Friday Night Lights: Clear eyes. Full hearts. CAN'T LOSE!

Spoilers for the "Friday Night Lights" finale coming up just as soon as I give a "whoever smealt it, dealt it" ruling for the passengers of Landry's car...

They gave me a slow clap. Those magnificent bastards at "Friday Night Lights," perhaps worrying that they hadn't already tailored a TV drama to my specific needs -- with the Underdog Sports Movie stuff and the subtle characterization and the docu-cam and the amazing acting and the realistic teen angst -- put in a damn slow clap. I love them all so very, very much right now.

But here's the thing: I'm not sure how happy I am that the Panthers won the big game.

After watching a screener of the finale, I chatted with Maureen Ryan, who was happy about the victory, and Dan Fienberg, who was aghast. My reaction falls somewhere in between, but leaning more towards Dan's point of view. I can see the value of wanting to give the devoted but tiny fanbase a happy ending in the event the series is one-and-done, and I also realize the writers had painted themselves into a corner where Coach couldn't realistically return to Dillon if the team lost. (His lawn would be set afire nightly if he tried to stick around after being such an obvious scapegoat for the loss of a coveted state championship.) But I also feel like a victory -- especially such an improbable zeroes-to-heroes halftime turnabout -- goes against the show's philosophy in general and Coach's halftime speech in particular. (Mo has a full transcript of that particular goosebump-inducing bit of rhetoric, in case you feel the need to recite it before bedtime tonight.)

Maybe if the actual game action had been better-written, I would feel differently. But where most of Dillon's other stirring victories of the season have had some kind of significant character arc to them -- Saracen coming off the bench to save the season after Street's injury, Riggins sobering up and turning into a much more effective ball-carrier, Street turning Saracen into a different quarterback for the Mud Bowl -- the only arc here was for Taylor, and his part was done, as far as we were concerned, after halftime. There was some carryover of The New Saracen with him confidently calling for the hook-and-lateral play with the clock winding down -- and that was, to an extent, Matt making peace with Coach's exit and working with him again -- but this is the first really big game of the season where the actual football (as opposed to the speech) didn't raise my goosebumps. Maybe if they had taken the time over the season to establish a single defensive player, we could have gotten excited about him knocking Voodoo all over the field, but as it was, he was getting hit by the extras.

The rest of the episode, though, was fantastic, if overstuffed, as the producers tried to give closure to every character, again just in case this is it.

The Tyra/Landry story got co-opted into a Tyra/Lyla story halfway through, for instance, though they captured Landry's pain so well throughout. I've been, if not in identical circumstances, then definitely situations where I had built up time spent with a girl into the be-all, end-all, only to have the real world get in the way. There's the great possibilty that, even had things gone perfectly, the girl wouldn't have felt nearly as strongly as I did, just as Tyra tried to let Landry down easy with that peck on the cheek -- which he no doubt will completely misinterpret and lead to months or years of hurt feelings, confusion and humiliation for him. (UPDATE: Well, they cut the kissing scene -- which I describe in the comments -- from the final air version, which means Landry got shortchanged even more. They also tweaked Coach's halftime speech, so Mo's transcript doesn't match the final version.) Sigh... so good, and yet so cruel, and if there's a part of the show where I wish they had sacrificed the reality and thematic faithfulness in favor of giving the fans a happy ending, it's this one. But that's just me.

I'm going to leave discussion of the smaller details of the episode to you fine people -- the Landry party wagon alone is Zapruder-esque in the amount of things you can discover if you study it enough -- and instead move on to the big question: the future. Specifically, will/should there be one?

The news that NBC ordered six scripts doesn't exactly have me jumping out of my chair. It's a minimal-cost way for networks to spin their wheels on a decision while still giving the illusion of hope to the producers and fans of a show, plus it's just sound business with a Writers Guild strike looming. I'm still mostly optimistic about renewal, since Kevin Reilly seems to love the show so much, but I worry that there will be too much pressure from other corners of NBC/GE/Universal/Scheinhardt Wigs for him to go with the bottom line and make "30 Rock" the network's only charity case. I've been burned too many times in the past to get my hopes up.

Or maybe it's just, as I've alluded to here and there (mostly in comments to posts in the last two weeks), I'm starting to wonder if the Good-Looking Corpse approach isn't the right one here. What we have here is a near-perfect season of network television drama, one that, for the most part, gave all its characters a beginning, middle and, if not end, then at least some closure to their stories. I look at what NBC did to, say, "Homicide," from season four on (even parts of season three) and shudder at how the suits might force Katims and Berg to make the show "more accessible." Get ready for the charity car wash episode with Lyla and Tyra giggling in bikinis! More big speeches, less opportunities for the actors to convey what their characters are feeling through a look or body language! More product integration, with the Alamo Freeze going out of business so Saracen and Smash can go work at The Gap! Landry becomes the emcee at the local rock club, where the hottest indie bands stop by for unexpected concerts!

