Salon.com > Friday Night Lights http://www.salon.com Wed, 30 May 2012 06:12:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Pop Torn: This week in cultural ambivalence http://www.salon.com/2011/08/13/pop_torn_fergie_60_minutes_teeth_tattoos/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/13/pop_torn_fergie_60_minutes_teeth_tattoos/#comments Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/08/13/pop_torn_fergie_60_minutes_teeth_tattoos Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and I have to make sure that I have no idea what is going on with those Republican debates. Is Michele Bachmann winning? Is that why her scary face was on Newsweek? Oh man, what a world, what a world. Oh, and London burned down too! Come on, Earth, get it together!

If you've had enough of the depressing news for the week, feast those things in your ocular cavities on these 10 pop culture stories that we've culled from the Internet and beyond! (But mostly the Internet.) They aren't here to make you feel OK again, but maybe they'll take your mind off the fact that the world is going to hell in a hand basket.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/13/pop_torn_fergie_60_minutes_teeth_tattoos/feed/ 2 Five pop culture items we missed http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/pop_five_9/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/pop_five_9/#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/08/02/pop_five 1. Ouroboros of the day: NBC's cult series "Friday Night Lights" may have ended, but show execs have just confirmed a film script is in the works. So this movie will be based on the popular TV series that was a reimagining of the 2004 film of the same name, which was already adapted from Buzz Bissinger's nonfiction book. Just so we won't be confused when we order from Amazon.

2. Weird TV show concept of the day: In an opposite move from "FNL," NBC will be picking up "The Firm," a series based on the Tom Cruise movie taken from the John Grisham book. The cast is stellar -- Juliette Lewis, Josh Lucas, Molly Parker from "Deadwood" -- but how much mileage can they get from a plot where the audience already knows the twist ending?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/pop_five_9/feed/ 3 A bittersweet farewell to “Friday Night Lights” http://www.salon.com/2011/07/15/farewell_friday_night_lights_open2011/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/15/farewell_friday_night_lights_open2011/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:10:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/2011/07/15/farewell_friday_night_lights_open2011 The final episode of "Friday Night Lights" airs tonight, ending a scrappy five season run. It took the DirecTV satellite network co-financing the show -- in a unique deal that allowed it to air "Friday Night Lights" before NBC -- to keep it on the air. So for Satellite subscribers the story of Dillon, Texas, has been concluded for months. For "Lights" fans, those concluding episodes -- and the delirious reviews they garnered -- have been a kind of shadow broadcast, a resonance from the void. The show has been haunted by its own ghost, these last weeks. It was kind of appropriate. This cat had only five lives, after all -- not nine, and it's lived in the shadow of its own mortality for every one of them.

It was never a hit. It always lacked the ingredients of escapism and weekly closure that make for profitable network comfort food. But that was what we loved about it. In the very first episode, golden boy quarterback Jason Street seems headed for a college scholarship and a legendary career in the NFL. He even looks a little like Tom Brady. Then Jason throws an interception and tries to tackle the other team's free safety, as he runs it back for the touchdown. Jason makes the tackle but injures himself catastrophically. By the end of the show's pilot we know that Jason Street has become a paraplegic. Peter Berg, the show's creator, said somewhere that the NBC executives couldn't quite believe this development. "He gets better, right?" They kept saying. "When does he walk again?"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/15/farewell_friday_night_lights_open2011/feed/ 19 Five pop culture items we missed http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/pop_five_kanye_glee_fnl/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/pop_five_kanye_glee_fnl/#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:15:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/07/14/pop_five_kanye_glee_fnl 1. Not-so-"Gleeful" news of the day: Chris Colfer, Lea Michele and Corey Monteith won't be returning for a fourth season of "Glee." Ostensibly, they'd be graduating, right? What, did everyone else fail high school?

2. S'Paz of the day: "Empire Boardwalk's" Paz de la Huerta got more than a slap on the wrist for her bar brawl back in April. Though prosecutors were going to let her off on the condition she enter an alcohol treatment program and do a couple of days of community service, Judge Diana Boyar said Paz had to be evaluated by a rehab facility before she signed off on the deal.

