"BECAUSE I'M A CRIPPLE AND I WANT TO LISTEN TO NIRVANA NOW!" the Friday Night Lights TV series thread

buddy was great last night.

HEY TIM RIGGINS, WANNA TEACH ME HOW TO THROW A BALL.

where has street gone? does saracen matter anymore?

lol tami's sister taping over coach's game tape w/ the office

I decided to watch this the other night. I lasted 3 minutes.

francis capra is awesome but this episode was pretty weak

New episode? WHAT?!

there has been more volleyball than football in the past two weeks

smash & landry should have more scenes together.

so sad landry dumps metal chick

peter berg guest appearance next wk? im ok w/ that but this season has been so all over the place.

last episode finally very good though. lots of good throughout the season, mind, just usually with some iffy stuff.

this show makes me want to live in texas

season 3 sounds like a disaster

They're supposedly writing Smash and the Cripple off the show.

Smash I get. He realistically has to go off to college somewhere, but I'm bummed about Cripple. I've thought all his stories have been, if not central to, then at least an important component of the show. No Cripple means no Cripple's friend, Cripple's babymama or Cripple's baby. And no more Cripple/Tim Riggins interactions. :(

i just finished the first season on dvd and i have very mixed feelings about this show. in so many ways, it's a great show: strong acting, impressive production values/direction, a distinctive "look." but too much of the show is about bullshit formulaic teenage drama with the standard overly pretty actors. i'm almost 30 years old, i don't care about teenage problems anymore

awesome thread title btw

I've been torrenting the third season episodes (DirecTV only for now, NBC airings next spring) and it's even better than the end of last year.

So far, no Jason Street at all but Smash has been awesome.

And I'll just say it again: Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler play the most amazing married couple currently on television. Every second they're on screen together (and apart, too) is awesome.

Season 3 has been really excellent so far, each episode better than the last. If they keep it up the season finale will be the best episode they've ever done (fingers crossed).

Johnny Fever - I think Street comes back in the next episode (number five). I assume they didn't want to do the Smash story at the same time as the Street story, both of them being out of school and not really involved much with the other characters.

I wish more people had DirecTV (or cared enough to find other ways to watch).

I haven't grabbed ep. 4 yet, but I'm going to do it and watch it tonight.

Where can I find it?

http://www.mininova.org/search/?search=friday+night+lights

a definite return to form this season. I was a bit worried about the shortened season, but they're handling it really well so far. Truly quality.

This season is really working for me. All the characterizations are back on track and interesting, kinda complex stuff is happening again. They've also allowed the characters a bit of happiness again, which is so heartening after season two essentially being "everybody's miserable." Some shows can do that really grim stuff, but it didn't work for FNL.

Favorite moment this season was Smash's walk-on at Texas A&M...just that moment when they're told to 'go away and come back tomorrow'...the look on Smash's face, Coach knew that if they left, Smash would lose all of his confidence and never come back, that Smash needed to know that people believed in him, and could help him. So, so, so cool.

And how great is Matt Sacracen this season? That kid has got some serious acting chops.

Yeah, this show is totally back on form. Only 3 episodes left until inevitable cancellation.

have fought the urge to torrent; episodes will be on real tv starting 1/16 i believe & cant wait

i am on ep 4 or 5... not as sucked in as i was in earlier seasons, but maybe that is because of my present situation and not the show. i dunno. there are so many otm things about the south and its culture/characters.

just catching up on season 2

forgot how much I <3 coach

didn't even KNOW there was a season 3

: DDDDDDDDD

still a great thread title

o thankig u

i saw "mud bowl" again on some random HD channel + it was grebt

Season 3's final few episodes resume in January, and I really can't wait. Outside of Mad Men and 30 Rock, I think Kyle Chandler is the best thing on television right now.

he is great

you know who else is great? smash's mum, shame she only ever gets airtime as a byproduct of smash storylines

http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,kyle.jpg

ws

anyone seen "early edition"?

matt saracen also great (whole reg cast great rly) but he has tht retarded z.deeschanel voice thing going

"I'm not retarded. I google."

the smash storyline at the beginning of season 3 is heartbreaking

"no wants to know about your pubic hair."

Coz I have had a mad crush on Kyle chandler ever since middle school because of early edition!

really liked newest episode. side storylines of buddys kids & landry and hot devon are aok w/ me. lol @ the ^^pubic hair^^ line xp

poor Landry...

TWO more seasons!

hot damn

No way, really?!!!

I haven't been watching on NBC because I've already seen all the episodes, but I'll be VERY interested to see how they pick things up next year.

really!

Tyra and Lyla will be back to wrap up their storylines next season, and then they'll be gone. Not sure about everyone else except Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton.

that excited 'really!' should have been an xpost, and was not as sarcastic as it might have read. I'm really excited.

Got it. I just went and read the bit at AV Club. Will miss both of them, but we know now how well the writers can do a worthwhile sendoff.

What about Julie? Isn't she tramping around on BH90210?

Oh no! I don't want a reason to ever watch that show.

She is, but it's only a couple episode guest-starring thing, I think.

OK I just watched the first 2 episodes of this...does it get way better or something? I know all pilots lay on the exposition thick, but I've never felt so spoonfed in my life. Here's a THEME, here's an important CHARACTER TRAIT, here's a CONFLICT, here's a METAPHOR -- like literally two consecutive scenes of uncommonly worldly teenagers going "this town is...a crossword puzzle!" and "Moby Dick is a good metaphor for...this town!" Oh yeah and I can't even remember what the town is called, just that everyone says "this town" 80 times a day. Plus the editing from scene to scene to scene is so relentless that the whole thing feels like one exhausting montage. I don't wanna be all Shakey-on-Wire-threads about this, but should I go on? I don't even know if I can get through the other 2 episodes on this disc before sending it back to Netflix.

the editing and handheld gets reigned in after a few more episodes. stick out the first disc and see how you like it. lots of goodness there.

first episode promises awesomeness for the season to come. that said, wish the would ditch saracen and riggins, as they're too depressing at the moment.

they*

I'm sure they'll both end up OK. Or at least Saracen will.

Just making way through season 1, and there are some great bits here and there (watch it at least until you see landry's christian metal band! actually almost all of the landry stuff is gold!)
but can't see committing to season 2 unless lesbian seduction of Mrs. Taylor comes to fruition (does it?)

haha, crucifictorious!

season 2 sees a lot of excellent acting on some really duff storylines. the writer's strike saved it by cutting it short. season 3 is quality and is helped by the 13 episode season.

they made the new h.s. age chick look A LOT like an ethnic lila...lol @ her 1st scene w/ riggins having hooked up w/ her mom...dont think ill ever get sick of piling on riggins plotlines

glad they made j.d. into a big cocky jackass, hes embraced his birthrite

I thought there was a strange disjunct between JD last season (generally decent but deeply conflicted because of his asshole father) and now he's suddenly a drunken jock asshole. They seem to be working extra hard to make Dillon High (save Connie Britton) villainous. I imagine the season will climax with the Panthers v Lions game, but it doesn't really ring true with the rest of the show (aside from Voodoo).

yeah idk it's a believable character arc imo. yes they are of course gonna make dillon THE DEVIL and play up some real dichotomy btwn the schools...i thought i was watchin a scifi movie w/ mrs taylor's line @ the school assembly of 'julie's been zoned for dillon high'

also lol @ this i read on a diff borad:

does that one black guy know that landry killed a guy and is a straight gangsta?

like an ethnic lilatyra i mean, dang

new season is looking pretty great - brilliant gambit dividing the town and making the panthers the villians.
that said, the logic of re-opening a second school to save costs and apparently re-segregating the town is kind of WTF. in the book - in reality - the opposite is what happened. the black school was shut down and integrated into permian - and the gerrymandering that happened was to get black kids w/ football skills into the school.

but it's just a TV show - and it was definitely a smart move after 3 seasons to switch it up and bring in some new characters & conflicts.

of course, it does kinda make it a bit obv what two teams will eventually face off in the final episode on the way to state - if not this season then for sure next.

