Category Archives: Friday Night Lights

June 21, 2007 · 11:45 am

For Your Consideration: Lead Actors – Alec Baldwin and Kyle Chandler

[In Week Three of Cultural Learnings’ 59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations Preview, we’re looking at possible contenders for the Lead Actor awards in both drama and comedy. Today, we present our seventh and last set of candidates. For complete listings for the Supporting candidates from the past two weeks, and soon the Lead Actors, check out our For Your Consideration index]

 

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy)

30 Rock

Alex Baldwin gave, in my personal opinion, the best comic performance of the season on 30 Rock. He stole every scene he was in, shared great scenes with pretty well the show’s entire cast, and managed to find a balance between forceful boss and a man in need of attention. While his time spent hosting Saturday Night Live was certainly good training ground for Baldwin in terms of comic chops, what he really brings to the table is his ability to craft a character. So often, leads in comedies can fall into the same old clichés, the same old structures, and in the process don’t define a character. While he may also play a boss with insecurities, Baldwin doesn’t really steal from Steve Carell’s performance style; what he crafts is something all his own, a boss whose insecurities are so well hidden that he’s risen to the executive level. Jack is so good at hiding and limiting those insecurities that few would ever question his leadership, and in much the same way Baldwin commands respect. As a comic presence and as a character-driven actor, Alec Baldwin makes 30 Rock worth watching each and every week. While the show came together around him in the end, Alec Baldwin’s show-justifying role is worthy of Emmy consideration.

When you look at what Jack faced this year it’s kind of a laundry list of fantastic comic setups with every single character on the series. He spent a day as an NBC page with Kenneth cleaning Brian Williams’ office after one of his tirades, and played poker against him, he spent time dealing with racism with Tracy, he tried to help Pete’s love life by pushing him to wear a toupee, and perhaps greatest of all he constantly interacted with Liz. His chemistry with Tina Fey is palpable: their dialogues were sharp, their delivery perfect, their pace ideal. But it was always Fey keeping up with Baldwin, and that’s the way it really should be. And yet, in moments of insecurity, Jack does falter: whether it’s his ex-wife (Isabella Rossellini in a fantastic guest role), his troublesome family (Nathan Lane, Molly Shannon), or even his late season relationship with Phoebe the bird girl. Jack does have a heart, of sorts, but yet his life as a cutthroat executive is always first and foremost. He might eventually pull Kenneth out of performing sex acts to guest star Will Arnett, but he definitely sent him in the first place to help out his own cause. That duality is funny, charming, and pulled off wonderfully by Baldwin. And it’s a performance that is likely to garner him an Emmy nomination.

Episode Selection: “Jack-Tor” (Aired November 16th, 2007)

I am ignoring his actual selection here not because I dislike it, but because of my affection for this particular episode. “Hiatus”, the season finale, features some great interaction with Elaine Stritch playing his mother, and his arc within the episode is certainly a decent one. But it has Jack out of his element: he’s in bed with Phoebe, or stuck in a hospital bed. Jack is at his finest in his own habitat.

And thus I have to choose an early season episode that convinced me that this series was officially going somewhere. Jack-Tor covers everything great about Jack: his corporate background, his tough exterior, his attempts to fit in, his insecurities, his relationship with Liz, his…well, this episode has everything for me. More than Hiatus, this episode defines what Alec Baldwin is able to bring to this character on a weekly basis. Plus, it contains perhaps the greatest sequence in all of comedy this past year, which will follow in YouTube form. The rest of the episode has some other stuff…but this is basically an Emmy reel in itself.

YouTube – “Jack-Tor”

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Kyle Chandler (Eric Taylor)

Friday Night Lights

A small town football team is only as good as its coach. While there may be individual stars, while there may be supportive fans, they will be nothing without the guidance of a coach who can step forward and lead his or her team to victory. Much like a small town football team, a television drama is nothing with its lead actor, and in this case this analogy could not be more apt. Kyle Chandler delivers a career performance as Coach Eric Taylor, a man who is still overwhelmed by the spectacle of small town Dillon, Texas, but is always powerful and strong when it comes to leading his team. I don’t think I knew Chandler had it in him: to be so vicious and intimidating in the locker room at halftime when his team needs encouragement or discipline takes a lot of skill, and Chandler always nails it. Coach Taylor is never too mean, too vindictive, and yet is never too soft in the process. Even as we see his softer side at home with his family, we always still believe he could kick our ass if he put his mind to it. That duality is brought to life in Eric Taylor by Kyle Chandler, and it is most certainly an Emmy worthy portrayal.