3. "Friday" of the day: Grantland has compiled an oral history of "Friday Night Lights'" successes -- and failures -- throughout the years.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/pop_five_kanye_glee_fnl/feed/ 1 “Friday Night Lights” life lessons: You are going to fail http://www.salon.com/2011/06/29/friday_night_lights_teaches_failure/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/29/friday_night_lights_teaches_failure/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/29/friday_night_lights_teaches_failure While not the biggest fan of sports culture, I was hooked on the show "Friday Night Lights" from its premiere episode. The soaring music that crescendoed when a ball was mid-air was somehow just as mesmerizing as watching Taylor Kitsch take off his shirt.

Now that the show is in its final season on NBC (though technically the finale played back in February on DIRECTV), there's no denying that the tragically under-awarded series has been held together by some amazing performances. In particular, Kyle Chandler as the stoic Coach Eric Taylor has imparted five years of wisdom, not all of it about football. What has Coach T. really taught us? He taught us all how to fail, and how to fail well.

Here are some "Friday Night Light" tips for when you lose at life.

1. Get rid of that pride, boy

In the "devil town" of Dillon, everyone must eventually answer for their sins. Whether its conning your church out of money to buy steroids, making an off-handed racist remark to the press, or screwing your crippled best friend's girlfriend -- and hey, we're still in season one! – there is no moral or ethical slip that goes unpunished on "Friday Night Lights."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/29/friday_night_lights_teaches_failure/feed/ 11 Emmy nominations: Who got snubbed? http://www.salon.com/2010/07/08/emmy_noms_nominations_announced_2010/ http://www.salon.com/2010/07/08/emmy_noms_nominations_announced_2010/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/2010/07/08/emmy_noms_nominations_announced_2010 Joel McHale and Sofia Vergara aren't a bad way to wake up at 5:30, what with the boobs and the height and the funny, but it'd be nice if a distinctly West Coast medium like television could have the decency to operate on a more humane West Coast time. Please.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised a few times with the 2010 Emmy nominations, and was, per usual, irritated just as often. Tony Shalhoub, again, for real? (eye roll) "Two and a Half Men" taking up valuable space in any category? (bigger eye roll) And why Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad" didn't submit his reel in the lead actor category is confounding and shameful -- Bryan Cranston is, arguably, the star of that show but this was Paul's year. His performance as the now-sober meth cooker Jesse Pinkman was, in a word, eviscerating.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/07/08/emmy_noms_nominations_announced_2010/feed/ 32 Everything you need to know about “Friday Night Lights” http://www.salon.com/2010/05/01/friday_night_lights_explainer/ http://www.salon.com/2010/05/01/friday_night_lights_explainer/#comments Sat, 01 May 2010 23:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/heather_havrilesky/2010/05/01/friday_night_lights_explainer "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." These words, which Coach Taylor says to his football team right before they take the field, underscore the bittersweet premise of "Friday Night Lights" -- that even with vision and passion, well-meaning people still fail and flounder and fall apart. But the words also hint at the nuanced blend of realism and romanticism that make "Friday Night Lights" such a unique, unforgettable show. From wheelchair-bound injured quarterback Jason Street to entitled rising star J.D McCoy, from self-destructive wild boy Tim Riggins to earnest but reserved Matt Saracen, from Coach Taylor's wise but flustered wife, Tami, to their headstrong daughter Julie, the show explores how regular people pursue their dreams and sometimes sell those dreams short. The show offers up a road map of the heartbreaks and disappointments and injustices that lurk in small towns, but it also presents a glimpse of the redemption that can come from an old-fashioned mix of optimism and hard work.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/05/01/friday_night_lights_explainer/feed/ 23 “Friday Night Lights” embraces the agony of defeat http://www.salon.com/2009/10/28/friday_night_lights/ http://www.salon.com/2009/10/28/friday_night_lights/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:28:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/i_like_to_watch//2009/10/27/friday_night_lights "Y'all look like a bunch of dumb-asses out there!"

Coach Taylor is at his wit's end. After a few triumphant seasons as head coach of the Dillon Panthers football team, he finds himself trying to rally together a brand-new team at a brand-new school, East Dillon High, after the town is redistricted. The field is brown and dusty. The players have never played football before. (Um, wouldn't a few of the good players have ended up at the new school?) Some of the players have criminal records. Others are unaccustomed to being yelled at, or unwilling to run grueling drills in the withering Texas heat.