Good last line. Also, Coach's face when listening to Pirate dude.

Find your inner pirate: goddamn that was hilarious.

And I don't know about yall but I'm rooting for the East Dillon Giraffes 100% :)

haha yea coach leach as wise mystic ~ pretty sure he sez stuff like that irl

detail that i just noticed and no 1 cares abt - the taylor's kitchen like the cabinets & microwave and shit is exactly like mine

kind of a dud episode this time. not really digging the crazy artist subplot. also Buddy's renunciation of the Panthers was a bit of an anticlimax - you knew it was coming but they could have let it stew a little longer.

I dunno...I kind of enjoy that even when Buddy's at his all time lowest, I mean as far as we still know he doesn't even have a semblance of a family ATM...that somehow his heart is in the right place.

I could give a crap about the artist story line.

Actually the plots all seem to be in that early-season limbo they seem to get stuck in lately. hopefully it works itself out.

it does seem ridiculous that they have matt delivering pizzas

and now this whole 'julie is thinking about not going to church anymore'...ALERT THE MEDIA

zzzz

haha i dont think thats gonna be an ongoing thing, at least i hope~

I liked that little side plot. I don't want it turn into a thing, but it was a well done slice-of-life.

I loved Landry's lovely gal teaching him the fundamentals of punting. Oh and that newbie kid Vince's balls-out confrontation with Coach on the sidelines was great. I like that kid. Those two plays where he quits on Cafferty and then comes through with the TD...that was CLASSIC fnl. It's still the best show on TV, even if 7 is delivering pizza and Riggins is chauffeur to a teenage poodle in heat.

Also, Coach's face when listening to Pirate dude.

Pirate dude was actually Mike Leach, coach of Texas Tech (I don't know if that's who he was playing in the show, though.)

I've been saving up episodes so I could watch the first three back-to-back-to-back and sort of dive in. It seemed a little disjointed at first with so many familiar characters missing, but I think it's quickly found a balance between newness and comfort. Favorite bit of the season so far was Tammy going into the boosters meeting and basically handing McCoy his ass in front of everybody. When the hell are they going to give her an Emmy?

Mike Leach was playing himself, according to the credits.

I think the season is coming along well, a much better start than two or three had (I loved season 3 but I thought its first several episodes were pretty rough). The artist is the one thing that completely annoys me.

I miss 7's mom. I remember reading she was in the show this season, but three eps in and no sign.

She'll be back for two episodes, is what I read. Hopefully soon. I know she got cast in the new David Simon show, so I'm assuming it'll be earlier in the season than later.

"does that one black guy know that landry killed a guy and is a straight gangsta?"

loooooooooooooool

I miss 7's mom. I remember reading she was in the show this season, but three eps in and no sign.

She was in the beginning of the first episode, wondering why Landry was throwing the ball because she still believed Matt played for the Panthers.

that was 7's grandma.

oh right. i totally forgot about kim dickens.

Lo and behold, Kim Dickens returned! 7's exit story arc has begun, amirite?

Also, Landry is suave.

Oh, and I'm still not buying Alicia Witt as the mother of a high school student.

^^^totally

Season is a bit shakey so far. Still really enjoyable, but I hope it pulls itself together sooner rather than later.

What's the problem, exactly? She's 34 in real life. Assuming she's playing slightly older, and her daughter is 16, that's having the kid somewhere between 18-22. She's more well-preserved than a real life young single mother, that much is for sure.

I think the season so far is on a better track than season 3, which I ended up loving, but... I think it's really rich stuff so far. Love a good underdog story and I think it's coming along well.

I kind of loved every bit of season 3, maybe even more than season 1 (but being invested in the exits of characters in season 3 relies heavily on attachments made in season 1, so I can't really appreciate one without the other). I'm mostly bummed that there's no more Tyra, and that her shooting schedule for Red Dawn (ugh!) prevented her from being given a proper exit.

actually like how this season isn't clogged up by endless exits like season 3

minds i dont think they're loaded we're fine

i love that devon is back

7 hunting w/ riggins!

i am liveblogging this ep

o i forgot devon was a lesbo damn

lol re: landry "will y'all look at his shirt?"

lol @ buddy knowin all the eastside ppl

this was a stellar goddamn episode

Landry's sad, charming attempt at getting people to like his music/him was great.

really has me encouraged for the rest of the season

Treading carefully here, haven't seen any of season 4: will it eventually air on NBC? If so, when?

It's supposed to show up on NBC in the spring season, just like last year. But NBC's so batshit now, it makes me think there's no guarantee of that happening.

I think they're actually planning on a summer NBC airing, which is kind of WTF considering it's about high school football.

that episode was extraordinarily well handled. good job.

Their best ever? Could be!

That was seriously heavy.

Yep, seriously heavy. What a great episode. Didn't flinch. Losing a parent, or feeling useless when it happens to someone you care about... don't think I've ever seen something on TV that was a s clear-eyed and full-hearted about that.

Even coach didn't have a big inspiring speech for Saracen when he breaks down, just "I'm gonna walk you home, son." Heartbreaking.

In other developments: JD continues his quest for a massive beatdown from somebody, anybody. Buddy is back in the boosterism business. Coach still thinks Landry is named Lance. Riggins passes up jailbait.

I know new guy has a terrible homelife, and it's hard to get out of, but I don't like where this grand theft auto idea is going. Also, ex-Dillon-nu-East farm dude... bravo for stranding JD in at a gas station, at night, with a paintball rifle. I hope the police picked his ass up. Furthermore, bravo #7 for slamming the door in JD and JD's dad's faces!

Yeah, I finally started liking Luke when he kicked those guys out of his truck and showed up shirtless in the convenience store.

So is East Dillon going to play against West Sillon this season or what? Obviously not in a play-off situation or anything, but maybe an exhibition game?

In the book, the two local teams play once a year.

How could they not?

Lyla's swift return and exit was disappointingly unsubstantial, but I like that #7 just took off. He's never done anything for himself as long as he's been alive.

Obviously East Dillon isn't getting to State, so the natural climax of the season would seem to be a Panthers/Lions game.

I think Lyla's appearance was good in that it reinforced how miserable Tim is when it comes down to it. Hopefully this will lead to him improving his situation, somehow. I saw a TV critic complain how Tim went from in the s3 finale saying that he didn't want to hold Lyla back to pretty much begging her to stay in this episode, but I thought it made sense considering his circumstances (shitty trailer, working at the not-quite-successful Riggins Rigs, pretty lonely apart from some one-night stands and the annoying daughter of his landlord begging him for rides).

