"Friday Night Lights" Season Premiere Television Review

"Friday Night Lights" Season Premiere

Television Review

By our guest Blogger, Sanela Djokovic

*Spoilers Ensue*

Clear eyes and full hearts are in play once again for the Taylor family and rest of Dillon, Texas as one of the best dramas of the last decade, “Friday Night Lights,” just began its fifth and final season on DirecTV’s The 101 Network.

A lot has changed since we first met Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his family—particularly his fierce and steady wife, Tami (Connie Britton), and his spirited, emotional daughter, Julie (Aimee Teegarden). His family has changed, both families—the one on and off the field. His daughter Julie is heading off to college (as is loveable Landry) and his humble and relatively new East Dillion High football team is back after an unimpressive 2-8 season, the first since the rundown school reopened.

Their first game just so happens to be against the defending state champs. The East Dillion Lions don’t make it far into the game before the opposing team builds an authoritative lead. But, like we’ve seen many times before with a team under Coach Taylor, an invigorated Lions team comes out in the second half to win the first game.

The excitement might be premature, but everyone is hoping this is a sign of new life for Coach Taylor and East Dillon. And, while we would love to revisit the first season when Coach led the Dillon Panthers to win State after a challenging and riveting season, tying “Friday Night Lights” with a pretty black and red championship bow isn’t likely.

And it isn’t what the series ever has really been about. For the last five years, “Friday Night Lights” has not only been one of the more realistic dramas on television--it's also been the show with the most heart. Heart, of course, sometimes isn't enough.  But fortunately, “Friday Night Lights” has stayed alive for five seasons thanks to zealous, invested, vocal fans and its critical acclaim.

Despite the critical acclaim, the Emmy’s have shown limited love to the program, with a couple of nominations for Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, who have to be two of the best actors on television.  They give us the most realistic, dynamic and poignant depiction of a married couple that makes marriage look difficult and enviable at the same time. We know that the world of awards usually revolve around edgy and stylistic cable dramas, but the ratings for “Friday Night Lights” could have benefited from some Emmy nods and wins—nods and wins that would have been well-deserved.

“Friday Night Lights” fans are hoping that former characters revisit Dillon. We’ve already heard that Adrianne Palicki will be resuming her role as Tyra Collette for a couple of episodes, but bringing back Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), Jason Street (Scott Porter), Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) and Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitch) at some point throughout the season would be the ultimate tribute for the fans of “Friday Night Lights,” who have supported the drama with equal heart.

“Friday Night Lights” airs Wednesday s at 9 PM on DirecTV’s 101 Network, with encore presentations throughout the week. NBC will re-air the 13-episode season sometime in 2011.