Although Taylor (Kyle Chandler) may be facing a losing battle for the first time in his career, in its fourth season, "Friday Night Lights" (premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, on DirecTV, airing next year on NBC) is just as thoughtful and restrained as it's ever been, with its focus firmly planted on the small-town disappointments of ordinary people.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/10/28/friday_night_lights/feed/ 18 I Like to Watch http://www.salon.com/2008/11/16/friday_night/ http://www.salon.com/2008/11/16/friday_night/#comments Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:27:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/i_like_to_watch//2008/11/16/friday_night  I'm bored with secret agents and split personalities and pie makers who can talk to dead people. These days, our TVs are filled with kooky mad scientists and outrageous, scheming billionaires and gun-running motorcycle thugs and flamethrowing superheroes and villainous magazine editors and clairvoyant detectives on every channel, but I couldn't care less.

You know what I like? Ordinary people. I like divorced dads who take their sullen teenagers camping and old couples who tackle their health problems together and small-town principals who give insecure teenage boys pep talks and medical residents who stay up late reading their mothers' old diaries and injured former quarterbacks who are desperately searching for a way to pay for their kids' daycare.

Ordinary people and their ordinary problems are interesting. The best TV writers in the business know this. Their genuine fascination with regular people allows them to create real connections between viewers and the characters on the screen. Instead of marking time from one plot point to the next, these writers view every scene as an opportunity to dig up colorful little details and funny moments and conflicting emotions that can bring the heart and soul of their characters to life.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/11/16/friday_night/feed/ 27 I Like to Watch http://www.salon.com/2008/04/13/dates/ http://www.salon.com/2008/04/13/dates/#comments Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/i_like_to_watch//2008/04/13/dates When my sister and I were kids, we made our Star Wars action figures go on dates with each other. First we'd take turns picking our favorite action figures, then we'd set up "apartments" for each of them. (We knew from "Three's Company" that single people always lived in apartments.) Next, Luke would knock on Leia's door, but she'd usually say she was busy or had to wash her hair, because she secretly wanted to go out with Mark (that was the hunkier "Empire Strikes Back" version of Luke) or Harrison (the hunky "Empire Strikes Back" Han Solo). Finally, once everyone went on dates and kissed good night and went on dates again without any broken hearts or unexpected pregnancies, we needed to mix things up a little. So Mark would dump Leia for Bespin Leia (the fancy "Empire Strikes Back" Leia who Lando said truly belonged with them "among the clouds" of Bespin City), and Bespin Leia would cheat on Mark with Harrison, or Luke would start stalking Carrie ("Empire Strikes Back" Leia in "Hoth" garb). But even with so much drama and intrigue in the air, the second we started to mix and match the couples, we'd quickly begin to lose interest in the game. Who cared if Bespin Leia dated Mark then Luke then Harrison then Luke again, really? After a while, the relationships felt arbitrary, and sometimes Leia would elope with Chewbacca just to piss everyone off.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/04/13/dates/feed/ 28 I Like to Watch http://www.salon.com/2007/12/23/holiday_2/ http://www.salon.com/2007/12/23/holiday_2/#comments Sun, 23 Dec 2007 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/i_like_to_watch//2007/12/23/holiday Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and Happy New Year, inflatable geniuses! 'Tis the season to festoon our residences with several miles of blinking lights and then blow up seven to 10 giant Christmas characters for our front yards, festive polar bears and jolly snowmen, most of which light up and swivel and hiss, because big, tacky overzealous displays of Christmas cheer aren't just for lunatics anymore! 'Tis the season to deck the halls with photos of awkward, smiling families in their cutest Christmas-themed Cosby sweaters! 'Tis the season to roll out our most exaggerated, hideous impressions of all of our relatives, with their weird verbal tics and their lazy eyes and their fishy breath and their mercilessly long anecdotes! 'Tis the season to engage in interpretive readings of the latest "Dear Friends and Family" letter to arrive in the mail, heartlessly mocking every sweet little detail about Madison's first steps and Henry's latest display of adorably bratty remarks and uncanny athletic prowess, already demonstrating that he'll grow up to be just as much of a bloviating, self-satisfied crotch tugger as his daddy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/12/23/holiday_2/feed/ 23 I Like to Watch http://www.salon.com/2007/10/14/mad_men/ http://www.salon.com/2007/10/14/mad_men/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/i_like_to_watch//2007/10/14/mad_men The American dream, for all of its countless joys, has an inescapable mediocrity woven into its polyester-blend fabric. When you have bills to pay, babbling mouths to feed and a lawn that needs mowing, some essential part of your identity is subsumed by the hungry maw of family life.