I liked Luke from moment one. I like his earnestness, if that's the word. He apologized to Tami for lying about his address because he genuinely felt guilty about it! That's pretty great. Good dude.

Predictions: Lyla won't be back. Tyra will almost assuredly not be back. Saracen will be, if not later this year then next season.

I think Tyra is definitely not back this season, but she might be next.

Luke just seemed a little one dimensional to me at first - and I thought he was going to be a too-obvious Saracen replacement, the nice hard-working respectful kid who gets tossed all the bad breaks, but it looks like I was jumping to that conclusion too quickly.

As far as the Panthers-Lions exhibition game, I guess it does have to happen this season because Lions are going to State next year, right? They can't not.

wait, so is Saracen really gone? Because damn that happened fast.

I figured he just drove off to that school in Chicago. Maybe not, though.

yeah, i don't feel like he would leave julie without making it clear, but that last scene seemed like he was leaving.

never thought i'd say this but i wish they'd just move it along w/ gettin lyla (& saracen but less so) out of the picture

I thought the Smash and Street send-offs last year were both extremely good, as was Tyra's story. This season, Saracen's story has had peaks, but not all the time (which is why I'm kind of hoping he just took off). Lyla..pfffft, who cares.

I really hope Tyra does come back for a send-off next season, as she became one of my favorite characters by the time S3 was over.

Yeah, I love 7 but it was definitely past time for him to go - the last two episodes were the only time this season where his being on the show had any purpose. that bukowski sculptor artist subplot went nowhere. Shoulda had more raymond carver-esque hunting trips with riggins.

The only thing that didn't really make sense was him splitting on Grandma without saying goodbye. Can't really see him doing that.

Biggest flaw lately is the absence of Buddy. That dude ruled last season.

holy cow this episode rocked, not only because there were abt 40 storylines packed in there but that didnt hurt

so is riggins gonna become a shepherd?

ok I'm back on board - sn.3 sitting ready to watch right now, w/all the sn.4 eps stacked waiting :D

kyle chandler is god's own actor of course but I can't help thinking this role has spoiled him for anything else he'll be in subsequently

does anyone know if explosions in the sky still actively compose music for this show or is it all just re-used from the first season? not to diss them or anything but it's all remarkably similar sounding; perfect obv but very samey.

they've never composed for the show, just the film (bits of which they reused on the show, though i think most of their stuff is actually from their albums as opposed to the soundtrack). i think it's just w. g. snuffy walden making music that sounds like explosions (the opening titles, for instance).

nice user name thurman

oh shiiiii-.... wallace in s04e01!!

he grew up huh

REALLY digging the direction they're taking this in sn4 and really glad they have two seasons to develop it this way

is devon auditioning to fill the hole left in zooey deschanel's wake

jesus, episode 5 was incredible

which one is devon?

http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Shows/A_F/Fq_Fz/friday_Night_Lights/Season3/friday-night-lights154.jpg

oh lol, forgot she turned up after that one-episode arc last season.

she has the same emotionless drawl tht ZD patented

also doe-eyed, drownable

oh yeah WD obv

damn the 2nd season of this really sucked huh i mean the 1st season had its problems tryna pioneer the long form indie rock vid or w/e but the 2nd season was just total shambles

still have the dvd set of 3rd 2 go idk now tho

3rd and 4th seasons(so far) are a huge huge step up. just pretend the 2nd season never happened.

Yeah, the 2nd season was a wreck, but I think the 3rd season is actually my favorite.

I don't want to read all of this thread because I'm afraid of spoilers. That said, can anyone tell me when the next season I airing on real TV? I thought NBC was going to start airing it this month.

They pushed it back to Summer 2010 for NBC (but it's currently airing on DirecTV).

Oh man!

it makes perfect sense. summer is when people want to think about school and the football season.

actually, if Leno gets pulled and they've got five hours a week to fill, I think FNL might get moved up to Spring.

This is true.

this show is really terrible abt totally dropping plotlines and then pretending they never happened so

Just watched this week's episode. DAMN, Tim Riggins. You know better!

Also, I'll say this for the millionth time: Connie Britton should win every tv acting award for which she's eligible.

Sometimes I feel like we're the only 5 or 6 people in the country watching this show.

I am! I was actually thinking how far Taylor Kitsch has come from the first few episodes of the first season, acting wise.

yep, another v. good episode. 1 of the only parts i didnt like was vince's bro being all "it's just not the same STEALING THESE CARS, w/o you" but i get the point of the scene

no way landry can throw that bomb 2 vince

Was there an episode this week?

Yes.

one of my coworkers is in the background of this all the time as a "key background" guy lol

I still can't find ep10 anywhere online. :(

http://www.ninjavideo.net/cat/2059

kinda hate becky storyline

think vince is gonna have to shoot/threaten the riggins bros 2 get back in the car choppin game

I liked the Becky/Luke storyline. HEAVY SHIT. I love that Tammy plays mom to every kid that walks into her house, even kids she doesn't know ... I hope that's not where the Vince story goes, but I think it's pretty clear at this point that Vince might be Vernon's son (am I seeing something that's not there?).

i really wish the chop shop shit had just faded away w/o consequences..i know thats not a realistic hope w/ this show tho

liked scene of vince silent scream/flailing - the way it was shot it looked like kanye dancing

anticipating next week's ep more than i am Lost.

any thoughts on the finale?

like becky/luke, hated becky/tim.
good for tammy!
poor landry :(

but we all saw that coming

Ended strong! Not the best season, but pretty solid over all and went out on a good note.
Any word on who is back next season? I think the actor that plays Riggins is supposedly gone but he does have to come back to collect his snow globe.

apparently next season will be the last
http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/415312_tvgif11.html

As much as I love it, one more season is all this show needs and even that might be pushing it. Beyond running out of storylines, the show is constantly fighting the character rotation built in to the high school setting (and the cast mostly built of young actors who want to move on from TV). No idea how they're going to justify Landry or Julie even being around next year, they're both supposed to be graduating this year, right?

I don't think Landry will be in it next season, at least not in a main role. Julie will still be around I'm sure.

I agree that five seasons is probably the right amount. It's amazing how much they really do cram into 13 episodes, so I look forward to sending everyone off in a good way.

As for the S4 finale, I knew going into it that letting E. Dillon win the rivalry game would be predictable television, but I'm so glad they didn't go the downer route after how S3 ended. As for Matt, meh. They really watered his character down to a point where I didn't care about him anymore (which is a shame, because the mid-season funeral episode was great). I'll miss Riggins, but they've spent four years on having him almost grow up and do the right thing, so to finally see him do it was satisfying.

Is Hulu going to have FNL after they air on NBC?

Probably? I haven't read anything about them NOT having it.

LOL Mike Leach.

Man, the last three episodes are something else. Second-to-last is my favorite, though.

Everything has been building to this.

Coach Taylor led East Dillon High School to a thrilling Thanksgiving Day win over their cross-town rivals to end Season 4. Now get ready for the fifth and final season of the critically acclaimed series. It begins on Wednesday, October 27, at 9pm ET, commercial-free and in crystal clear HD — only on The 101® Network, only on DIRECTV.

i never really noticed that, do they try 2 say "DIREC TV" in like promos & shit

This started from the beginning on ABC Family last week btw.

lol. FNL can't even go into syndication without getting cancelled.

So glad it's got a fifth season and everyone went in knowing it would be the last.

That's depressing.

sure is.

