'Friday Night Lights' may come back. Should it?
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The surprising news from NBC in the last couple days is that not only might Friday Night Lights get another season of DirecTV-assisted life, but that talks are focusing on a two-season pickup.
The show has rebounded beautifully from the second season's creative missteps and has become once again one of the most thoughtful, grounded and heartfelt shows on television. It's also given two of its former regulars, Smash Williams (Gaius Charles) and Jason Street (Scott Porter), graceful and dramatically satisfying exit arcs this season, concluding with Street's departure in the episode that aired on NBC last week.
Despite all that, I'm left wondering if NBC and the show should just leave well enough alone and go out on a high note this season.
(Spoilers for the remaining episodes -- including a couple of big ones -- coming up in the next few paragraphs. If you haven't seen them, you might want to stop here.)
The only reason for my ambivalence is that the ending to this season is so great that I almost would rather leave what happens next to my own imagination. The show deftly handled closure for some of the characters -- especially reformed bad girl Tyra (Adrianne Palicki) and the newly purposeful Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) -- and left other stories bittersweetly open-ended. It's not quite as good a finale as season one's state title, but it's not far off either.
In the weeks since I watched this season (courtesy a DVD package from NBC and screeners of the final two episodes from DirecTV), I had made my peace with the show ending here. Eric (Kyle Chandler) is exiled from Dillon High and contemplating starting anew as the coach at the about-to-reopen East Dillon High -- which has none of the resources and few of the players that his old job had -- and Matt (Zach Gilford) once again putting others before himself as he decides to stay in town. If that would be the last images from a season that managed to just about completely erase the killer-Landry-fueled second season, I would be more than satisfied.
At the same time, though, that finale is also a damn fine setup for a fourth season. Just off the top of my head, I can see Eric struggling to build a program at East Dillon while Buddy (Brad Leland), Joe McCoy (D.W. Moffett) and the rest of the Dillon boosters do everything they can to make sure their program stays on top. Tami (Connie Britton), meanwhile, presumably still has her job at Dillon, which could cause some friction in the Taylor house, while Julie (the increasingly outstanding Aimee Teegarden) plots her escape from town via college and Matt figures out his own life remaining in Dillon. On the field, the focus could shift squarely to J.D. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter) and the pressure he feels being the chosen one at Dillon, while Eric gets a host of new players at his new job.
My trust in the show was restored this year, so if there is a next season, there's no question I'll be there. I just hope it lives up to what unfolded on screen this year. So what do you think?
While I love the show, I don't want to see it continue. I'm happy with the closure I got from this season. I'm sure I'd watch if it did come back, but I'm also fairly certain that it wouldn't be able to rise to the level it attainted this year.
FNL is definitely one of the best series around and I would love to see it come back. I have to agree this third season's ending was one of the most epic finales ever, with the "coaches" standing on that broken down field with the sun coming in, it was great. But more FNL can't go wrong really. I even loved season 2.
Enough with the bad mouthing of season 2. Season 2, despite its hiccups, was still better than most dramas on tv.
Enough closure? Give me an effing break. The finale opened up an entirely new book of Dillon. I've had enough of Derek and Meredith and I'm sure that it'll still go on for another 50 seasons, despite the fact that, even at its best, it couldn't hold a candle to FNL. I'll take what I can get for as long as I can get it. Get a grip, people.
Why is this even a question? We knew going in that if the show was a hit, characters would cycle in and out and they would not keep everyone in high school for nine years. It won't be the show it used to be with so many cast members leaving, certianly, but I have complete faith that the writers can and will pull together an amazing couple of seasons with characters and storylines we will come to care about just as deeply as those we care about now. I also think Matt can still go to college; certianly he can apply to a more local school (Dillon Tech?) and continue educatiing himself while taking care of his grandmother. And as you said, the setup for Eric at East Dillion is great -- to tempting to ignore.
Plus, even in season two there were some wonderful moments (the shower scene with Eric and Matt...can we call it that, a shower scene?) is one of my favorite things from the entire history of the show.
These writers absolutely know what they are doing and I don't think we should be turning down any oppertunity to have more stories told by them.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!
We love "Friday Night Lights" at our house, and we want more. A great show like "FNL" just gets better. It is the BEST show on TV and we would be lost without it.
Please don't turn the lights out, just because it is a bright spot. It hasn't burnt out yet.
Jayne & Bob
I would be ok with saying we had "closure"... if it weren't for what they did to Eric Taylor. Sorry, but I need another season. I don't want the last image to be of Eric looking at where he's ended up (undeservedly) without knowing what he's gonna do about it... Here's one time where I NEED FNL to do something cliche. Yes, I need a season where Eric Taylor takes his underdog team and destroys the panthers.
Disgusting. Lipstick Jungle was a better show. So were Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan. These shows featured charming intelligent characters.
The show is not a hit. the ratings are terrible. I watched it once out of curiosity, and found nothing woth caring about. Of course this is a small town in Texas...
And why is NBC trying to renew this show for an extra two seasons, despite the bad ratings? Las Vegas did 3 to 1 better numbers than FNL and yet Vegas got canned? Now you know why NBC is in the position they are in, because of these horrible decisions like renenwing FNL & LJ.
BEST SHOW EVER I HOPE IT COMES BACK BUT WHY HAVE SOME ACTORS LEFT. LIKE "TYRA" AND SMASH AND JASON? THEY MADE THE SHOW AEWSOME
If NBC can do this for Friday Night Lights again why not Lipstick Jungle. LJ is another great show that deserves a chance and I would love to see it return also. Here's hope that LJ can survive and return sometime this year and I don't care which channel it's on!!!!