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June 13, 2007 · 11:35 am

For Your Consideration: Supporting Actresses – Adrianne Palicki and Becki Newton

[In Week Two of Cultural Learnings’ 59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations Preview, we’re looking at possible contenders for the Supporting Actress awards in both drama and comedy. Today, we present our sixth set of candidates. For last week’s Supporting Actor candidates, and an index of all candidates, Click Here]

Supporting Actress in a Drama

Adrianne Palicki (Tyra)

Friday Night Lights

In a sea of supporting actress candidates, selecting Adrianne Palicki for Friday Night Lights was difficult. Much of my praise for Zach Gilford last week actually doesn’t apply to Palicki at all: his performance is about subtlety and teenage anxiety, whereas Tyra Collette is brash and acts far closer to Palicki’s real age of 24. However, what I realized as the season went on is that Tyra is a character with a great deal of depth beyond her apparent surroundings. While early season storylines had her sleeping with young oil executives (Which was sketchy for a 17-year old and never quite fit), she developed into a much stronger character as the season wore on. She may have been that bad girl who was on the wrong side of the tracks, but by midseason she was the girl who acted tough because her life was falling apart around her. While she might not excel at playing a teenager, Adrianne Palicki excelled at playing a girl who faced trouble with her head held high until she just couldn’t handle it anymore. And that performance is worthy of Emmy attention.

Tyra is the requisite bad girl, in direct contrast to Minka Kelly’s sugar sweet Lyla Garrity. She’s the bad influence on the coach’s daughter Julie, the love interest for resident bad boy Tim Riggins, the object of the nerdy Landry’s desires, and the special project for Guidance Counselor Tami Taylor. However, somehow Palicki managed to make each of these relationships incredibly compelling. Her scenes with Julie were playful, being just subversive enough without being deplorable. Her relationship with Riggins is complicated, with her feelings being varied and wavering at a realistic pace. Her scenes with Landry provided some great comedy late in the season, and working with Tami showed the bad girl side of Tyra breaking down.

And yet, I think the scene that I most enjoyed was Tyra heading into Jason Street’s hospital room with a bottle of liquor and shooting the shit while getting plastered. She was there to make a statement, screw with Lyla’s head, and yet she never quite took it to the level of outright “I’m going to screw your boyfriend”. She was this bad girl, so capable of being so, and yet she had some sense of a moral guideline. That moral guideline became even more clear as her academic future and her strained relationship with her mother became clear, including her battles with her boyfriends. Suddenly, her early season actions gained context they did not have before, and the result was that Palicki’s performance seemed that much better in hindsight. She is no household name, but Palicki crafted a character in a way that is worthy of Emmy consideration.

Episode Selection: “Mud Bowl” (Aired March 28th, 2007)

I don’t want to call this episode Emmy bait, because that takes away from Adrianne’s strong performance…but it was Emmy bait. Waiting for Landry at a fast food joint in the pouring rain, Tyra encounters a rather creepy male. As Landry is late, Tyra gets up to leave and is followed by the man who attempts to rape her. She fights him off with a cigarette lighter, and falls into Landry’s arms as he arrives. Palicki’s performance in the episode is incredibly powerful in what could have been a tough storyline to pull off, and she’s also great in the rest of the episode as she warms up to Landry and all of his charm. To see this “bad girl” devolve into a mess following this traumatic situation was one of those moments where you realized how real Friday Night Lights was, and Palicki’s portrayal of Tyra is what makes that possible in this episode. But since that scene can’t be watched, here’s a scene of Tyra interacting with Matt and Landry.

YouTube – “Mix Tape”

Supporting Actress in a Comedy

Becki Newton (Amanda)

Ugly Betty

A lot of what I discussed about Michael Urie’s performance in Ugly Betty goes as well for Becki Newton. She was also introduced as a catty coworker who would attack Betty mercilessly, and was as one-dimensionally funny as a character could get early in the season. However, like Marc, Amanda grew throughout the season into someone more caring, compassionate, fragile. Perhaps realizing that Betty wasn’t herself interesting enough to carry every storyline, B Plots began going the way of Marc and Amanda, and the result was three-dimensional characters that stood on their own accord. While she might not be a big name like Vanessa Williams, Becki Newton was always up to the task of being a vicious critic when necessary while always being able to show Amanda’s more sensitive side. That ability to balance conniving and concerned, caring and villainous, puts Newton into consideration for an Emmy Award.