5th and presumably final season came back tonight on DirecTV. Waiting to see it myself.

kinda understandable that this is not really the kind of show that would draw a lot of viewers in returns, but i still cannot believe how much shit this show has gotten since day one. even at its worst, this show is so much better that most of what is out there. at least it got five seasons.

returns=reruns

I haven't found it in the torrent world yet, but I'll keep looking.

heard a cool interview with one of the creators this morning (never watched the show but sounds good from the clips *sry*)
http://www.scpr.org/programs/madeleine-brand/2010/10/27/friday-night-lights-last-season/

did everyone give up on season 5?

I've got the first two episodes sitting here waiting to be watched. Just haven't done it yet.

watched the first one, will be watching the rest. sad prisoner tim riggins bummed me out.

yea watched both, is ok not as great as some of last season. is a bit weird w/ jess as vinces gf cuz i feel like her character's voices is so much like landrys

nice 2 hear gucci 'wasted' in ep 2

was p. lame how julie's ta pulled the "i lost the bet we shouldve made, let me date u" shiz

also think baby gracie should have a spinoff where she returns 2 the alien planet she came from

4 episodes deep now. This will probably turn out to be a pretty good sendoff season.

Billy and Mindy are so funny to watch, like the embryonic version of Eric and Tammy. Also, that's got to be Buddy's irl kid playing Buddy Jr. The similarities are just too much.

really going to miss this show

What's the over/under on this Epic girl's story arc ending in redemption or tragedy?

That's not Brad Leland's (Buddy's) son, but I'm sure when that kid walked in for the audition, they said to themselves "Well, there's no way this isn't Buddy, Jr." It's uncanny.

ep5 was the best of the season yet - lol @ bonding by branding & lions "pride"

Oh good, I'm about to watch it right now.

Hell yes, that episode was excellent!

street back! i welcomed him

like the billy & luke relaish

Ha! I'm in between catching up on eps 6 and 7 right now, so I assume that's a spoiler!!!

yea well i think if u paid attn(i didnt) they mentioned who all was coming back for an appearance or two

Nah, it's cool. I'm about to start ep 7 anyway.

this season has been really good
except for the julie story, which is a little much

I wanted just a little more out of the end of ep 7, like it was cut off three minutes too soon...but I guess that's how they keep people watching.

Agreed that the Julie story is a little *rme* but 18 year old girls do dumb ass things and then react badly when it blows up in their faces, so it's at least believable.

The Vince's dad character is completely frustrating, but in a really good way.

this season's gotten really good over the last three or so episodes

I fucked with this show for one season, and even then thought it was OTT soap opera, but still engaging. season 2=logistical jump the shark moments, and I was off teh boat.

it gets much better after season 2, and the show makes the wise decision to pretend all the ridic shit in season 2 never happened

well that's good. so the dude Landry killed wakes up in the shower, looking somewhat like Patrick Duffy?

season 2 is def the worse

this show is so clear eyed and compassionate w/ all its characters. every single character has value

Season 3 is actually my favorite of the show, so get back on the boat San Te.

over christmas, i noticed there's a titty bar in my home town called the landing strip. wanted to stop in and ask for mindy.

Just got done watching the latest two episodes (#s 8 & 9)...damn, S5 is nearly pitch-perfect.

Also, Mindy has become so cool regardless of whether Billy's around or not. I love the way all the Landing Strip girls act like Becky's big sisters.

glad becky is gonna start strippin but idk i thought the last 2 were pretty wack, could care less abt epych & julie taylor is the most annoying girl on the planet

Are we the only two people still watching it ahead of its NBC run?

i watch it online

I torrent it. Just noticed there hasn't been much talk since it came back from xmas break.

Can't wait for Coach Taylor/Vince's dad thing to come to a head. I'm glad Jess dumped Vince.

(I know that sounds like soap opera stuff to anyone who's not watching, but it's so well done.)

Also, I liked the Epych story, because any opportunity for Tammy to be more awesome than usual is fine by me.

im watching. julie drives me bat shit crazy, vince's dad is a bad ass...i love how he gave that guy a beatdown earlier...but now, he's turning into an ass.

Billy putting the pregnancy test in his mouth was lols.

"I peed on that."

RIGLET

^ !

Agree that Julie is becoming a terrible character, but also completely believable.

series will end with matt and julie together.

yeah she reminds me a lot of my old high school/college girlfriends...fickle.

Sad there's only four episodes left! ONLY FOUR!

I can't wait to see Tyra again.

think my ideal final four episodes would just be tim getting out of jail and chilling on his land, drinking beers, driving around in his truck and saying texas forever.

man i love tim riggins.

maybe he would go see east dillon play.
or visit street in nyc.

mizzell otm

obv vinces dads smackdown is gonna come back to bite him

hope that the show doesnt end w/ coach going to that job in florida (bringing vince?)

Really expected them to leave that question up in the air for at least another two episodes, but I'm kind of glad it's not in the way of wrapping up the show anymore. Three more hours left.

would watch a spinoff of tim riggins in alaska

These last two episodes are so disappointing the way they've manufactured new conflicts and offered generous helpings of emo that I wasn't really anticipating or hoping for. Bleh. Still have hope for the finale (and glad Tyra is back for the end), but...disappointing.

Also, Minka Kelly was on Jimmy Fallon's show last night and *ba-dow* she may currently be the hottest girl on the planet.

yea i'd agree w/ both those statements. this last episode every scene was like THIS IS A MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION idk i'd take an hour long cruxifictorious set as the finale

riggs and tyra get married, julie and matt fuck like bunnies and matt moves to some remote island after becoming a doctor, and luke becomes a cop in chicago.

killed me

just so so good

wonder what the shows legacy will be, given how few ppl watched it? idk if there even is sucha thing as the 'tv canon' but this show deserves to be in it imo

I thought the final episode, like the couple before it, just seemed a little hurried. Not that I didn't like it, and I realize it's television and you can't spend SO MUCH TIME wrapping things up nicely with a bow on top, but I wanted just a little more. Was generally happy with all the resolutions, and I think my favorite thing of all about this final season was seeing the Mindy character finally get really developed instead of just being Billy's loud stripper wife like she'd been in the past. Stacey Oristano was definitely up to the challenge there.

yah i think you have to be satisfied w/ this wrapping up. wish maybe landry got another scene or 2, wish lila came home? i dont even remember what was up w/ her...i guess she wouldve just stood around and not added much probably. wasnt a huge fan of this whole last season but w/e it didnt like damage the show's overall rep

idk i thought this was a fairly good season - def not as weak as s2 - & it might have been the most patient & nuanced but there was just so many stories. at least they were mostly good stories.

i assumed they just couldnt get minka kelly back for w/e reason - did lyla end up @ princeton??? or was it baylor?

baylor sounds familiar tbh

i think i liked vinces dads storyline the most but it and several of the others felt sorta cliched 2 me

the finale was def rushed feeling, but it's what i expected. still good. only think that really bothered me was luke choosing the military over college in arkansas. matt and julie getting married is dumb too, but kinda made sense.

did everyone watch the little 10 min cast wrap/recap interview thing after the finale? feel like i need to pull season 1 dvds off the shelf stat, think i sorta forgot how good that was

i saw that. and then i actually watched the pilot. season 1 is really amazing.