I'm not saying that's what will happen if the show gets renewed, just that it could. (I imagine the bikini car wash note was already made by someone at NBC earlier this season, but Katims went with Powderpuff instead.) I love the show and its characters too much to really wish it into cancellation, but I would hate for it to get renewed and become this thing that tarnishes the memory of what came before.

So let's not worry about renewal right now, since I doubt a decision will be made before upfront week in mid-May, and appreciate the genius we've had the privilege to witness for the past 22 episodes, brilliant moments like:

• Tami having The Talk with Julie;
• The prayer circle after the miracle victory in the pilot;
• The first (and presumably only) concert by Crucifictorius;
• Street, Smash, Riggins and Saracen getting drunk on the field;
• Tyra turning into Dick Butkus during Powderpuff;
• The entirety of "Mud Bowl";
• The ominous shot of Voodoo making his first walk across the Panthers' practice field;
• Landry at the Landing Strip;
• The team getting pelted with food and garbage after the brawl in the racist town;
• "I'm crippled, and I want to listen to Nirvana!";
• "Hi, Mrs. Coach.";
• The Members Only jacket, and Coach's reaction to it;
• Coach following Mrs. Coach to bed at the end of last week's episode;
• Saracen singing "Mr. Sandman" to his grandma;
• The sound of the buzzsaw cutting open Street's helmet in the emergency room;
• The pure joy on everyone's face at the victory parade (not to mention the season-bookending use of "Devil Town" on the soundtrack);
• Coach's abrupt mood switch when he found out Saracen had made Julie his quarterback;
• Tyra getting photographed at the police station like she was the perp and not the victim;
• Coach deciding to stay in Dillon because of the baby and Tami talking him out of it (though in the end he seems to decide to stay for a reason that he won't regret later);
• Buddy being magnanimous about Coach's new job;
• Slammin' Sammy Meade and his listeners not taking more than a second to bask in the victory before piling on Coach for leaving;
  
• (Insert your own here, or 12 if you like)

What did everybody else think? And please don't pelt me with food and garbage if you think I'm history's worst monster for second-guessing the desirability of a second season. I'm gonna be mad as hell if the show's not renewed, but I'm feeling awfully protective right about now.

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Friday Night Lights: Okay, now Tami Taylor might be my favorite human being right now...

... and she's not even real. I'm a little too exhausted to do tonight's "Friday Night Lights" the proper justice, so I'll just say that Connie Britton is awesome, Adrianne Palicki is awesome (I felt like I should avert my eyes in the police station), Jesse Plemons is awesome, and Scott Porter is awesome when he gets to be cocky.

God, I love this show, and I know you do, too, so please comment, and I'll try to add more coherent thoughts to the comments tomorrow. Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: We must protect this cow pasture!

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" just as soon as I put an incredible piece of art on the wall of my house...

Okay, so when I wrote my In Praise of "Friday Night Lights" column last week, it was with a little bit of reluctance, because while I liked much of last week's episode (particularly the Coach/Julie stuff), it didn't represent to me the series at its absolute best, and I usually like to write those kind of flattery-filled reviews to run on a night where newcomers can really see what I'm talking about. But I had an empty space in my schedule last week and knew I would be swamped in "Sopranos"-dom this week, so last week it ran.

This episode, though -- this was the one I was really writing about at the time, because this one was overflowing with so much of what makes "Friday Night Lights" great. I don't know that I'd go so far as is as Dan Fienberg in calling it the best episode since the pilot, if only because of a little thing I like to call The Talk from "I Think We Should Have Sex," but on the sports side of the ledger, this was as good as this show gets.

What did I love about it? I loved Coach's growing contempt for the commercialization of the playoff game, and for the Brant coach ("Does your brother run the clock up there? Is that part of the deal?"), and I loved how he took advantage of the chemical spill to take the team, the town and the game back to their roots. (I also love the irony, intentional or not, of him telling Buddy that this would be "football without all the crap" as he was in the process of moving things to a cow pasture that would no doubt be full of crap.)

I loved the use of "Read My Mind" (by far the best track from The Killers' sometimes overwrought "Sam's Town" album) on the soundtrack, and I loved the Woodstock-meets-state-fair-meets-Thunderdome atmosphere the show created around the Mud Bowl. I loved that Landry didn't get to run through the rain to declare his love for Tyra, RomCom-style, and I love that she had to save herself from the rapist. (Given last week's "Back to the Future" viewing by Riggins and company, I was half-expecting some kind of George McFly/Biff scene where Landry focused his chi into his fist until it become unto a thing of iron, or something like that.)