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June 6, 2007 · 7:34 am

Television Critics Pile on the Praise for the Shows I Like

The annual TCA awards are pretty much the exact opposite of the Emmy Awards.

Television Critics Association Nominations – Variety.com

Television Critics are, for the most part, much better informed on the actual quality of network and cable television as opposed to being completely ignorant to various entertaining programs. As a result, these are awards that actually give us an indicator of who gave the best performances, not just who submitted the best episode. And, let me tell you: the result is an intense race that creates categories impossible to decide upon.

Program of the Year

“American Idol” (Fox)
“Friday Night Lights” (NBC)
“Heroes” (NBC)
“Planet Earth” (Discovery)
“The Wire” (HBO)
“When the Levees Broke” (HBO)

This is such a bizarre category, because it’s really more defined as programming from I guess a…I don’t even know what it means. Either way, you’ve got reality television, family drama, Sci-Fi drama, Nature Documentary, gritty HBO drama, and a Katrina documentary. That’s a diverse mix of shows right there. Are they looking for something new, something powerful…I don’t even know.

Comedy Series

“30 Rock” (NBC”)
“The Daily Show” (Comedy Central”)
“Entourage” (HBO”)
“The Office” (NBC”)
“Ugly Betty” (ABC”)

This category is just unfair, TCA. The Office against The Daily Show? Throw 30 Rock into the mix and you’ve got an impossible decision to make. I really have no idea how I’d decide on this one, and I for one support separate variety categories just to keep this conundrum from taking place.

Drama Series

“Friday Night Lights” (NBC”)
“Heroes” (NBC”)
“Lost” (ABC”)
“The Sopranos” (HBO”)
“The Wire” (HBO”)

We don’t know how much this will coincide with Emmy’s list, but I feel for certain that three of these shows will be named on July 19th. The Wire is one of those shows that has never garnered Emmy attention due to its lack of Network coverage, and without star power or pedigree it might have trouble breaking through at the Emmys. However, the amount of critical attention given to the series might make it something to catch up on this summer.

New Program

“30 Rock” (NBC”)
“Dexter” (Showtime”)
“Friday Night Lights” (NBC”)
“Heroes” (NBC”)
“Ugly Betty” (ABC”)

Umm, TCA? Are you following my viewing habits or something? I doubt they are, but these five shows are likely to make it onto my respective Drama/Comedy Emmy FYCs in July, and are probably my top 5 new shows of the season. I’m especially happy to see Dexter getting some love, it is most deserved.

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June 5, 2007 · 10:45 am

For Your Consideration: Supporting Actors – John C. McGinley and Zach Gilford

[In Week One of Cultural Learnings’ 59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations Preview, we’re looking at possible contenders for the Supporting Actor awards in both comedy and drama. Today, we present our fifth set of candidates. For all candidates, Click Here]

Supporting Actor in a Comedy

John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox)

Scrubs

John C. McGinley really never gets a fair shake when Emmy time rolls around. Dr. Cox, the character he portrays on NBC’s Scrubs, is hilariously funny through most of the episodes, but he is at his best when the series demands dramatic material from him. When Dr. Cox just a few seasons ago lost three cancer patients due to an infection that he missed, he sunk into a deep depression from which he was unable to escape. When his best friend and brother-in-law passed away, he went through an entire episode imagining him to be there, leading him through his life and making up for mistakes along the way. These episodes were touching, emotionally powerful…but not comic. And, as a result, he has struggled in this category. Well, this season lacked such a poignant moment for the character, but I still believe that he is an unsung hero that should be considered for an Emmy nomination.

What Dr. Cox does so well is to basically serve as the sarcastic doctor, a mentor who has not yet become so jaded as to refuse to mentor others, and as someone who is always there to call J.D. girl’s names and let his opinion be known. I’ve written in the past about how I feel Scrubs hasn’t aged well (If I haven’t, I’ll have to do so when the show premieres in September), but I think that McGinley has magically overcome this problem. While other characters seem to spin in circles, McGinley seems to be able to navigate a fairly interesting path for his character even though his brand of humour can often be the most stereotypical.