Yeah, sometime soon I'm going to have to sit back down with the first season. It's been...well, five years...since I've seen it.

a little of it is nostalgia but im now watching the pilot and jesus christ

I'm not going to split hairs about the finale because it did feel like a victory lap at times, but it earned it. The final scene between Tyra and Tim was great. There was also great Coach/Mrs Coach interaction, which is something the show has never failed to be totally awesome at.

I really like that version of Devil Town.

Sepinwall's greatest moments brings back a lot of things I had forgotten about. most importantly, it reminded me of "Why don't you take off your Member's Only jacket and hang it on the coat rack."

Felt odd that Saracen and Julie would meet up with Tim and Tyra and not invite Landry along seeing as he was in town.

Not sure Landry would even want to hang with Tyra, right?

i guess cuz maybe that wouldve forced them 2 have a landry/tyra scene (which they shouldve) xp

Yeah there is that. I might have missed some eps so not sure how they ended things. Wasn't he supposed to meet up with her midway through her first year at college and she never showed or perhaps I'm imagining that?
xp

No, that's what happened. I seem to remember her not returning his calls too.

Ice cold...and he literally killed a man for her too which is more than Riggins ever did.

tbf, Landry was tied to a very in-flux part of her life that she probably wanted to move past (if we're extrapolating behavior out of characters that the show didn't actually give us). Sad as it may be, Landry was someone she had to build up so she could later step on him to move into the next phase of her life.

She'll make a great politician, then.

will miss this show

So I guess us NBCers move into this thread now?

Could not WAIT for the new WR to get off the basketball court because nothing is worse than seeing someone who can't ball.

(Also, Vince looks *tiny* on the field this year, like he's in Pop Warner or something!)

hi leee!

i can't remember which season i ended up on because of directtv/nbc confusion.

hi teh!

I think you finished the fourth season, the first one with Wallace and East Dillon? Season 5 (the last one!) just started on NBC tonight!

So I just watched the third episode where Vince's dad comes home -- has the show always had such a glaring small-c conservative streak?

Should I keep going with the show? It's pretty lame right now.

yes. how far are you? but yes.

Through seven episodes.

first season?

Final season. This Vince/dad thing is trying my patience, I tell you what.

i rate the last season even below season 2 but most ppl seem to like it u know

Some weakness in the middle but it ends well.

Never would've thought I'd be so glad to see Saracen again.

"If you're asking if I was raped in prison, Tyra..."

haha, that elephant in the room.

got a little misty during when "Devil's Town" came back as they heard the decision.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6766070/clear-eyes-full-hearts-lose

Aubrey: I remember Taylor [Kitsch]'s audition in particular. He auditioned on tape from Canada. He had two tall boys of beer, and he was already referring to himself as Rigg.

Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins): I brought in a cooler, put a big, black blanket behind me, and my agent filmed it. I found this Texas beer — Lone Star beer — and I was chugging those, just in my introduction.

from my friend's fb:

Looks like Tim Riggins from the back. So disappointed when he turned around :(

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/263561_630001187245_183404922_33141635_3496795_n.jpg

Another movie?

Hmm, not sure what part of the story is left to tell. They wrapped the series up pretty well, all things considered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vihYkEAQ_DY

love

Some weakness in the middle but it ends well.

DAMN does it ever. Loved the way the Tami/Coach scene outside of the restaurant was shot. LOVED the way State was edited. Glad I stuck with it.

Other points:
Gee, Julie, I wonder what recent events could possibly have led her parents to question her judgment.
I'd kind of like to see another FNL movie if only for the chance to see Connie Britton say more than two lines of dialogue.
Why the hell was the show trying to make Buddy Jr. happen? Buddy Jr. is not going to happen.
In my mind, I imagine that Luke was going off to Chicago to join the CPD.
Glad they let Mindy Riggins be a human for once instead of a caricature.
Was that Mike Singletary playing the Dallas coach where Jess ends up?

I'm not familiar with Mike Singletary but I GIS'd him and I don't think so. The Dallas coach had a goatee and was a little thinner.

Mindy Riggins was one of the best characters in season 5.

That was such a good ending.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/aug/18/very-deep-america-friday-night-lights/?pagination=false

by Lorrie Moore

Man, second season sucks. I Just watched two OMIGOD THEY'RE RACIST subplots in the same episode.

The Moore article is terrific.

It is, except for some preposterous declarations, like the boys are articulate (no way, except for goddamn Jason Street) or that there's too much Billy Riggins (there is never enough Billy Riggins wtf)

just watched s5 on netflix.

*SPOILERISH*
that finale, man. for a minute i felt SO f***ing betrayed by coach t and i was questioning my lifelong love of kyle chandler. but i am so glad they went for the sappy perfect ending.

also i think i am going to start incorporating tammy's 'i appreciate that' into my regular conversations.

now i have to go back and read the thread.

the first season of this has to rank among the all-time greatest seasons of television imo

something about this show that remained true for me til the end was how real the characters were. i think that i could identify one of my high school friends and classmates in just about every character on the show.

rewatching season 1 right now and thread title line is awesome. forgot how great sarcastic Street is. Coach runs into him at the hardware store in "Mud Bowl", asks him what's he doing: "buying WD-40, highlight of my day" in the most teenaged, self-pitying, and yet totally lol way.

something about this show that remained true for me til the end was how real the characters were. i think that i could identify one of my high school friends and classmates in just about every character on the show.

yeah this show managed to seem really grounded even when it was doing stuff that was p ridiculous - i think the writers always tried w/o being obvious or hectoring to keep each characters humanity in sight.

heard the theme song during Dylan Ratigan's show today where he was in Texas and got all misty-eyed.

Just bought the complete DVD. Only four eps into Season 2. Love the show. But JESUS THE LANDRY MURDER STORYLINE IS JUST ALL FUCKING WRONG.

goth your way through season 2 pal. It gets really good again seasons 3-5. There are a few killer eps in s 2 though that are worth it.

season 2 is pretty terrible mainly for that arc; they get ptetty much back on track with season 3. the first season is basically perfect.

GOTH?! uhh *fight

no gothing your way through is perfect

(dead voice) "This totally sucks. Everything is ruined. Life is pain."
*watches intently*

spottie otm - ride it out. it picks up towards the end and S3 repays your debt to society.

I can watch it all day just to have Coach and Tami on screen together (respective crushes for my wife and I). And the team interactions are great. But the Landry/Tyra shit is ridiculous. Tragic couple brought together by attempted rape and murder. I think Gothing my way through that is perfectly appropriate. But even leaving that aside, every time I see them together I think: There is no way that girl is sleeping with Matt Damon's stunted albino brother.

well it says something that the most plausible way the writers could think of getting them together was attempted rape and murder

I guess. And at least they acknowledged it with Landry's dad asking her what she was doing with Landry.

Other Landry stupidness: him being on the team. Right, in the first season he hated football and football players. When he tries out he can do literally nothing right. Surely, a team like the Panthers would have had no shortage of more gifted, more suitable kids lining up for the ancillary benefits of being a benchwarmer for the football team? (As a Britisher, I am working on assumptions here. Would be grateful for anyone with actual knowledge to proffer it.)

small town, football requires a lot of players, so somewhat plausible he could make the squad.

