My recent incarceration led me to watching Friday Night Lights. I'd seen some of it before but not most of it.
In trying to dissect what makes this such a great show, I came up with a few opinions.
Compelling story lines.
Complex characters-no one is all good or bad.
Great location shooting. The show looks like it's set in the real world. Lots of outdoor scenes make it vibrate with life.
Scenes are short, dramatic, and end before you get bored with them.
The viewer is trusted to infer what he/she will from the story. No didacticism.
Scenes are shot in odd and compelling ways. We seldom look the characters right in the face. We get profiles, different lighting, people in the background and foreground, odd angles.
Each character gets appropriate dialog for their age and social stratum.
The music is excellent.
Great casting.
Heart.
I think FNL has to be one of the best dramas TV has produced. I am not a football fan either. Any fans out there?
18 comments:
Patti - I admit it; never seen this show. But you've made it sound really compelling - more than I'd have thought.
I really liked the movie that spawned this series, and would have probably watched it regularly if Lana hadn't had another show she watched at that time. I really enjoy the episodes I've seen.
The movie was great too.
Never watched an episode.
Texas! Football! Southern culture, what's not to like.
Incarceration?
I must admit I've never seen it, though I read the book and saw the movie. Once we missed the first season it seemed futile to start in the middle. I suppose we can get the DVD.
Jeff M.
Was not able to leave the house for ten days.
I can't imagine how anyone would not like it. Get it from your library.
Never seen it, but I'll add it to the list now. It's always great when you can watch more than one episode at a time, I think.
I don't think it has been shown in India but I will check it out when it does. My son and I enjoy football, he more than me.
Never saw it.
I liked it, didn't love it, but liked it a lot. A solid series...we briefly had DirecTV when they were premiering episodes on Channel 101, and caught a number of others before and since on NBC.
"Texas! Football! Southern culture, what's not to like."
Texas fanaticism, football at all but particularly life and death obsession with HS football (as well as college and pro ball potential), and kids getting hurt (which this series didn't sugarcoat at all).
Nope, they punched you in the gut the first episode. I love it because it's not afraid to go for the gut, the head and the heart. I've missed this in TV. All the other shows I watch have no likable characters and that's okay, but this one does.
Well, a little of that (and being able to watch Lucy Liu rather than Walton Goggins) is why I mostly watched SOUTHLAND rather than the first JUSTIFIED in late night when I got home last night...
Hmm. I like characters on THE GOOD WIFE and BORGEN...but likeability isn't important in characters to me...believability in context is much moreso...
Sara Gran wrote last night's episode. Haven't seen it yet.
What is BORGEN?
Now you make me sad, Patti. I've been cheerleading for BORGEN for months...
You can watch it online, starting at this time from episode 4, at this address:
http://www.linktv.org/borgen
I have never watched anything online. I only watch TV at night and by then I am crippled from sitting in this chair. But maybe on the weekend.
I'm not a fan, ever since the movie made a travesty of the original nonfiction book, which exposed high school football in a Texas town for what it is.
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