Mostly, though, I loved the football game. The producers can't do this sort of thing every week, both from a logistics point of view and because it would eventually be a turn-off to the fans who had to be talked into watching "that football show," but when they set their mind to it, boy howdy they give good Underdog Sports Movie. All the Mud Bowl was lacking was a scene where Riggins' father randomly showed up to lead the crowd in a chant of "LET THEM PLAY! LET THEM PLAY!" Just as Dan did when he saw it, I literally pointed my hands straight at the ceiling and called out "TOUCHDOWN!" when Saracen scored on that roll out play.

Before I open it up to comments, I leave you with this quote: "Blood, sweat and tears, it all stays right here on this field right now! This is our dirt, this is our mud, this is ours, baby!"

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: She's all growns up!

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" coming up just as soon as I cook up some of my award-winning chili and then take hostages...

In my review today, I talked a bit about the genius of "I Think We Should Have Sex," and while this one wasn't quite as epic, it was another beautiful Taylor family tale. Kyle Chandler's specialty has been the hard-ass, sarcastic side of Coach, and he got to show a compellingly softer side here, especially in the scene where Tami suggests that Julie is really in love with Matt... about three seconds before Julie walks in looking extremely grown-up (but not all hoochie'd out the way she was that time Matt wore his Members Only jacket), and it finally hits him that his daughter is becoming a woman worthy of more respect and consideration.

I especially liked that the story didn't end with Julie's speech at the dance convincing Eric to give up on his dream job. It was much more realistic and, honestly, touching that he heard her out, made it clear that he understood her concerns but couldn't let those concerns be the sole factor in a decision that would affect the whole family's future.

The flip side of that was the story with Tyra and her mom, which very much fit the encroaching TV-ism that occasionally infects the writers. Up until the scene at the dance, I was really going with it, I liked how Mama Collette took Tami's mentoring as an indictment of her own motherhood, how her own hang-ups were making her push her daughter towards the same life she's had. And maybe if she came around to the college plan over time, or if some significant event happened to make her change her mind, I would have gone with the uplifting ending, but as it was, it just felt like the episode was coming to an end and so they had to wrap things up.

Street's story heads back towards making him a part of the main ensemble again. For all the liberties they've taken thus far with the Murderball storyline, it's still only been a few months since Street was put in that chair, and world-class athlete or not, he shouldn't be Paralympic-ready yet.

I've seen next week's episode, but it doesn't take a psychic to figure out what course Jason's going to travel from here. Loved the scene with the four guys -- the former superstar and the three players who have combined to carry the team in his place -- getting drunk, comparing sob stories ("Chair says I win. Every time.") and, eventually, scrimmaging to instill some confidence in poor Matt. Very "Dazed and Confused," only if Pink still gave a crap about the game.

Some other random thoughts:

• I've talked before about how most of the kids are having to raise themselves and, in some cases, their parents, but this is the first time it's occurred to me that the only kids with fathers in their lives are Julie, Lyla, and Jason. Buddy's a waste of a human being and Mr. Street's clearly distanced himself from his son since the accident, so that really only leaves Julie. Huzzah for the nuclear family!
  
• Lyla trashing Buddy's car lot was a nice touch. Minka Kelly's much better when she doesn't have to talk.
  
• Is there some revisionist history at work about the Taylor's geographic history? This episode implied that they've moved around a lot over the years as Eric's moved from job to job, but the pilot established that he'd been coaching Street since Pee-Wee football. So unless the Streets have been moving around a lot while the Taylors followed their meal ticket from town to town, that doesn't make sense.
• For them what care, the band at the Austin club where Street unleashed his bitterness on Herc was a local Austin band called Little Captain Travis. I liked the sound of them but can't find much about them online.
  
• My issues with Riggins and the MILF next door story remain the same as last time: Bo's too sitcommy cute, and Taylor Kitsch and Brooke Langton look too close in age.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: How do I love thee?

NBC kindly sent out the next two "Friday Night Lights" episodes, which gave me an excuse to write my first full-blown column about it since the pilot:

"Friday Night Lights" is a drama about a high school football team that rarely features more than five minutes of gridiron action, if that, per episode. It's a high school soap opera in which the most compelling lovebirds are the football coach and his guidance counselor wife, a show that raises familiar teen drama questions about sex and drug abuse and race without offering simple answers.

In other words, the "Friday Night Lights" writers are aiming at a target far smaller than the tire swing their quarterback hero rifles passes through in the opening credits. In general, female viewers who might love the relationships are too turned off by the football to watch; guys who love sports don't gravitate towards soaps, even ones in which the halfback option is as important as people talking about their feelings.

Creatively, though, the writers have hit their postage-stamp target with uncanny accuracy. Anyone who can get past their preconceptions for a show with that title and setting will find the best drama currently airing on any network.

To read the full thing, click here. I'll have an episode-specific post up tonight. Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Ms. Collette sat upon it, and it went right up her...

