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

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.