Recently, Kim and I made the decision/commitment to start watching the TV series, Friday Night Lights, via Netflix.
When we first started watching, it was on a whim, just to see what it was all about. We'd heard the critical acclaim and wondered if it would be worth a watch.
Before we knew it, we'd pretty much watched all of season one and were ready to get knee deep in the next season.
It's about three weeks now, and we've finished it. All of it. All five seasons.
It's somewhat bittersweet. Mainly, because there's no more to watch. No more Taylor family. No updates. No new drama.
The short review is that we both really enjoyed it. It isn't often that Kim and I find a show that we can both get into, equally.
If it's a show I like, she usually finds it to be too profane, goofy or sees it as being a "guy show."
If it's a show that she is into, I usually think it's too girly, unrealistic and/or corny.
So, it was really nice to find to find a series that fed both of our TV watching desires.
Here's the "extended" review:
As I said before, this really is a show that both guys and girls are going to be able to sink their teeth into. For guys, you've got the sports element, as well as other testosterone driven details.
For the ladies, you've got romance, drama and women dealing with figuring out how to live a normal life while being a crazy person. You know, the usual.
For both men and women, you have fantastic writing and character development that will keep you hooked and wanting to watch the next episode as soon as the previous one is over.
Here were some of my other highs and lows:
Favorite character: It's all about Eric "Coach" Taylor (played by Kyle Chandler). Other characters come and go, throughout the course of the five seasons. Eric goes back and forth between a couple different jobs. He has different players come and go. All in all, Eric is really the one constant that drives everything. He's a complicated guy, but simple at the same time. It's hard to dislike Eric Taylor.
Least Favorite Character: This is a tough one for me, because there were a few options that made strong cases for themselves. The character of Lyla Garrity comes close to being my least favorite character, mainly just because of how atrocious of an actor Minka Kelly is. I also was never a fan of the Julie Taylor (played by Aimee Teegarden) character. She just needs a spanking or a really long timeout. She's always messing up, and it feels like she never really learns her lesson. Her character makes me want to never have a daughter. As strongly as I dislike both characters, the award actually goes to the character of Becky, who comes along in season four. She's just annoying. I don't like how she chases after Tim. I don't like how the show and its writers try to portray her as a pretty love interest, and she's frankly just not that attractive. I don't like how she talks. I just don't like Becky. She was my least favorite.
Favorite Dynamic: There were several relationships and big plot twists and turns, during the course of Friday Night Lights. For me, the best of the best was the relationship between Eric Taylor and his wife Tammy (played by Connie Britton). My wife said it best when she said, "I just love how they fight and go through so many different things, but at the end of the day, they still love each other and stand up for each other." It really is a great picture of marriage. They're not perfect. They have a lot of flaws, but they don't let any of that break them. Their relationship and their family is an unbreakable bond. I like that, a lot.
Pet Peeves: In every TV show, you see the writers have to "write around" actors coming and going, as well as other unforeseen circumstances. However, it just seemed like it happened a little much for my taste. Out of nowhere, a character would be gone. Just as randomly, a character would return, after being gone for over an entire season. I'm very much a detail-oriented "Type A" personality, so it bugs me when things go unexplained. I absolutely hated the series finale of The Sopranos, if that tells you anything. I'm nitpicking, but I wish the writers of FNL would have done a better job of letting us know what was going on, from time to time.
Overall Assessment: This has become one of my favorite shows of all time. It's great for both men and women and for most ages (I'd say ages 13 and up, depending on your convictions). I give it 4 out of 5 stars, and if you haven't watched FNL, you need to carve out some time and get busy!
One of the things I liked the most about Friday Night Lights was the constant sense of "community." Texas High School football is no joke, and the show constantly rallied around the bond that it brought everyone associated with the team.
The internet can be that way, especially for creatives.
Bryan Allain recently wrote a book called Community Wins, which deals with just this topic. Today through Saturday, you can get the book for absolutely FREE! Pick it up HERE, then leave a 5-star review on Amazon.
Have you seen 'Friday Night Lights?' What did you think?
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