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Saved from the cutting room floor

Today's column is the previously-referenced look at deleted scenes and how I feel they're creating alternate universes for some shows:

Where's Andy?

That's the question fans of NBC's "The Office" have been asking ever since the Jan. 18 episode, titled "The Return," when new Dunder-Mifflin Scranton employee Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) punched a hole in a wall in a fit of rage. He excused himself and hasn't appeared since.

Turns out the answer to that mystery lies within "The Return" itself - or, rather, in an extended producer's cut that was made available on NBC's Web site and through Apple's iTunes store. An added scene at the end explained that Andy was ordered to attend anger management classes.

"The Office" has been on the leading edge of a new trend involving TV shows that make deleted scenes immediately available on the Web, and producer Greg Daniels wanted to see what happened if he consigned a notable plot development to the show's on-line incarnation.

"It was the most important piece of information that we ever left out of an episode without fixing it in the next episode, and it was sort of an experiment," he says. "We had the idea that the online fans would somehow transmit the information to the fans who just watched the show, and they didn't."

Andy's stint in anger management was alluded to in Thursday night's episode and will be addressed more explicitly on-air when he returns in early April. But Daniels' failed experiment illustrates the value and risk of TV producers having this shiny new toy to play with.

To read the full thing, click here. Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Gone in 180 seconds

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" just as soon as move my hunting trophies to another room...

I'm a professional critic and therefore allegedly someone skilled at using words to describe why something was or wasn't good, and I feel like they're failing me in an attempt to capture the pure genius of the scene where Tami has The Talk with Julie. Long before Tami gave Eric her speech about not wanting to lose Julie's trust, you could see her struggling mightily between going all hellfire and brimstone or trying to be the cool mom who's her daughter's best friend, and it was funny and moving and scary and just amazing. Not that I expect this show to get much, if any, love from the Emmys, but that was Edie Falco in the coma episodes brilliant from Connie Britton. Peter Berg did not lie to her when he told her she wouldn't regret doing this role twice.

The entire sex story was masterfully handled from beginning to end. Even though I suspected NBC wasn't going to let a 15-year-old girl be deflowered on an 8 o'clock family drama -- especially since they've already cut the producers slack on letting the slightly older kids drink and have sex -- the scenes always felt honest, whether it was Saracen getting awful advice from Riggins, Smash and the guys (the camera phone thing immediately made me think of poor Antonella Barba, who appears to be Vote For the Worst's new favorite), another hilarious Landry shopping trip, Julie revealing her inner nerd to Tyra, or Saracen's discomfort at losing it in such a terrible environment. And the Coach/Mrs. Coach argument was almost as moving as The Talk. Kyle Chandler has really learned to be economical with his acting; he can make Coach seem on the verge of absolute fury with a slight twist of his mouth, and he had me laughing hysterically as he studied Saracen from the other side of the church service.

Speaking of church, damn! Buddy deserved every second of the public humiliation Tyra's mom gave him, but it was interesting to see Tyra and Lyla share that split-second look of understanding, if not actual sympathy.

There's a deleted scene from the Powderpuff episode that establishes Walt Riggins as having moved back in with Tim and Billy. When I talked to Jason Katims for the story I'm doing on deleted scenes (it's running Sunday), he said he felt okay losing it because they would re-establish the new living situation later. I think it worked fine. We knew Walt came to the playoff game, and there hadn't been anything to suggest he had skipped town yet.

Taylor Kitsch has gotten better as the season's gone along, but he's still better in silence (inviting the beating at the bar) than when he talks (defending his father to Coach). He's a fine tragic character, worse off in many ways than his sometime best buddy Street.

And speaking of which, a few other thoughts:

• I always like the Street storylines, but he's really disappearing into his own show, aided by the fact that Scott Porter, like Adrianne Palicki, looks five years older than everyone else. So what's his motivation here with Tattoo Girl? Desire to be with someone who's not in any way connected to his former life as The Next Peyton Manning? Belated payback for Lyla screwing Riggins? Either way, this was by far the better drama episode last night to feature a character flirting with a tattoo artist.
• I just want to say a few words in praise of Brett Cullen as Walt. Here's a guy who started out in soaps with the looks and seeming talent of several hundred other soap actors, someone whose resume is dotted with supporting roles on best-forgotten series like "Orleans" and "Legacy," but who's turned out to be quite the chameleon character actor in middle age. He was Vinick's born-again running mate on "West Wing," the treacherous Goodwin on the Tailies episode of "Lost" (and a crucial part of the best scene Michelle Rodriguez was ever involved in on that show), and he completely disappeared into playing this good-for-nothing golf hustler. Can someone please cast him in a good pilot next year instead of another "Pepper Dennis"? Pretty please?
• Isaac over at Throwing Things points out that Tyra has gone from glorified extra to someone who's integral to three current storylines: her mom and Buddy, Julie's budding delinquency, and Riggins' battle to avoid becoming his father. When I talked to Katims, I made my pitch for Tyra as strong safety as a means for giving her something to do; he laughed and said that he'd do it so long as I was willing to answer all the complaining phone calls from NBC. At this rate, he may not need to put her in pads.
  

