Friday Night Lights originally aired on NBC for two seasons, starting in 2006. NBC Universal garnered a deal with DirecTV for the creation of an additional three seasons that concluded in 2011. The story is based on a nonfiction book, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, and a 2004 movie of the same name. The series is about a fictional high school football team in Dillon, Texas. Here’s why I love the show:
4. Texas Forever
This series is arguably the best reproduction of rural Texas culture I’ve ever seen. The dialect is spot on – grammatical structure, accent, vocabulary, everything. Yes, we reply with “ma’am” and “sir” to everyone. The show nailed the cultural references as well. One of the main characters works at a Dairy Queen, which is about as Texan as it gets. Visually, the town looks just like home. The book was set in Odessa, twenty miles from my hometown, though the series was filmed near Austin. The sounds of the football games and pep rallies practically give me deja vu and to top it all off, the characters are very proud to be Texans. That’s real, folks. We seriously love our state and that’s because it’s better than yours. #sorrynotsorry
3. Serious Stuff
This show didn’t shy away from hot button issues like family values, school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, and lack of economic opportunities. But what really got me was that every character depicted had a realistic home life and realistic home. I mean, seriously, has anyone else noticed that most characters on TV appear loaded? TV bedrooms and wardrobe choices usually look like they’re straight off of an MTV music video. This show was very different on that aspect. Many of the characters live in poverty, crammed into tight quarters with multiple siblings or in condemned houses half falling apart. Even Tami Taylor, wife of the lead protagonist Coach Taylor, has the simple dream of one day owning a house with a big kitchen and granite countertops.
2. Tim Riggins
Oh, that sweet-bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold cliché known as Tim Riggins… As much as I feel nostalgic about the ‘Hey Song’ being played by the show’s marching band, I’m worse when it comes to Tim Riggins. You see, I dated my own Tim Riggins for three years in high school. He was a football player. He was pretty easy on the eyes. He was also self-destructive and chock full of Daddy issues. Even having survived that experience, I can’t help but love this character. It probably doesn’t hurt that he’s played by Taylor Kitsch.
Tim’s main relationship is with the girlfriend of his best friend. Yeah, he’s that kind of dude. Yet, somehow, the show made me care deeply for the couple. I was tore up from the floor up when they finally split. #emotions
1. Tami and Coach Taylor
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a YA addict. I love “first love” and all the anxiety that comes with it. Very few TV marriages hold my interest. Case and point: I found Pam and Jim from The Office hideously boring after they finally got hitched. Tami and Coach Taylor break the mold, though, demonstrating a truly wonderful, committed, monogamous long-term marriage.
They were best friends when the show started and their commitment to each other never wavered. Though jobs separated them and their daughter tested them, they were just solid. Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler once said in an interview that from day one, the writers told them that they were never going to break up. #TaylorsForever
Friday Night Lights never garnered a huge audience, but I just loved the story about rural Texas life, complex characters and a little game called football.
Did the show pull at your heartstrings or did you just come here for shirtless Taylor Kitsch? Give me a shout in the comments and tell me what you’re watching this summer!
