As I walk through my favorite 25 all-time shows, it feels a bit too simple to just go in descending order, and as such I’m all over the place. I previously talked about The Good Place (#18), and now I’m going to jump to a completely different show that I loved even more.
As you can see from the title, it’s Friday Night Lights, and it’s my eighth favorite show of all time. I’ve tried to combine a mix of different types of shows in this list and FNL certainly is quite different from The Good Place - but one thing they both have is a truckload of heart.
And yeah, I just typed that and put a picture of the cast on a truck. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
As you possibly know, “Friday Night Lights” is a reference to high school football, typically played on Friday evenings. In certain parts of the United States, high school football is everything. The players are heroes of their town, they have boosters who (cough) assist the team as much as they can - it’s surreal and crazy, and a great backdrop for a TV show.
One state like this is Texas, where our show is located, following the Dillon Panthers. Their coach is Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), married to his wife Tami (Connie Britton), and father of Julie (Aimee Teegarden). The team is essentially the second family here, manned at the beginning of the show by QB Jason Street (Scott Porter), RB Smash Williams (Gaius Charles) and FB Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch).
You may already be rolling your eyes, thinking, Greebs talks enough about football, we’re really gonna talk about a TV show related to football now? And that’s certainly one reason the show failed. There are other industry reasons I don’t much care about, but the show did struggle. While it lasted five seasons, there are three season finales that acted as series finales, because it was simply not clear if there’d be another season.
Thankfully, we got five full seasons. And remember, this exercise means I’m evaluating it based on all the seasons - that includes Season 2 which includes a bizarre, totally out of nowhere plot involving Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons), Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki) and a dead body. I won’t spoil that, except to say that a) it’s stupid and tonally different than the rest of the show and that b) it ends up not mattering enough to change my opinion of the show overall.
Before I get into more detail, just look at the names I’ve highlighted. With the exception of Britton, most of these actors were not real big names prior to this show. And I haven’t even mentioned Minka Kelly, Zach Gifford, Jurnee Smollett or someone you may have heard of named Michael B. Jordan. All of these actors really made their names on this series.
The beauty of FNL is that it’s not really a show about football. It’s about relationships and family and life. Good LORD, that sounds so cheesy. But, it’s really apt and it works because the writing and acting is phenomenal. This is a show based in a fictional town but like many real ones - and these are towns I would probably not love in real life. These are towns that are VERY religious, almost certainly vote in ways I find repugnant, and where firearms are a part of daily life.
And somehow, the show acknowledges this (many scenes take place in church, for example) and neither leans into it nor shies away from it. It just portrays them as people. We might all learn a good lesson from that.
When I think of how real the show is, I default to the relationship between Coach and Tami Taylor. The way they talk to each other, how they deal with their problems, etc. - I can’t think of a single TV couple that felt so damn real. (And I think every person, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, developed a serious crush on Tami Taylor.)
When Matt Saracen (Gilford) is vaulted into the QB1 job (this is, by the way, the main premise of the book written about an actual football team in Texas), it’s done so well. Saracen is not an alpha like Jason Street, who he’s replaced. He’s not necessarily a massive talent either - he’s just … a kid. Who wants to succeed but has a crushing weight of life on him. His father (who he has a troubled, distant relationship with) is rarely home, eventually shipping out to Iraq. This leaves Saracen to take care of his grandmother who is in serious decline, as his mother divorced his father long ago and isn’t around. He also has a crush on Julie, the coaches daughter. And man, if Matt Saracen isn’t one of the TV characters that broke my heart more than anyone else, I don’t know who is. He’s such a GOOD person, and life doesn’t treat him well often enough.
I haven’t figured out how to do spoiler text here, so I’ll just say this - the episode “The Son” in season 4 absolutely detonated me. I had to rewatch it because I was too much of a mess the first time through. And it’s mostly because of Gilford’s acting, but also Kyle Chandler. It’s incredibly human, and the heart of this episode speaks to why the show simply works.
I simply love this show, and it gives me such joy (and heartbreak, and almost every other emotion) to watch. Seeing so many young actors find their stride and voice is great - and sure, Dillon, TX might have a bit too many gorgeous human beings to pass the sniff test, but it’s a TV show, after all.
The show had many opportunities to fail, and found a good path instead at each such moment. And lasting five years, it did what so many schools set in school didn’t - it let its actors age and brought in new characters. And they had different challenges, which made the show richer and really fantastic. The football itself is … about as good (and bad) as you can expect from a TV show, though nitpickers have many flaws about Coach Taylor’s game planning at times. It really didn’t bother me, because as you quickly learn, that’s not what the show is about.
In looking at this and The Good Place, I think there’s at least one thing they truly have in common - they are very optimistic shows, believing in the inherent good in people. FNL is a bit more subtle about it, but it’s part of the soul of the show and why we root so hard for the Taylors and others in their lives.
Some fairly gross folks have co-opted the “Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can’t Lose” slogan from the show so I won’t do the same. I will say that I never thought I could ever hear someone say “Texas Forever” and not wince, but instead be completely moved. That’s a great indication of why the show is so damn good.
Did the writers come up with Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can't Lose? I could look on the intergoogle for an answer but I wont. Instead I will ask it here. If they did, bravo. If they didn't, but found it, still bravo.