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Let's go to the strip club (today)

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" coming up just as soon I speculate on how long the producers had to argue with NBC to show that one JV kid's acne...

A very strong episode, with one caveat that I'll get to in a bit. Let's take the silly before the serious.

Landry Clarke at a strip club? Absolute comic genius. The writers and Jesse Plemons have done such a wonderful job of establishing the ABC's of Landry that I started laughing at the very idea of him going there, well before he actually wound up in the dressing room. (Nice garnish: that one stripper nodding enthusiastically at Landry's speech about how they work hard for their money, so you better tip them right.)

The preview for this episode tipped off most of Coach and Mrs. Coach's scene, especially the "Is there anybody else I can talk to?" punchline, but it was still funny in context, plus there was a new capper with his reference to all three of them being scary. The Taylors have one of the most realistic, honest and entertaining marriages on TV. And am I the only one who keeps flashing back to Tami telling Tyra "I used to be like you" (or words to that effect) in an early episode? While Tyra's absolutely a bad influence on Julie, I also think Tami is protesting so vehemently because she identifies too much with Tyra.

Now, for the serious. I was so pleased by the nuanced way the show dealt last week with the Mac plot until now, how Mac's comments were unpleasant but not Tim Hardaway-level automatic proof of violent biogtry, how people like Coach and Riggins let their focus on the playoffs blind them to what needed to be said and done to defuse the situation, Smash's gradual awakening, etc. And I liked a lot of the material here: Mac's confession that he picked up some attitudes from his old man that he wishes he hadn't, Mama Smash's speech, Riggins finally standing up for Smash (and why didn't he tell Coach about the "tarbaby" comment after the fact?), the team being pelted with garbage while walking to the bus in full uniform, and that scary-ass traffic stop.

But I also feel like the show took the easy way out on Mac, both with Coach's line about him being the one who integrated the team and him saving the day with the redneck cops. First of all, if Mac was really the man responsible for integrating the Panthers, shouldn't that have come up really early in the whole media firestorm? Second, both bits -- and the nasty depiction of the rival team and its fans -- seemed to be a case of the writers trying to say, as Rich Heldenfels put it to me, "our racist is better than your racists." It was like the show went to a place that was really complicated and scary, and someone -- either the writers or NBC -- decided it was a little too scary to stay very long, so they wrapped things up neat and tidy. Rich wants to give the show the benefit of the doubt and assume that Smash and Mac's relationship will be an ongoing subject, but it looked from this seat like they put a bow on the whole thing.

Still, if there's any network show right now that deserves some benefit of the doubt, it's "Friday Night Lights." What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Girls will be boys

There's a part of me that just wants to let that picture speak for itself, but fish gotta swim and critics gotta write, so "Friday Night Lights" spoilers coming right up...

This show is really a testament to getting the details right. Any show can go for the big moments, like Tami feeling beat down by the kids or the black players staging their protest -- though few shows would do them as artfully -- but what really elevates "Friday Night Lights" are the little things. Things like Matt's grandma holding up a sign cheering on Julie as quarterback, or the way Mac unwittingly stepped so deeply into the reporters' trap that even they couldn't believe they had gotten him to pull an Al Campanis, or Julie teasing Coach about his guarded praise of her passing skills, or Coach being amused by Landry trying to exert his authority as ref, or the very clear logic behind why Matt chose Julie third, or...

You get the point. The small details are always so painstakingly-crafted, and usually so subtly. As soon as Tyra entered the car dealership, Marian and I both said, "Uh oh," as we both assumed she was going to find Buddy leaning her mom over the hood of a late-model sedan. To have it be just some late takeout made the point just as easily, and maybe even made it worse for Tyra, because she didn't have an excuse to blow up and go off on Buddy then and there.

(And speaking of Tyra, I appreciate that neither she nor Lyla come off as purely good or evil in their rivalry. Lyla was genuinely trying to be nice when she approached her in the hall, and Tyra had to get all nasty about it, but Lyla's had her own nasty moments, too.)

I'm glad they did the racial storyline, as the movie completely wimped out on this aspect of Bissinger's book. My only complaint was how tied it was to the Smash/Waverly relationship, and I'm completely bored by her. (Not to mention, I don't believe she'd be with him at any point, much less for this long.)

A few other random thoughts:

• I know Street was supposed to be the next Peyton Manning and all that, but they're still rushing the hell out of the quad rugby storyline by giving him the invite to training camp after he's been in the chair for all of five seconds.
  