Granted, for the most self-involved among us (i.e., me and you), there's a spiritual release that comes from being trapped and tagged. Somehow, through the endless drudgery of whipping up meals and wiping little butts, we're emancipated from the endless drudgery of questioning our worth and purpose on the face of the earth.

For those who didn't spend the first 30 years of their lives on a psychic battlefield of their own creation, though, it's a different story. For extroverted professionals who came to marriage all busy and important, with a clear sense of purpose, puffed up by years of big, satisfying ego gains in the workplace, the American dream is a cold and soupy bog indeed. When you're particularly hip or pretty or stylish or ambitious or well-adjusted, running a bustling human factory to the tireless strains of "Baby Beluga" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" can feel hopelessly demeaning and unspecial. When asked to surrender such luxury items as dignity, pride and personal hygiene, fiercely independent hipsters and extroverted captains of industry alike are known to shiver in their Prada demi boots, then hop the next train to the city in search of high-end call girls and fine Colombian.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/10/14/mad_men/feed/ 51 And the Buffy goes to … http://www.salon.com/2007/09/14/buffy/ http://www.salon.com/2007/09/14/buffy/#comments Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2007/09/14/buffy This year's Buffy, an annual token of our deep and abiding love for a relatively underappreciated TV show, goes to ... "Friday Night Lights"!

You'd think that if you trotted out the most original depiction of the modern American family since Tony and Carmela bickered over an open refrigerator, you'd reel in countless viewers and a big sack full of Emmys to boot. Not so for "Friday Night Lights." Despite developing into the most dynamic and heart-rending drama on the small screen and garnering glowing praise from swooning critics and passionate fans alike, this prime-time gem still hasn't attracted the ratings or the little golden statues that it so rightfully deserves.

Sure, we've sung its praises, more than once before. Together we prayed for a Hail Mary pass from NBC, which demonstrated its faith in this promising rookie by renewing its contract despite low ratings. Will a solid sophomore season secure "Friday Night Lights'" position in the family drama hall of fame? Only if you get off your sorry ass and watch it! (The second season premieres 9 p.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 5, on NBC.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/09/14/buffy/feed/ 45 I Like to Watch http://www.salon.com/2007/04/15/top_design_2/ http://www.salon.com/2007/04/15/top_design_2/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/i_like_to_watch//2007/04/15/top_design A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. A scream is a wish your mouth makes when you're getting punched. A paranoid hallucination is a wish your mind makes when you're not taking your lithium. A TiVo Season Pass is a wish your TiVo makes when you're neglectful and forget to delete a truly terrible show, week after week.

Thanks to laziness, I've ended up watching shows like "I Love New York" for months, despite their obvious brain-melting stupidity, because they were always at the top of my TiVo queue. Like McDonald's french fries, they sit there, stinking up the joint with their foul, foolish stench, begging me to dig into their salty deliciousness despite my best intentions.

I know it's a sin, but something rotten inside me won't let me delete "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll" or "The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman" or the insipid eighth cycle of "America's Next Top Model." For some reason, the baby ho donkey festival and sea donkerella pageant are my personal El Guapo. I can't get enough of the skin-tight ass pants and the nasty little insinuations that Felicia can't dance or Jolena has an eating disorder. Sea donkey, who are you, to take these many forms?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/04/15/top_design_2/feed/ 41 Bright lights, big pity http://www.salon.com/2007/03/07/lights_3/ http://www.salon.com/2007/03/07/lights_3/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2007 11:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/review/2007/03/07/lights I wasn't a huge football fan in high school, but there was something special about a home game on a Friday night. When those glowing lights over the stadium would come on as the sun was setting orange and pink on the horizon, I was always glad that I came. It didn't matter if we won or lost (we usually lost), what mattered was that the field looked bright green under the lights and the fall air had a chill and you could hear a cadence of drums in the distance as the marching band approached. No matter how much I hated high school that day, it all melted away and suddenly it felt good to be 16 years old, to have a taste of that little-fish small-pond romanticism you get when you recognize half the people in the crowd and feel like a part of it all. When the lights came on and the band started up, the world felt big and colorful and full of promise.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/03/07/lights_3/feed/ 107 One fumbles, one scores http://www.salon.com/2006/10/03/football_10/ http://www.salon.com/2006/10/03/football_10/#comments Tue, 03 Oct 2006 11:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/review/2006/10/03/football According to NBC, its new football drama "Friday Night Lights," which premieres Tuesday night, was inspired by H.G. Bissinger's best-selling book, but the truth is it's derived more from the 2004 movie based on the book. Despite its gritty look, the film, directed by the author's cousin Peter Berg, sentimentalized most of what Bissinger had put a sharp edge to. Bissinger's overall picture, echoed in the West Texas landscape, was one of bleakness. If the book was about anything, it was about the false promise of salvation that football held for the players and their families. The book's vision was unsparing; the film undercut the truthfulness of the real-life stories with a message of hope -- if these boys only worked hard enough and believed in themselves, the movie kept telling us, they would succeed.