Yeah, that was the writers trying to figure out where to put him. I thought he lost a lot of his character by switching him from the outside-guy who kind of saw football as being a bit stupid to "i wanna be on the team" just so they could give him more conventional storylines (i guess?). Still, Crucifictorius!

no, youre mostly otm

not really a spoiler but in a later season he throws like a 50 yd game-winning td on a trick play to add to the absurdity

I'd rather have Landry in weird preposterous situations than be written out bc they don't know what to do with him. Even when it's weird, I just love him.

plus he looks like my cousin

Shame. I liked him being Saracen's conscience. Also, with Landry in the team, there's surely no way for Saracen to be anything but sucked into full football player wankerdom. Oh well, I find out in the coming weeks.

have a little faith in Saracen. he will repay it.

Saracen is the best. Goddamn I need to watch this again.

Landry U&K for the hott nerdettes he brings onto the show.

otm

esp the girl in the band, she was super cute

The murder thing is awful but I respect the way they eventually follow through on it w/r/t Landry and Tyra. No retconning, they own their fuckup and move on as organically as possible.

(By "they" I mean the writers/showrunners.)

yep

esp the girl in the band, she was super cute

~*sigh*~

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Skoh-lE8sO0/Sayc6FzBR_I/AAAAAAAARtE/u4mP89ltVDo/s400/307+Landry+Devin+Band.jpg

I love how Crucifictorius has an arc all its own.

I went to a conference once and saw an attendee/presenter who looked just like Devin. <3

http://i.imgur.com/3Ma3gkJ.jpg

Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) and Jason Street (Scott Porter) at CW upfronts recently. W-T-F where did Aimee's cheeks go?

noooooo

wow she looks way different

she is a few years older now, maybe she's just growing into her features? idk. it's strange!

seems to be wearing some kind of kevlar evening ensemble too

"I dont want Glen over at the house with his hands in my wife's ice box"

Started this show all over again I'm 3 eps into season 2.

envious

Oh god I finally watched "that show about football" after the 20th person told me I would like it

Started season 1 in january and finished last week

what the fuck, how was this so good

there's now a Parenthood webseries involving the further adventures of Crucifictorius, apparently.

!!

Julie is on some new CW show, apparently. r.i.p. her chubby cheeks.

Got my sister to start in on this show knowing she would love it, she was skeptical to start but finished the whole thing within like 3 weeks.

She finished last night and basically called me in tears haha. We had some massive text chains going back and forth so I started watching certain parts again.

Giving it a third try, made it pretty deep into the first season and I'm starting to get into it.

Still bothersome stuff, like Coach Taylor talking to Matt in the second episode and covering the whole "Grandma with dementia, no parents, etc." thing then telling him to FOCUS ON FOOTBALL DAMMIT. I could understand that conversation with Smash or pre-injury Street but Saracen was never anything but backup before and showed no indication that football was important to him.
Plus the Odessa-Permian coach (essentially) being clueless and appalled by recruiting the guy from Leverage.

As I type this, it just got to "my Panther wants me to do a three-way."

I know it's the nature of the beast but it's hard to suspend disbelief on 90% of the players being high school sophomores.

thought id hate this having gone through smallish town texas hs and having thus had first hand exp with every trope they hit but man i have nothing but love for fnl.

second ep of the first season is one of my favorite tv experiences of all time

Any Schumer did a pretty awesome FNL parody- did anyone else see it?

http://youtu.be/TM2RUVnTlvs

Her Tammy is hilar + Josh Charles as coach <3

xp these days and esp in big football programs, there are a lot of kids that are pretty physically advanced (is there any non-creepy way to say this). like the most physically imposing kids / kids with the best shot at the college game are groomed early and its not uncommon to find groups of them on the same squad.

in any case i thought they did a pretty decent job at the casting, knowing that acting ability had to be considered

I laughed (very) out loud when Amy Schumer did that walking-to-the-house-with-hands-up walk.

right!? best part

Just starting this--three episodes in. I know it's very early, but two things are really getting in the way so far. 1) The way it's shot: cinéma vérité , endless close-ups. 2) How grim everyone is. I'm generally simpatico with the friend who bought it for me, so I expect I'll start to warm to it at some point.

1 never goes away, but 2 does. It's very funny at times.

1 actually does ease up a lot 6 or 7 episodes in.

I'm just past the thread-title episode, and I am liking it better. Still new to these prestige shows (or whatever) of the past few years, but in the four that I've watched, it takes them a few episodes to get their footing, then they get better.

Like the coach's wife a lot; her gentle mocking of the coach is always great ("Our daughter is now interested in football--good job, honey.") Smash gets better and better; when he's really hammy, he's funny, but lately he's added some shading. I thought Smash's mom telling him about his father was the first really great dramatic scene thus far. Landry and Tyra are really good, and even Riggins has loosened up. Haven't connected with much of the music so far, though.

I always thought the thread title was a joke until I got to that episode. Getting the feeling that this was initially planned with Street and Lyla as much bigger players before they realized that everyone else in town was more interesting, including the Mayor and her partner (how the fuck does the mayor of a 10k person town hide their live-in gf?).

Kinda weird how the Internet fervor was about how wonderful Coach is and generally he seems to be a bit of a compromised dick - not firing the racist coach, etc.

Street and Lyla are still front and center where I am right now. (The lawsuit has just been launched.) Minka Kelly is gorgeous, but she's...not a great actress. If her part gets smaller henceforth, maybe that was a factor. The episode or two where she became a total pariah was moving anyway, and she had that one great line to the cheerleading judge: "Yeah, it's me, the slut with the website."

Like the coach's wife a lot; her gentle mocking of the coach is always great

imo they're the best portrayal of a married couple ever on television.

otm

i also really love the way they handle the parenting-a-teenage-girl issues

we loved this show, just finished it a month or so ago.

this show is so clear eyed and compassionate w/ all its characters. every single character has value

― ⊚ ⓪ ㉧ ☉ ๏ ʘ ◉ ◎ ⓞ Ⓞ (Lamp), Friday, January 7, 2011

so true

i still adore most of these actors based almost entirely on this show

tyra is kicking ass on Agents of Shield btw

https://scontent-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/t31.0-8/11187177_10153328246187146_8074973265860351374_o.jpg
ex-roomie's response to this unfortunate pause: "it's comforting to know even she can look unattractive in a photo"

tyra4life

I'm no Tyra stan but she's not even a little bit unattractive in that pic.

everything clemenza said leads me to believe that friday night lights will have a new superfan in ~60 hours

tyra is kicking ass on Agents of Shield btw
wait whaaaaaaaaaaat that's her????????

They were working on her own Shield spinoff actually, but it got nixed. Just like her Wonder Woman movie.

she was wonder woman in a david kelley tv pilot. you can find it online. it is... not good, although she did the best she could with what she had.

imo they're the best portrayal of a married couple ever on television.

100% cosign

xp oh that's right. it was tv. there have been so many failed wonder woman projects in the last decade i confuse them.

and we have more failed wonder woman to look forward to! thanks dc!

friday night lights will have a new superfan in ~60 hours

Probably--but much faster. Same with House of Cards; really skeptical at first, got better and better. Six Feet Under and Mad Men were better from the start, but even they didn't hit their peak till three or four seasons in.

Halfway through the second season. A friend warned me that it was the weakest, but so far I've liked most of it. The daughter bugs me sometimes--she mopes around and cries a lot. Riggins, who was such a drag the first few episodes, gets better all the time; him calling the radio station about Jesus and the Turin Shroud killed me. The music, almost none of which I know, usually works; "Now That I Know" is the first Devendra Banhart song I've ever heard, and I love it.