• Also, am I nuts or have we seen Street driving already?
• I usually hate NBC's promos, but the one for next week's episode was awesome. "Is there anyone else I can talk to?"
• Coach's joy at belatedly getting to help his kid play quarterback brings up a question: why do they only have the one? Am I misremembering some earlier discussion of this? Because given their backgrounds and personalities, I can't see them stopping at one, especially if that one wasn't a boy Eric could play catch with.
• Out of curiosity, did anyone here go to a high school that didn't have a Powder Puff game? Mine did -- complete with cross-dressing male cheerleaders -- but Marian reacted like it was some kind of horrific foreign concept.
  
• Speaking of Powder Puff -- and getting back to the awesomeness of the above photo -- I think I've hit on a solution for two of the show's problems. There aren't enough recognizable players on the team (and no defensive players that we know of), and the writers don't know what to do with Tyra, so why not have her play strong safety? If nothing else, it would give Kyle Chandler new levels of disdain to play.
  

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Hey there, shaky shaky-cam

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" just as soon as I run a few suicide sprints...

I never got around to writing up last week's episode, but as I was contemplating it, I had a conversation with Fienberg about the obviously NBC-mandated changes the series had undergone lately. I pointed to the speechifying, the way characters who were originally presented as mysteries for us to unravel were giving regular monologues about their feelings and aspirations. Dan pointed to the more traditional cinematography, the loss of the jittery documentary look of the pilot and first few episodes. It wasn't that the show had become bad, just that it had lost many of its most distinctive elements -- had started to feel like just another TV show, albeit a very well-made one -- in a futile attempt to bring in more viewers.

I don't know if Kevin Reilly just had his back turned the week tonight's episode was produced, or if this was the point in the production cycle where Peter Berg and Jason Katims said, "Screw it; we're going back to making our show," or if it was just a fluke, but tonight's episode felt the most "Friday Night Light"-ish since very early in the season.

The shaky-cam made its triumphant return, along with a cameo appearance by the car window cam. While Taylor did a bit of monologuing with Smash, most of the interesting interactions featured things unsaid (Riggins father and son bonding by falling off the wagon at the same time) or said casually (Taylor having a laugh with Street). And I got chills when Smash gave his pre-game prayer all the way through the arrival of Mr. Riggins (even though I could see it coming), the first time the show's affected me deeply in a while. I know it would get old if they showed Smash's prayer every single week, but the use of prayer and religion has always been one of this show's goldmines, and it was good to see that back, too.

Not everything was perfect. Tyra and Julie are apparently best friends now -- even though Tyra looks like she's 10 years older than Julie -- as part of the ongoing Operation: Give Adrianne Palicki Something to Do. And Grandma Saracen, senile or no, seemed out of character both in the scene where Tyra gave Julie advice on how to manipulate Matt and the one where the rally girls kidnapped Matt in his boxers.

But I'm excited to see the next episode, just to see if this one was a fluke or a return to the original form. (Plus, I never object to seeing Hey It's That Guy Brett Cullen, here suitably seedy as Pa Riggins.)

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Blondes have more angst

I leave for the airport shortly, so some quick thoughts on "Friday Night Lights" before I go...

Definitely not one of my favorite episodes. In its best moments, "FNL" feels almost documentary-like in its authenticity, which is why I get uncomfortable when it starts acting like Just Another High School Drama, and the Saracen and Tyra stories both fell into the latter category.

A shrieking Tyra chasing her mom's abusive (and, compared to Tyra, tiny) boyfriend around the house with a poker? Would have been a great moment if we'd seen any of this dynamic before. Instead, Tyra's been the show's forgotten character (Landry gets more respect), popping up on occasion to snap at Lyla or Riggins, then walk off as someone comments on how long her legs are. So all the stuff with her mom (whose every appearance made me want to say, "Can I borrow your towel? My car just hit a water buffalo") was far too rushed to have any real impact.

Saracen's story, meanwhile, ended far too easily. A week ago we saw Matt so far at the end of his rope that he can't even see the rope, and now he's just hunky-dory sending his dad back to Iraq? They tried to sell us on the idea that nothing had changed, workload-wise, but again, they rushed the job too much for it to work. As with Tyra, this would have played out better over several more episodes. (Also, isn't Matt just the littlest bit concerned about his dad dying? I know Harry's not working in combat, but engineers are getting killed over there, too.)

Outside of the "Waverlash" joke (somebody on the writing staff hangs around message boards), Smash's subplot wasn't too special, either, with his big speech another "Hi. You're watching a fresh episode on the CW" moment. Really, if it wasn't for the Street story and the usual slice of Taylor domesticity, I would have written the episode off as a total loss.

What did everybody else think? See you all when I get to LA. Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Why Timmy can read

"Friday Night Lights" spoilers coming up just as soon as I figure out what to name my Jewish speed metal band...