That sense of humour, however, remains fresh. His long-winded rants about J.D. and others’ incompetence, his refusal to become part of the personal lives of the doctors around him, and his general sarcasm all make him funny and entertaining, while he remains able to humanize himself through his own life with two kids, an ex-wife who he hates and loves at the same time, and an inner heart of gold. McGinley never seems to get lost in the character, or lost in the other characters’ inability to mature over six seasons. McGinley, as the most consistent character in the show’s ensemble, deserves to be recognized more than its lead, who often sits back and watches as McGinley berates him with aplomb. And that, my friends, is why John C. McGinley deserves serious Emmy attention for his comic performance.

Episode Selection: “My House” (Airdate: January 4th, 2007)

Now, I don’t know if I would have selected this episode myself (It is somewhat lacking in some of Dr. Cox’s best qualities), but the premise behind the episode is one that could affect Emmy voters. Faced with two medical mysteries (Four if you count Carla and Eliot’s problems), Dr. Cox becomes the NBC equivalent of House. This quasi-crossover appeal should engage voters, and there are some strong moments for the character, but I think that the episode is just a bit too dull. Hugh Laurie’s performance of House is brilliantly comic within a dramatic setting. Here, McGinley is understated in a show that values absurdist comedy (Too often, to be honest). As a result, I think it won’t gain traction as a comic performance…but stranger things have happened. Via YouTube, here is his final diagnostic, House style.

YouTube – “My House”

Supporting Actor in a Drama

Zach Gilford (Matt Saracen)

Friday Night Lights

When I wrote a review of the Friday Night Lights pilot, I classified Matt Saracen as something akin to a contrived cliché in character form. Backup quarterback, never played a game in his life, throws footballs through a tire, takes care of his ailing grandmother, and in a moment of tragedy he is forced to step up and put the weight of an entire town on his shoulders. Within the context of the pilot, it was certainly a cliché series of events. However, what I did not realize at the time was that the show was also asking for a lot of weight to be placed on Zach Gilford’s shoulders, and much as his character led the Dillon Panthers to State so too did Gilford take this character and portray him as a real teenager, with real anxiety, and with real heart. And even in his understated fashion, without a single breakout scene to blow Emmy voters away, this young actor absolutely deserves to be considered this award season.

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May 25, 2007 · 1:12 pm

‘For Your Consideration’ – The Emmy Awards Hype Begins

It will be some yet before I settle into extensive Emmy Awards coverage, considering that we are still over three months away from the show itself. However, the studios are not leaving it to chance, and the Emmy Awards season is officially beginning with a series of For Your Consideration [Wikipedia] ads popping up in Variety/The Hollywood Reporter…well, since I don’t quite have access to the papers themselves, more specifically on their websites.

In the case of some networks, they’ve actually gone so far as to create video databases hosted on the sites of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, although the latter has a large amount more coverage. I’m guessing that these databases will grow as time goes on.

Variety

Emmy Contenders 2007

The Hollywood Reporter

For Your Consideration: Emmy showcase

Now, Hollywood Reporter has the really interesting shows, plus banner ads from ABC-Television for Lost and Scrubs. Now, the other shows (Most of which come from Sony Television and NBC Universal) all have multiple video clips from various episodes. For today, I’m going to analyze and run down three such shows (All of them NBC-owned Dramas): Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and Friday Night Lights. Will the clips do the shows justice?

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May 18, 2007 · 11:11 am

The Five Biggest Mistakes of the 2007 Network Upfronts

There is no question that the Upfronts bring on a lot of good things, which I will get to in time. However, it’s tough directly after the release of all of the fall schedules to not dwell on the negatives. The show which we canceled, the shows that were mistreated, and the show that you cringe just thinking about. As a result, we start our weekend coverage of the Upfronts with a piece which covers the mistakes made, and which ones will have the most negative effect on the state of television.

The Five Biggest Mistakes of the 2007 Network Upfronts

5. CBS cancels ‘Jericho’

I’ve talked about why canceling Jericho was the right move in the end, but I think it still needs to be recognized that CBS might need to reconsider such moves in the future. Wonky scheduling killed the show’s audience, not necessarily its quality, and I think this is where CBS might have hit their final straw. I think that CBS is worried about the bottom line, and the ratings performance, and I kind of wonder whether they really watched the show to see. Jericho’s fanbase was rabid and of a different sort than most of their shows. The network was able to cancel shows in the past without fanfare (Where’s the outrage for Close to Home?) because they are casual viewers: Jericho didn’t have any of those, and canceling it is likely to end up being more than they bargained for.

It had to be done, but it’s certainly put them in a lesser eye with some of the people that they hope might turn up this season for Moonlight and Viva Laughlin, two shows which might need a touch of their fandom. If they ever want to branch into serial television for real, they will need to realize that quality does matter. We’ll see if their tone changes as time moves forward.

