Friday Night Lights!

Mark here....Laurel and I are kicking off (pun intended) our next show, "Friday Night Lights" with a steak and egg brunch (it's important to keep our energy up for football season).  We've made steak and fried eggs and some bubble and squeak, courtesy of the 2 Fat Ladies recipe.  We've also brought along our travel mugs filled with Bloody Marys.

On to the pilot...we are introduced to the small town of Dillon, Texas.  Life in Dillon revolves around the high school football team, the Dillon Panthers.  They have a new coach in Coach Taylor and he is immediately under intense pressure by all the townspeople to pull out a win in the upcoming game.  We also meet all american quarterback, Jason Street and his back up, sophomore Matt Saracen.  Jason is such a popular and successful QB that it's assumed Matt may never get a chance to play.  Unfortunately when the game arrives, it's a nail biter and Jason is injured during the game and lead out on a stretcher.  Matt is at first nervous and bumbles a bit, before succeeding in leading the team to victory.

Overall, the show presents a very stark and somewhat depressing view of this small town.  Yet, it's likeable because of it's sincerity and honesty.  At the same time, the pressure that this town puts on it's high school players is insane.  We see various adults and alumni whose lives continue to revolve around the ups and downs of the high school team.

We also get introduced to several other team members, Riggs and Smash, who don't get along and there's a bit of a racial tension as Riggs is white and Smash is black.  Riggs is also a bit of a bad boy who drinks too much, and in doing so affects the performance of the whole team.  His girlfriend, Tyra seems like the town bad girl.  I always love the bad girls (we haven't seen them yet on our other series) and Tyra is played perfectly, a little trashy and a little slutty seeming.  On the flip side, we meet Jason's girlfriend Lyla, who's a bit flat and goody goody in my opinion (at least so far).

Laurel here...wow I can't believe we are doing Friday Night Lights!  It might be my favorite show ever.  That being said I will try to keep it together, not get too gushy, and not give anything away!

This pilot episode does a really good job of setting the tone of the show, and letting us know just the right amount of background info so we know what kind of pressure Coach Taylor and the boys on the football team are under.   The whole town is completely obsessed with high school football.  When it's game day we see a montage of all the businesses that are closed because the owners are all at the football game.  Can you imagine an entire town where nothing is open on friday night because of a high school football game?

The show also does a really good job of exploiting the inherent drama of sports.  Teamwork and triumph of the will and all that.  Clear eyes full hearts can't lose!  During the first game I was in tears before Jason ever got hurt.  I love sports drama!

Anyway moving forward we know there's a lot of pressure on these boys and a lot at stake.  What will happen to Jason Street?  Will Riggins get it together?  Will Tyra sleep with everyone?  Will Matt step up while Jason is injured?  I kind of can't believe how much the show accomplishes in just one episode, we are already completely invested in several of the characters and in the plot as a whole.