Ah, so good to have it back, and especially on a night when I was feeling down about the end of "The O.C." Sure, "FNL" isn't likely to make it to next season, but on a night when I was mourning one intelligent teen drama, it was nice to have another to turn to.

First things first: I'm going to figure out a way to work "I'm crippled, and I want to listen to Nirvana!" -- or other variants, like, "I'm crippled, and I want to eat some fro-yo!" or "I'm crippled, and I want to watch Rocky III!" -- into everyday conversation. "This place is not well-built!" has joined "Is that something you might be interested in?" in my conversational dustbin, and this seems a good replacement.

Liked the montage of Street getting ready in the morning; it reminded me of a similar bit on "Ed" where we saw Eli get dressed. (Though, of course, Chill Mitchell is really paralyzed, where Scott Porter could go run track tomorrow if he wanted.) I have to assume that the "dirty, dirty, dirty quad porn" video was the reason for the vague parental advisory at the start of the episode, and I'm happy the show is dealing more with the realities of Jason's situation, even if the discussion is yet another "Murderball" lift. (The actor who plays Herc is a little too hammy, but his comment about Street's unit looking out for him by going limp was almost as funny as the Nirvana line.)

Riggins and Landry as new BFFs felt more TV-ish than the show usually gets, the sort of thing done not because it feels organic but because two underused characters need something to do. (Speaking of which, what the hell was that preview with Tyra for next week? Until I freeze-framed it, I thought that her abusive dad was Coach Taylor and the woman being abused was Tami. Very weird.) Still, both Crucifictorius and the stigmata-themed band names were hilarious, and I like Landry, so I'll deal.

(Another Riggins question: did I hear Tami right that he's taking the same class as Julie? Isn't Rigg a senior like Street, and Julie a sophomore, maybe a junior at most? Not that it's going to be an issue unless last night's ratings were a huge leap up, but I wonder how the show would have dealt with Tim, Jason and Lyla leaving school after the first season.)

How in the world is the show going to contrive to keep Coach from taking the U of Texas QB coach job? Better pay, bigger stage, not all of the pressure is on him, etc. On the other hand, since Mack Brown has already played a Dillon booster back in the pilot, will they have to cast someone else to play him? Or will he slip in some line about having an identical cousin who lives in Dillon?

The meat of the episode was obviously the non-triumphant return of Pa Saracen. Even with the long shot the director used on Tim hugging his dad, you could see the relief overwhelming him, the mistaken belief that his father was going to save him from this hell he had been living in. Turns out daddy just made things worse. His family is absolutely falling apart, his son is being asked to do things no 16 year old should have to if he has a father in the picture, and he doesn't want to come home? No. I'm sorry. No. I understand believing in a cause and the idea of finishing a job you started, but these are extraordinary circumstances.

So, does Taylor take in Matt? And, if so, is that the contrivance that keeps him from making the leap to college? Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Hi, Mrs. Coach

Not a whole lot to say about the latest "Friday Night Lights," save that Minka Kelly's line delivery drives me nuts, and that Kyle Chandler is comedy gold in his disgusted reactions to Julie and Matt. (Who told they could get a blanket? How dare they?)

Any guesses on what Waverly was really doing when she was allegedly in Africa? The obvious answer is that she was sent away to have a baby someplace discreet, but I'll leave the floor open for other options. Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Can you say "Members Only"?

Today's column looks at the beginning of the end for "King of Queens." Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" just as soon as I go looking for my piano key necktie...

Who would have thought when this show debuted that one of its strongest elements would be a fumbling romantic comedy subplot? And yet Saracen's awkward pursuit of Julie Taylor is always a weekly highlight, never moreso than last night. This was the funniest "FNL" has ever been, what with Coach's "At least she's not interested in a serial killer -- or one of the Rigggins," Landry playing personal shopper, Taylor's horrified response to the Members Only jacket and Julie's hoochie dress, the worthlessness of the QB One thing at the movie theater, Landry explaining why the grandma singing was the only thing he did right on the date, "Lance," etc. Is something going very wrong or very right when Taylor has as many funny lines as Landry?

And yet the "Mr. Sandman" scene separated the whole story from, say, what "One Tree Hill" would have tried. There's so much genuine pain in Matt's situation with his grandmother, the way he's been left to play both son, father, and, occasionally, grandfather, and to have his best friend and potential girlfriend witness that recurring role play made it even worse for him.

As for the rest of the episode, I liked Street and Tyra bonding over being cuckolded -- and the fact that, paralysis or no, Tyra didn't have anything in mind beyond getting drunk and making fun of their exes. Buddy finally got to show a human side in the way he comforted Lyla, we discovered that the Panthers' offensive linemen are capable of speech and independent thought, and Smash continued to get some belated character development.