We know, of course, that this can't be true. Only a fraction of the boys who risk their bodies in high school will ever make it to college on a football scholarship, and just a tiny percentage of those will make it to the pros. Anyone who tells us otherwise is lying. While I watched Berg's film, I kept thinking of the line from Springsteen's "The River," "Is a dream a lie that don't come true, or is it something worse?"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2006/10/03/football_10/feed/ 10 So many dramas, too little DVR space http://www.salon.com/2006/08/21/drama_chart_4/ http://www.salon.com/2006/08/21/drama_chart_4/#comments Mon, 21 Aug 2006 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2006/08/21/drama_chart

SHOW STARS PREMISE SEE ALSO WHY WATCH WHY SKIP IT
ABC's "Daybreak" Taye Diggs Our hero is framed for murder, has to repeat the same day over and over until he can figure out how to clear his name. Lost in time! "Groundhog Day" meets "The Fugitive." Diggs has a nice torso. Repetitive. Only Bill Murray can make us want to repeat the same day again and again.
CW's "Runaway" Donnie Wahlberg, Leslie Hope Our hero is framed for murder, has to take his family and run from the law until he can figure out how to clear his name. Lost in America! "One Tree Hill" meets "The Fugitive." Donnie Wahlberg's brother Mark used to have a nice torso. Running from the law is exhausting. Plus, if they keep skipping towns, how will the teenagers ever fall in love or join the cheerleading squad?
Fox's "Vanished" Gale Harold, Ming-Na, John Allen Nelson, Rebecca Gayheart The wife of a politician is kidnapped, and a devil-may-care FBI agent is determined to get her back. Lost my wife! Conspiracies abound, plus lots of twists and tricks pump up the suspense. Between a possibly shady politician and a possibly cheating wife, it's tough to care about anyone here.
NBC's "Kidnapped" Jeremy Sisto, Dana Delany, Timothy Hutton The son of a rich man is kidnapped, and a professional renegade is hired to get him back. Lost my kid! A professional renegade is always fun, particularly when it's Billy from "Six Feet Under." How many crime-based serial dramas are we supposed to watch this season, anyway?
ABC's
"The Nine"		 Scott Wolf, Kim Raver, Tim Daly Hostages of a bank robbery are bonded by their shared experience. Lost in post-traumatic stress syndrome! We're left uncertain what happened during the robbery, want to find out. Also, this premise might just hold our attention. "Lost" does the flashback-based drama proud. Can anyone else really compare?
CBS's "Smith" Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Amy Smart, Shoreh Aghdashloo A gaggle of criminal masterminds collaborate on sophisticated heists. Will they pull off the big score? Like AMC's "Hustle," except you can understand what people are saying. More heisty criminal masterminds in action? Really?
NBC'S "Heroes" Milo Ventimiglia, Leonard Roberts Assorted freaks discover their true calling as superheroes. It's not easy to be-hee meeee! If you love "The X-Men" you might like it. Melodramatic. If you think "The X-Men" is overrated, you'll hate it.
Fox's "Justice" Victor Garber, Kerr Smith Law office takes on high-profile, media-heavy court cases. Bruckheimer takes on the law! All of the dizzying camera work and flashy effects of "CSI" focused on splashy, O.J.-like cases. If you love "CSI" you'll like it. Too fast-paced and melodramatic; tons of pointless CGI tricks. If you hate "CSI" you'll hate it.
ABC's "Six Degrees" Erika Christensen, Bridget Moynahan, Dorian Missick Six strangers, linked by fate, picked to... do something, we're not sure what. Will we find out which one of them was in a film with Kevin Bacon soon? Unique premise, but how will they keep things interesting? A character-driven drama in which the characters aren't all that compelling.
NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford, Amanda Peet, Steven Weber Aaron Sorkin revisits "Sports Night," except this time it's about a comedy show and there's a bigger cast. "The West Wing" of West Hollywood! If you love Sorkin, you'll love this show; Perry and Whitford are great at pulling off Sorkin's dialogue. Same old walking-and-talking routine. A few of the actors are not so great at making Sorkin's dialogue believable.