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May 14, 2007 · 7:15 pm

Network Upfronts Extravaganza – ‘NBC’ 2007/2008 Fall Schedule

Well, NBC has made it official (Variety), as their schedule has made it to press before their upfront presentation.

EDIT: NBC has now released their official Fall Preview Website with sneak previews of all of their new shows. Check it out at the link below.

NBC Fall Preview 2007-2008

Now, onto the summary of what went done, and then the final schedule with commentary after the jump.

– First, and most interesting, is that NBC has found as solution for their problem of Heroes going on hiatus: a prequel series. Heroes: Origins will be featuring characters not yet on the show, characters in the periphery, and then at the end of its run fans can vote on their favourite who would then join the main cast (I will talk more about this at some point, it’s fascinating). This is sure to keep fans happy, and gives the network more fresh programming.

“Heroes: Origins” will center on characters not yet seen on the original show. Peacock has also added an interactive element to the show: Viewers will be asked to pick their favorite character from “Origins,” who will then join the cast of the full-blown “Heroes” skein the following year. [Variety]

– NBC, you made a huge mistake placing Friday Night Lights at 10pm on Fridays. It’s a family show, damnit, and it deserves a slot where people can watch it together. Now, as it stands, it is far too late to get a decent shot at succeeding, and the show deserves much better. I also think that moving Las Vegas might have been a decent option, but I figure that the addition of Tom Selleck to the cast might be enough to give it some life. (I forgot about it in my predictions: whoops)

– I also forgot about football. Man, I don’t know how I forgot about the NFL so easily, but I did. This means that Law & Order, Medium and Lipstick Jungle (New Series starring Brooke Shields) won’t be around until January, which freed up some room on the schedule.

– The new shows slotted in where you’d expect them to [For full info on these shows, check out Cultural Learnings’ NBC Preview.]: Journeyman [Time-travelling drama] has been given the post-Heroes dead zone, which leave sci-fi contender The Bionic Woman to find for itself on Wednesdays (Against American Idol in the Spring). Life, meanwhile, inherits the tough Wednesdays at 10 slot, and Chuck (From Josh Schwartz) finds itself possibly facing House at 9pm on Tuesdays.

– Only two Deal or No Deals? It’ll work for now, but let’s not see any more NBC.

– The only shows missing? Crossing Jordan and…The Apprentice! Yes! Woohoo! *Fireworks* Trump has finally fallen.

I’ll have some more analysis later after the Upfront Presentation when they explain these ideas further, but for now here’s NBC’s final schedule [with full analysis of each night] after the break.

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May 14, 2007 · 7:52 am

Network Upfronts Extravaganza: Monday Update

The 2007 Network Upfronts are officially upon us, and it’s NBC that’s first out of the gate.

Cultural Learnings’ Network Upfronts Extravaganza 2007 – ‘NBC’ Preview

However, while NBC presents at 3pm EST today, that doesn’t mean that other networks aren’t making moves and locking down pilot commitments. I spent some time last night updating various of the preview posts, but I figure that I should document some of that news here as a way of keeping everyone informed.

NBC

Exit Laughing: NBC Retreats from Comedy – The Hollywood Reporter

NBC, meanwhile, has made it official: there will be no new comedies on their fall schedule for the first time, well, ever. However, in a move which is sure to make things very interesting for The Office and My Name is Earl, the two shows will be pulling some overtime: a lot of it. The Office will have its normal 24 30-minute episodes during the season…plus six hour-long specials. That’s a total of 30 episodes, while My Name is Earl is getting 28 1/2 hour episodes. This means that NBC is erring on the side of ensuring new episodes of its hit shows. Also, the lineup for Comedy Night Done Right will shift: Earl and 30 Rock will hold down the 8pm fort, while The Office and Scrubs form a solid block at 9pm.

Also, Law & Order WILL be on the schedule, but Criminal Intent is moving to USA Network. Meanwhile, Friday Night Lights might find a home on Friday, and Lipstick Jungle will be held along with The IT Crowd until midseason. This changes my projected schedule, which has been updated. I literally have run out of shows, so they have to either pick up another pilot or…air something? I don’t even know.