Riggins is my favorite

If nothing else, S2 has one of Saracen's best scenes and a pretty amusing guest star in the finale

Smash is another character who was very one-dimensional for the first few episodes--the vainglorious, refers-to-himself-in-the-third-person show-off (and being black, they caricatured him even further)--but has settled down and gets better all the time. That side of him is still there, but ever since that one girl called him out on it (Waverly; hope she comes back), he almost treats it like a joke, and it's kind of charming; there was also the great episode where he led the boycott of the coach, and that took him somewhere else. The scenes with him and his mom are among the show's best.

I hope they figure out what to do with Landry and Tyra now that the murder's been resolved. They're such an interesting pair.

Finished season two.

If nothing else, S2 has one of Saracen's best scenes

His drunken scrimmage?

Landry having to choose between Tyra and Jean is pretty hilarious--they're like the two versions of everybody's dream girl. The cutting during the volleyball games could be a lot better; every close-up of Tyra underscores how awkward she is out there. The drug dealer guy was scary.

As I tend to do, I obsess over the music. I wrote about Devendra Banhart's "Now That I Know" (season 2) for a movie-music blog a friend and I intermittently keep:

https://heardjustwhatiseen.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/make-them-disappear-now/

That gap from the end of S2 to the beginning of S3 is jarring--I took the DVD out and made sure I hadn't rented the wrong season.

yeah it's weird huh

from wiki:
This season ends on a cliffhanger due to the Writers' Strike. The show's head writer and executive producer, Jason Katims, stated that this last episode was “not in any way viewed as the season finale... If we were leading to the end of the season [under normal circumstances], we would have most likely brought the story around to the coach and his family again,” and there would have been a strong football element as well, Katims said. Seven of the 22 episodes NBC ordered for Season 2 weren’t made.[41]

When 2 ends, the team is trying to get into the playoffs so that Smash can return from his suspension. Within 5 minutes of the start of 3, you find out that Smash has graduated (?) and is recovering from a knee injury (??), and then the Coach gets into his car and refers to his wife as the principal (???).

Once you get into the first episode, it's no big deal (although something I read points out that Diego never shows up again, with no explanation). I'm five or six episodes into 3, and most of it has been very good, with the exception of Tyra's Linda-Lovelace-for- President run at student council--that seemed like a stretch. It took about four false starts for Smash to go through with his walk-on tryout, but the wait was worth it--him getting accepted, and the way he fakes out his mom, was very moving.

Was season 3 the first Direct TV season?

that was 4 i think

Yeah, first 3 were on NBC, last 2 were on DirecTV.

Hoping another VegemiteGrrl shows up on ILX, just so I can designate one of them VG-1 and the other VG-2.

she would not last long, i would fight her in the thunderdome & win

No Mud Bowl showdown?

>:(

Season 3 was the first DirecTV season, not 4.

The early Direct stuff ended up on NBC as filler programming a few months later.

Ssn 2 had the incredible disappearing Santiago storyline iirc

No that later seasons were much better with stray plots--Hastings Ruckle wtf?

I didn't think S2 was as much of a comedown as everyone else seems to think. The problem with the Tyra/Landry detour, for me, wasn't so much the murder itself, but that a smart guy like Landry wouldn't realize he had an obvious self-defense alibi. It took him most of the season to do what I would have thought he'd do right away.

Anyway, S3 was definitely better. Found lots of scenes surprisingly moving--I think I got verklempt every time someone got accepted into college (first Smash, then Riggins and Tyra), or when people selflessly urged them on (Billy to Tim, Tim to Lyla, Tyra's mom and Landry and Mrs. Taylor to Tyra). I did think there was an obvious flaw or oversight at the end of the last episode. The surprise coup worked well; I'm really looking forward to this fictional team and fictional coach getting their fictional revenge in S4. But there seemed to be no interaction between the coach and Buddy Garrity over what was engineered, unless I missed it. You'd think that Taylor would have been furious with Garrity, yet at Billy's wedding, there didn't seem to be any acknowledgement of that.

Sorry to say that I bet that's it for Devin.

Oh, Devin............

reminiscing abt Tim Riggins
I may have to rewatch this whole series again

http://youtu.be/Cuxz0pvWu14

Borrowed S4 from the friend who got me going on this in the first place. When he and his wife went to Texas a few years ago--a trip that he said was partly inspired by wanting to visit some locales from the series, which they both love--the guy who plays Saracen was on the plane back with them.

First four episodes of S4 were pretty good, although Taylor's "Let's finish this"-type motivational speeches are starting to blur together at this point. Liked Vince from his first scene, and Joe McCoy has turned out to be a great villain. (When I was double-checking his name on Wikipedia, I stupidly glanced at the results of all the games for this season. So I know now what happens when East and West Dillon play...not that I didn't expect something like that anyway.)

That song at the end of "Stay," the episode where Julie and Matt sneak off to the Austin Music Festival--I thought it was Springsteen as it played, Matt driving off (presumably to Chicago), and it felt good to respond emotionally to Springsteen, as I rarely do. In some ways, he feels like this invisible presences throughout the whole series. Anyway, wasn't him; "This House of Cards" by Jamie Mefford & Blue Light, whom I've never heard of. When I checked the credits online, they said "Don't Think Twice" was used in the Direct TV version (I'm watching DVDs right now), which I don't actually understand--my friend's wife said yesterday that "Don't Look Twice" would turn up, and I was looking forward to that, but evidently that won't happen.

I think this is the bingiest day I've ever had. Trying to decide if I should watch the last two episodes and finish up tonight.

The actress who plays Vince's mom is beyond great. The scene where she went to thank Taylor was incredible. Something else I loved: Buddy, after he proposes the idea for the late-night game between the park guys and East Dillon--initially ridiculed by Taylor, quickly accepted by the old-guard community guys--saying "Everybody loves football." It was such a perfect, simple, and heartfelt line for that character.

Getting tired of Julie at this point. And when Becky's mom comes home and completely misunderstands what's going on, I just thought "Is this really necessary? We already had this scene with Riggins and Julie." (Becky going to Riggins right after was nice, though.)

Getting tired of Julie at this point.

That ain't gonna change much.

Meant to talk about Glenn, too. The scene where he apologizes to the Coach was fantastically awkward. Coach's "You know this means I've kissed Glenn by proxy" might be the funniest line yet. And there's apparently a rule in these things that bizarre social misfits must be named Glenn. (Speaking of which, agree with something I read online about Gracie Bell possibly being from another planet.)

Should be the subtitle of the series

Friday Night Lights: Tired of Julie

Gracie Bell is the weirdest looking baby ever

right? really nailing that alien hick look

that thing julie keeps doing with her lips is extremely annoying

Four episodes into the last season. My favourite performers are Vince's mom (still) and the guy who plays Luke--he's great. There's a lot of things they could have done to make Julie's time at university interesting, but this romance with the married T.A. is pointless. Third song I'd never heard and took the trouble to find and download: the National's "Start a War."

