Friday, October 05, 2007

Friday Night Lights

Powerful NBC series debuts its second season tonight

Tonight at 9:00 p.m., season two of this beautifully written and acted series, about high school football in Texas, premieres on NBC and Global. Its themes and values run counter to what usually prevails on commercial television, and they are woven into the scripts in ways that are subtle yet genuine.

If you missed the first season, the DVD was released in August and should be available in rental and retail outlets, and online.

Update: Rebecca Cusey has a piece about the show on National Review Online today. An excerpt:

And this respectful treatment of Christianity is intentionally done. Executive Producer and Director Jeffrey Reiner, a self proclaimed New Yorker, announced that the producers went to Texas and met many people as research for the show, saying:

One of the characters is going to find God. And I think a lot of shows would use that to kind of poke fun at it, but I find that I meet the preachers, and I meet people somebody might call kind of weird or zealous. But they're not, you know, and we just end up meeting them as people.

Maybe it’s a revelation into the mind of many people in Hollywood that Mr. Reiner was surprised to find Texas Evangelicals normal, but hats off to him. He was willing to go, to explore, and to create an excellent show that addresses and respects Christianity. Moreover, he created a show that realistically depicts the struggle and the beauty of family life, as well as the toil of high school years lived without parental love and support. In doing so he glorifies what others shows scoff at, and in doing so he offers something remarkably fresh and original. Hollywood would be a better and more interesting place if others followed his example.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much did Harper pay you to write this post?!?

Anonymous said...

Friday Night Lights isn't about hockey, so the Prime Minister wouldn't be interested.

In terms of Joan having a contract with the feds, though, what makes this any different than Warren Kinsella doing Ontario government work and then campaigning for McSquinty? The blogosphere is actually a more interesting place when professionals populate it, people like Joan, Warren Kinsella, etc., rather than just kids in their parents' basement.

Anonymous said...

yeah, who knew that the blogosphere would be commonly populated by people that both watch politics, and work in politics?

The scandal!

Anonymous said...

Those who are paid by parties, such as WK, disclose that fact. Joan did not.

That's the difference.