The CW

[Cultural Learnings’ Preview]

The CW has nailed down its third drama pilot, an untitled project which features Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Batman Begins) as the owner of a wildlife refuge in South Africa and his son-in-law who moves there. Considering how tight my existing CW schedule is, chances are that this show would bump the Veronica Mars revamp (Yes, I’m sad too). However, I have to wonder whether The CW audience is really in tune with the South African wildlife refuge drama. The concept doesn’t sound terrible, but I fail to see where it fits into its image amongst young females especially, at least compared to a female-led FBI program.

ABC

[Cultural Learnings’Preview]

ABC’s lineup remains pretty locked up, although there’s word that According to Jim is still in contention. Dear ABC: do you really hate me that much? They could also be picking up another pilot, Miss/Guided, which the press release describes as:

“Miss/Guided” is a single-camera half-hour about a former ugly duckling (Judy Greer) who becomes a guidance counselor at her old high school.

Sounds decent enough, although only time will tell.

CBS

[Cultural Learnings’ Preview]

Meanwhile, CBS is making the bold move of picking up Swingtown and the Jimmy Smits drama, although no other pilot information is being made available. As a result, the fate of Jericho is still unknown and the status of other pilots (They need other pilots) is not yet known. I’ve added Swingtown to the schedule, and bumped Cold Case in the process…but chances are that it will bump the two extra comedies I placed on the schedule. But I think they need more comedies, so I’m keeping them there.

FOX

[Cultural Learnings’ Preview]

FOX has officially added the Juliana Marguiles-star vehicle Canterbury’s Law to their schedule. Because we needed another lawyer show. Really. Thanks FOX.

I’ll be checking in with the final NBC information later this afternoon with the final news of the schedule, and will probably offer some analysis later.

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May 13, 2007 · 9:10 pm

Network Upfronts Extravaganza – ‘NBC’ Preview

NBC had a motto heading into this season: “first be best, then be first.” It was quite the slogan, don’t get me wrong, but it was also a flawed strategy considering they have only seen two dramas survive their development season and one of them is limping into the end zone instead of high-kicking their way into it. It was a year that was supposed to slow the network’s decline, and yet the shows that were struggling last season just kept struggling. NBC is still sitting in the basement among the big four networks, and they need a good development season quickly. While Heroes has certainly been a big success for the network, there’s also very little question that it isn’t enough: they need something big, and they need it soon. They can be best all they want, but if people aren’t watching NBC is only going to fall further. And, based on their pilot selections…well, the jury remains out on whether NBC is capable of rising to the occasion.

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April 11, 2007 · 3:23 pm

Why You Need to Watch ‘Friday Night Lights’

Tonight at 8pm EST, there’s a few television options for the average viewer. You’ve got the wonders of America’s Next Top Model, the dwindling Jericho, the forensics of Bones and the…well, the less we speak of ABC’s aging comedies the better. And yet, despite all of those options (I’d actually consider the first three to be decent ones), the best show airing at 8pm on Wednesdays is one that you’re not watching, and one that finishes its season early this evening.

That show is Friday Night Lights. And it is what you should be watching this evening. Now, I’ve got a multitude of reasons why I think you should watch this show, and in my attempt to convince you I am likely to use a large variety of football metaphors. In fact, I may or may not equate every single player to a specific position. And yet, I want all of you who might not understand these metaphors to know that the show is not about football. It is about real life, and how football is actually a manifestation of true emotion for these high school kids and for the people in the town of Dillon, Texas. I’ll let the recent Peabody Awards press release make my case for me:

“No dramatic series, broadcast or cable, is more grounded in contemporary American reality than this clear eyed serial about the hopes, dreams, livelihoods and egos intertwined with the fate of high-school football in a texas town.”

And that’s the reality of it; no show has been as successful at crafting a true ensemble character drama in a small town setting, and I was an early doubter of the show’s ability to succeed. While every storyline has not been perfect, and every character has their off moments, somehow it all comes together into something vividly real. While some people like to bash its jarring camera work, I think that it works to the show’s advantage. It makes it feel less like some slickly produced drama and more of a fly on the wall experience.

Which is why this show absolutely needs to be saved. It is the best new drama on television at this moment, and it is absolutely integral that everyone needs to tune in for the Season Finale tonight (And it WILL be the season finale). And, to help convince you of this, I want to present why this show’s characters are so damn intriguing. Individually, so many of them deserve the attention of both viewers and the television academy.

But, much like a football team, this really is a group effort on the part of the show’s characters. They make this thing work together, and as a result I think we need to treat them like the unit that they are. As a result, I present:

If the Cast of Friday Night Lights were a Football Team…

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