CBS's "Jericho" Skeet Ulrich, Gerald McRaney, Pamela Reed America is attacked by nuclear bombs, and the people of Jericho, Kansas, have to work together to stay alive. Lost in Kansas! Nuclear bombs in the distance! Eerie last calls from dead parents in the big city! Bonus: The mayor is Hearst from "Deadwood"! What's not to love? It's like watching those scenes on "24" where everyone starts panicking, but with a little "Everwood" thrown in.
ABC's "Men in Trees" Anne Heche, John Amos A relationship advice expert's life and livelihood fall apart when she discovers her fiancé is cheating, so she decides to move to Alaska. Sex in... a very small town in Alaska! "Northern Exposure" meets "Sex and the City." Charming, quirky, sweet little storylines by SATC writer Jenny Bicks. Can Anne Heche really compete with John Corbett as the small-town Alaska radio personality?
CBS's "Shark" James Woods, Jeri Ryan Sleazy, high-priced defense attorney gets a conscience, takes a job prosecuting crimes in the district attorney's office. Idealistic yet brutal lawyer learns important life lessons! Replacing the usual sanctimonious lawyers with a ruthless hard-ass played by James Woods? Sounds good to me. Will every single episode end with a teary courtroom confession?
Fox's "Standoff" Ron Livingston, Rosemarie DeWitt FBI negotiators... in love! Idealistic yet brutal negotiators learn important love lessons! Livingston and DeWitt will hold your attention; kind of like "Moonlighting" with higher stakes. How many times can we see the nutty guy hold a gun to some poor kid's head while the SWAT team moves in?
ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" Rachel Griffiths, Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Balthazar Getty Large family sorts out its many issues. Daddy never understood me! Rachel Griffiths Calista Flockhart
NBC's "Friday Night Lights" Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton New high school football coach is under major pressure to take his kids to the championship. Don't mess with football in Texas! Original, well-produced, smartly written. Combine suspenseful games, great music, and almost Altman-like realism, and you've got a shinier, more compelling "OC." If you hate football, Texans, Christian rhetoric and hot teenagers, this show probably isn't for you.
Showtime's "Dexter" Michael C. Hall Ultra-creepy forensics expert murders people who've committed crimes and gotten away with it. What's he going to do with that hand saw? Extremely original: It's as if David of "Six Feet Under" went nuts and turned into that creepy guy who tortured him. A hero who delights in torturing and murdering people? Thrillingly perverse, but who has the stomach for it?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2006/08/21/drama_chart_4/feed/ 11 “Friday Night Lights” http://www.salon.com/2004/10/08/lights/ http://www.salon.com/2004/10/08/lights/#comments Fri, 08 Oct 2004 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/review/2004/10/08/lights In "Friday Night Lights," high school football isn't so much enthusiasm or even obsession as shared psychosis. I don't know how this material was presented in the H.G. Bissinger nonfiction book that is the source for the new movie, but in the film's first half, director Peter Berg, who co-wrote the script with David Aaron Cohen, presents football mania in tiny Odessa, Texas, as the embodiment of American win-at-all-costs mentality.

The town has diverted money from the school to build a stadium for its local team, and the new coach (Billy Bob Thornton) is paid more than the school principal. The kids on the team can't go out for a hamburger without someone coming up to tell them they can't let the town down in the approaching season, or pull into a convenience store without the town sheriff making them promise they will not only win the state championship but win every game they play. The new coach can't do paperwork without a cadre of town businessman breaking into his office to discuss defense, or go to the supermarket without getting more of the same.

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