Anyone who has read these blog entries knows that I am a big football fan. That being said, I have a plea to make to y’all: watch Friday Night Lights, the freshman NBC drama based on the book and film about high school football in a small Texas town. The critically-lauded, but ratings-challenged, show is a masterpiece that deserves to be granted a second season. Don’t be put off by the mostly teenaged characters… this certainly is not Dawson’s Creek or The O.C. The drama is not your run-of-the-mill teenage angst, and the adults play a vital role from week to week. In fact, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, who play the coach and his wife, have given Emmy-worthy performances that are right up there with the best television has to offer.
Despite finding a solid (and rabid) fan base, FNL is not exactly lighting up the Nielsens and it needs our support if it is to avoid the axe when NBC makes its decision on next season’s schedule. One bright spot is that it has pretty much held on to its audience while going up against the buzz saw that is American Idol. Once you watch just one episode, I think you will be hooked… it’s that good.
FNL is currently on a hiatus from its usual Wednesday 8:00 p.m. timeslot, but there is great news for those of you who want to jump on the bandwagon… all episodes are now available to view online for free! If you do not have the time (or bandwidth) to watch them all, you can also read episode recaps to get caught up with the happenings in Dillon, Texas. Check it out at: http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/friday_night_lights.shtml
After you fall in love with the show, visit this site and express your feeling to the powers-that-be at NBC, and let them know that you want more of this perfect show.
http://www.savefridaynightlights.com/how-to-save-friday-night-lights-the-show
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Good luck Friday Night Lights.
For the first time in 20 weeks I was faced with a strange situation: a Sunday without football. The two weeks between the NFC & AFC Championships and the Super Bowl forces me to come to grips with how to spend my Sundays for the majority of the year. What to do, what to do? I thought about picking up a book or watching one of my Netflix movies, but I was fortunate enough to come across a weekend with plenty of other exciting sports stories… At the Australian Open, unseeded Serena Williams shocked the tennis world by crushing top-ranked Maria Sharapova in the final, and Roger Federer took the men’s title for his 10th Grand Slam victory (while becoming just the second man to win three consecutive Slam events two different times). The seemingly unstoppable Tiger Woods was victorious at the Buick Invitational, winning his seventh straight PGA Tour event. In basketball, the Phoenix Suns extended their winning streak to 17 games by topping LeBron James and the Cavaliers in Cleveland. So, I managed to survive a weekend without football, but I know subsequent weeks will prove to be more difficult because they will not be laced with as many interesting happenings in the sports world. Now, we just have to endure the week of media blitz leading up to the Super Bowl, which features the Chicago Bears’ stifling defense and the Indianapolis Colts’ quick-strike offense. I think we are in store for a good game, but if I am wrong, at least the commercials are fun to watch.
One might make the assumption that since I am a self-proclaimed television junkie and lover of award shows, then the annual Emmy Awards are a big deal for me. That is not the case, as I find this particular award show to be a travesty each year. Sure, I watch it every time, but with the same curiosity that I would look at a car wreck along the highway… I wanna see the mangled mess the voters come up with.
It all seems to start with the nominations, which usually produce a list of uninspired options that don’t reflect the best work on television. How do you explain the glaring omission of the likes of Lauren Graham (“Gilmore Girls”), Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”), Marcia Cross (“Desperate Housewives”), Jason Lee (“My Name is Earl”), Edie Falco and James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”), and the entire cast of “Lost”? How about the legendary Ellen Burstyn getting nominated on clout alone for 14-seconds of screen time in the HBO movie “Mrs. Harris”? Then there are oddities like the Best Actress in a Comedy category in which four of the five nominees were from shows that have been cancelled (at least the one who still has a job went home with the statue… Julia Louis-Dreyfus for “The New Adventures of Old Christine”). On the flip side, Blythe Danner (“Huff”), Alan Alda (“The West Wing”), and Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”) went home as winners, but do not have jobs to return to in the new season. Major head-scratchers.
Not everything from this year’s television industry lovefest was abysmal, as some very deserving winners made their way to the stage. I was more than happy to see Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”) and Kiefer Sutherland (“24”) get their props, as well as “The Office” and “24” taking honors as the best shows.
My dream ballot would differ greatly from what was served up this year, but I can always hope for a miracle next year. If this is indeed the final season of “Gilmore Girls,” then I wanna see them get some love on the way out the door. With critics and fans showering accolades upon the show and its cast, how much longer before the nominating academy gets a clue and takes notice?
On a side note, Lauren Graham may not have made the short list this year, but she did make waves with her date for the Emmy ceremony… Matthew Perry. Now, I don’t know if they are just friends or not, but if they are dating, this has got to be the most sarcastically funny couple in the history of the world!
Summer is winding down, and with that comes the return to school, the onset of football season, and more importantly, a new slate of programs on your television. The early buzz surrounding the fresh shows coming soon to a boob tube near you is that they are actually good, with just few stinkers thrown into the mix. This may come as good news to true television junkies like myself, but it also poses a serious problem with time management. There are only so many hours I can devote to firmly ensconcing my ass into the couch, and my TiVo can’t accommodate every viewing-worthy program that comes down the pipe. The biggest issue facing the new season is that the networks are following the route of serialized dramas made popular by the likes of “24” and “Lost.” Yes, these are excellent shows, but you really need to watch every week so not to miss out on some vital plot development. With more serialized dramas comes the need to make more of a commitment that just isn’t there with the open-and-shut shows that tidily wrap-up a plot in an hour’s time. Procedural dramas like the “CSI” and “Law & Order” franchises do not require that you tune in each week because the cases are almost always solved by the end of the episode (though these shows are getting a bit more serialized by delving into the personal lives of the characters). My advice to you on this eve of a new season is to read up on the new shows and decide which ones interest you most and figure out which ones fit best into your personal schedule. Keep an eye on the ratings of the new serials, because the networks will not hesitate to pull the plug if they are not seeing the numbers they desire. It’s no fun getting hooked on an ongoing storyline only to have it end abruptly with no payoff. An excellent source for ratings numbers and analysis can be found at: http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/
