't really know what to do with her in the last couple of seasons besides give her a will they/won't they relationship with Landry.

That's a big part of why I love the McCoy family. Through the McCoys, they're examining the same types of socioeconomic issues they did through the Williams', but from the completely opposite perspective. You'll see this greatly pick up in the last few episodes, particularly the finale...

See above. The one problem is the lack of star football players (well, other than McCoy) returning, although characterization off the field has always been more important to the show than the players on it. With that said, I doubt this is an issue because I think the chances of this show returning are about 1%. It's a great show, but there are just too many main characters leaving and the ratings are a near disaster.

(It's not the fault of the show, of course, but of the idiotic DTV deal. A big segment of fans, me included, are too impatient to wait for the show to NBC... but no one's going to switch to DTV just for one show... so everyone ends up illegally watching online, and the show gets no ratings.)

 

tyra is a great example of why character development is the strongest part of the show. first few episodes you're thinking she's the town slut and then it turns out she's pretty strongheaded. same thing with riggins - he starts off seemingly as the racist antagonist, and by season 3 i would guess he's everyone's favorite character. and of course saracen and julie growing up.

I actually thought this was what they were going to do with Buddy and Lyla's family. At the opening of the pilot episode, there's a great transition scene where the camera pans from the little shack Saracen lives in to the outside of Buddy's two story house. The juxtaposition was absolutely brilliant.

By the way, I love Buddy Garrity.

And why did they get rid of Santiago? That was another character that was incredible especially when his gang friends paid a visit.

1%? Damn, that sucks.

 

I put it as a spoiler because it's not really announced until the finale (although yeah, I agree it's not a big deal). Julie was the one that surprised me, because there's actually a line in one of the first few S1 episodes from Tami where she says "our daughter is a 15-year-old sophomore!" With Landry, they never explicitly said it, so I guess they left themselves an out, although the driving to school is pretty damning evidence (unless somehow he had a hardship or something).

1% might be exaggerating a little, but not much. Every report I've read has been very disappointed at the ratings. With that said, ratings weren't great last year, either, and it got another chance -- but the biggest reason it got another chance was that everyone knew how amazing the show was. Now you're combining worse ratings (like I said, the DTV deal was a killer for ratings, delaying your show won't work in the internet era) with the reality that a majority of the cast would have to leave, and I'm very skeptical that they can get the benefit of the doubt again. Makes me sad, too.

 

i just recently finished watching this show too.

i dont know how far youve gotten but basically the finale wraps up in a big way. without revealing too much, its a situation where i look forward to seeing what new characters are brought in as oppsed to lamenting the ones that left. i wouldnt want to see any of those seniors return for the next season, because its better to know that they got out of the small town and are moving on. else, they are working odd jobs around the town, trying to fit in when football is no longer a part of their lives (think jason street the car salesman). obviously thats a big part of the reason why the future of the show is in doubt. i really dont see this show lasting another 3 seasons when the cast has such a high turnover.

i also love all the austin landmarks you see in the show... EZs, DKR stadium, the tower, frost bank. i loved the scene where theyre playing frisbee on the texas state capitol lawn.

 

It was hilarious the night before the state title game in Dallas, Tami and Eric were on the balcony of the hotel and you can see the Frost Bank Tower in the background.

 

Are you sure? I haven't watched any of season 1 since, uh, season one, but I've always known that Julie was a year younger than Matt. Maybe they made reference to that somewhere else down the line?

 

When did they make reference to that? I'm pretty much a diehard fan, and I didn't see them start to make any allusions to that until the final episodes of S3, when they prepared you for Matt potentially leaving her behind to go to college. They also had Julie in the same classes as Matt/Landry/Tyra.