I've never seen a film as mediocre/annoying as Me, Earl and the Dying Girl have so many references to famous, great, and sometimes esoteric films and directors, right down to Brakhage, Eames, and using David Shire's Conversation music on the soundtrack. Almost all the reference are via a far-fetched plot device. I'm posting here because the main character's mom is played by Connie Britton, Mrs. Taylor. She only get three scenes. Really threw me when she showed up, but she gets a nice moment when her son heads out the door for prom.

More Connie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl0olb-_iaQ

A lot of things about The Spectacular Now bugged me, chief among them the "What universe is this?" problem you get with certain movies ("Wait a minute--didn't she just get flattened by a fast-moving car?"), and also--turned up in every review I skimmed afterwards--Miles Teller's uncanny resemblance to John Cusack. That was a major distraction. But Kyle Chandler was good, Shailene Woodley was really good, and I was moved by scene near the end where Jennifer Jason Leigh pointed out Teller's essential goodness.

Oh yeah, that car wreck thing involved a lot of suspension of belief.

On the DVD, there are some deleted scenes that, while of some merit, would have made the film a little less special by tilting the narrative a little closer to conventional teen movie territory.

improbable car accidents seem to be a running theme in Teller's movies

especially weird considering he was nearly killed in one irl

sometimes i forget that FNL was a movie first.

every time i see this thread i want to go back and watch s1 again.

Every time a see this thread I do go back and watch s 1

A friend just gave me the movie--it'll be weird watching it after the series, but I will.

I found so much of The Spectacular Now just really odd. I didn't know beforehand that Chandler was in it--when Teller's character placed the call to him, for 30 seconds I was thinking "I know that voice, I know that voice."

Started my first re-watch tonight, about five years removed from the first time. On this thread and elsewhere I posted that I thought it took a few episodes to lighten up, that the first few were nothing but close-ups and an air of grimness. The first episode didn't really feel that way this time. One thing that made me laugh was the coach and his assistant mock announcing that "It's only a football game."

Beautiful scene: when Taylor goes to basically apologize to Smash for being so tough on him (after learning of the supplements), and they end up playing football with the neighborhood kids.

Loved the first season this time, start to finish. Lyla is a weak link--Minka Kelly just isn't up to her big dramatic moments--and Saracen's aw-shucks stammering can be wearing at times, but Tyra, Waveryly, and everyone else more than make up for that.

Finished S5 last night. Dug up this excellent review of the finale from 2011 (James Poniewozik, who wrote Audience of One--turned up when I searched "Did the East Dillon Lions win?):

http://entertainment.time.com/2011/02/10/friday-night-lights-watch-lets-go-home/#:~:text=The%20East%20Dillon%20Lions%20won,manned%20up%20and%20shown%20up.

Definitely moved up my all-time TV list: top 5, for sure. I wouldn't have spent nearly as much time on Julie in that last season--next to all the compelling stuff going on in East Dillon, it was a drag every time they switched over to her. (Salvaged somewhat in the end.) And post-prison Tim didn't really work for me either, though again, salvaged once Tyra shows up. (Such a great shot when she turns up at the bar and emerges from the shadows.) I wish there'd been some final grace-note with Epyck, but I realize it's truer not to have that.

Those are my quibbles; I could go on and on about all the stuff that got to me emotionally or that made me laugh, starting with how the Philadelphia-or-Dillon story played out. Funniest line in the finale: "Clear eyes, full hearts...yeah, we'll deal with that later."

One scenario re Epyck that I don't think is implausible (and maybe even implied): Tami was brought to this college with the specific job of revamping the admissions process--to start looking at the student rather than the SAT score--so I could see where four or five years down the road she brings Epyck to Braemore.

Go on now, get the hell out of my office.

http://phildellio.tripod.com/fnl.jpg

omg I want that shirt

Very cheap -- under $25 Canadian, including shipping.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/220256834/east-dillon-high-panthers-football?ref=hp_rv-1

oh snap

i have a Panther Football tshirt I bought from Television Without Pity what feels like 9000 years ago

it’s a bed tshirt now

I was glad to get an East Dillon. I grew to hate the Panthers those last two seasons because of J.D.'s evil father (and then, eventually, J.D. himself).

QB1 lives in my heart forever

Every time i read through this thread and theres a hint of any badmouthing of 7 i get an itchy fp finger

I've been periodically posting Zoomcasts--here's one we did on FNL a few months ago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxExASYAVhw

Among other things, my friend talks about running into Zach Gilford at an airport--on a trip to Texas that he and wife took precisely because of FNL.

John Corbett in Northern Exposure

Proto Riggins

I thought about JC for yr third worst actor thread

Were your eyes open

hmm

i dunno deems

i think Chris in the Morning isn’t enough of a willful dirtbag to lead the Riggins path
He’s too...Buddhist? his overall hippy vibe gives me problems wrt Riggo

would I hate Northern Exposure if I watched it now ? cuz I loved it when I was a kid for some reason

I always thought riggins played riggins' abs well enough and he was imo good in true detective

But im watching him doing a quiet bogey impersonation in this german ww2 aftermath detective series and i swear to god never, i mean never have i heard a worse vocal performance from a lead

The face is fine, better than fine, but the voice oh man the voice, like a keanu cold read on a sleepy day

reading the book

its great but a very different thing

100%
book vs tv are poles apart. both great, but for WAY different reasons

movie maybe bridges the two

Annual rewatch (sparked by a friend and his wife watching for the first time), middle of S2 right now. A couple of lines really made me laugh in E6, both having to do with Riggins:

Tammy - 'Cause it looks to me like your little sojourn, Tim, you missed yourself, oh, two biology exams.
Tim - I don't know what a sojourn is, ma'am.

Later, Smash's description of Riggins, which is almost like a meta-joke about what a cliché the character is (don't get me wrong, one that's great anyway--or at least, for me, until the last season).

Smash - Look, we're different, you and me. Me, I'm the Smash. I'm throwed. I'm prime time, 24-7. And you? You're that brooding, rough...whatever.

Those kids were all so perfectly cast for those roles. Whenever I see them in other things i feel like a parent, just happy to see them out there & working lol

and that “sojourn” line still cracks me up

This is not quite the same thing, but I just started Lansky, which came out a couple of years ago and evidently disappeared into a COVID hole--watching not for Harvey Keitel as Lansky, but for Minka Kelly!

The out-of-nowhere reappearance of Landry's friend--he gets beat up in the second or third episode, then disappears until he turns up in S3 as part of Landry's band--made me laugh. They seemingly bring him back for one minute and a couple of lines--he quits the band, and I don't recall that he's ever seen again.

In S4's first episode (2009), one of the new East Dillon players refers to Landry as "that Opie-looking dude." Four years later, in Breaking Bad's fifth season, Badger refers to Todd--also played by Jesse Plemons--as "that Opie, dead-eyed piece of shit." First in line for The Ron Howard Story, Jesse Plemons.

The hardest thing to write on this show must have been Coach Taylor's motivational speeches--they start to blur together after three or four seasons.

Taylor: "Gentleman, the word of the week this week is focus."
Player: (knocks forehead with palm) "No, no, no--that was the word of the week last week, Coach. You gotta give us something new to work with."

One thing that's weird is introducing Buddy Jr. halfway though S5, then putting him on crutches for the last few episodes. Don't really understand why they turned him into a mascot, basically, with no lines.

Anyway, finished up. I count Tammi Taylor's line in the final episode, about having the grace to say what her husband never said, as one of the most moving lines in any TV show or film this century.