My one negative: the Panthers need to have an easy win soon, or at least a game that they don't have to win on the very final play. Even as a hardcore underdog sports movie junkie who pumped his fist after Saracen's touchdown pass in the pilot, I'm getting tired of all the stirring comebacks and miracle passes/runs/laterals/etc.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

What Alan was watching a while ago

As I mentioned in the comments section for the morning column link, working as a solo critic has cut into my blogging time, and I've gotten weeks behind on commenting on some shows. So, while taking a break from today's marathon of "Sleeper Cell" season two, some quick thoughts on, in order, "Friday Night Lights," "Grey's Anatomy," "Gilmore Girls" and "Dexter," and if there's anything obvious I've left out, we can get a discussion going in the comments. Tally-ho and all that...

Well, turns out NBC didn't show the "Friday Night Lights" homecoming episode out of order, as Tuesday's show clearly took place after the previous one. This wasn't one of my favorite episodes, but even when the show isn't clicking, I can always count on the family dynamics at the Taylor household to keep me engaged. (Taylor had one line about how, contrary to opinion, he does understand women, that I really wish I had written down so I could cite it exactly. The phrasing was very nice.) I would care more about the poor, doomed Riggins brothers and the Street/Lyla/Riggins triangle if the actors playing Riggins and Lyla didn't feel better-suited to "One Tree Hill," and as fair as they've tried to play Street's recovery, him participating in a Murderball scrimmage four or five weeks after he was paralyzed? Huh? I get that it's TV, and that this was around the point where the producers saw the writing on the wall and started cramming as many ideas in as they could before cancellation, but would it have killed them to wait at least until the Panthers season ended?

(On the plus side, NBC is moving the show to Wednesdays at 8 in January, which gets it out of the way of "American Idol" and gives me a Wednesday night show I actually want to watch. Last night's schedule was so barren on every channel that I toggled between "Mythbusters" and the "Clerks II" DVD. But we already talked about Pillowpants and the Listerfiend back in July.)

I'm starting to think I'm not cut out to be a "Grey's Anatomy" viewer much longer. The turducken-sized Thanksgiving episode had the show firing on all cylinders in a way it hasn't since that time Coach Taylor blew up real good after the Super Bowl, and yet it still bugged the hell out of me. Again, we're in the Denny Duquette area where characters are doing indefensible things that both their friends and the audience are supposed to forgive them for in the name of friendship, characterization, whatever, and I just can't do it. When Meredith shut McDreamy down on the subject of whether she should have ratted out Burke and Cristina, it was close to brick-throwing time again. (Ditto Izzie expecting an apology from George when he had exactly zilch to apologize for, given the history and the current circumstances.) The show is still the show; I'm just at or near my limit for what I'll swallow to get to the good stuff.

Speaking of treasure being surrounded by trash, Paris and Doyle's hip-hop dancing was about the only thing keeping me conscious for most of the latest "Gilmore Girls." I like Michael DeLuise when he has a good script and/or director (notably as Sipowicz Jr.), but take either or both of those away and he's always a half-step away from offensive overacting; my head hurt so much listening to him that I barely even noticed the rest of the Luke subplot, and I've lost whatever interest I may have had in the drawn-out process of Lorelai realizing the mistake she made in marrying Christopher.

If I've been sparse in commenting on "Dexter," it's because the show is so consistent both in what it does and how well it does it, and there are only so many different ways I can compliment Michael C. Hall for acting like a man who's always acting or admire the artful framing of the murder scenes. Things have gotten veddy interesting, however, now that the Ice Truck Killer's identity is known to us, and Sunday's serial killer couples weekend to Dexter's ancestral home was a creepy change of pace. I haven't read the book, but knowing that there are sequels (and that the TV show is going to continue), I have a sense of where things are going. But I look forward to hearing at the end of the season how much the show borrowed from the novel and how much had to be invented for series TV purposes.

Back to watching Oded Fehr get kicked in the nuts a lot. To paraphrase a very wise man, "Sleeper Cell" season one had heart, but "Sleeper Cell" season two has knees to the groin. Click here to read the full post

Friday Night Lights: Smashed up

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" just as soon as I sober up...

Not my favorite episode, not by a long shot. We have Riggins' miraculous recovery from alcoholism, where a couple of days of sobriety make him vastly more articulate and the second coming of another fella by the name of Riggins. (Also, never ask a Canadian guy playing a Texan to use the word "about" in a sentence, okay?) We have Smash going from glorified bit player to Afterschool Special steroid user in the span of an hour, and minimal follow-up to the Voodoo situation. (Though, according to the TV.com episode guide, they skipped over an episode; unless production deliberately shot episodes out of order, this is going to be awkward down the road.)

But then there was the Jason Street subplot to make the rest of it more than palatable. Even when the rest of the show is taking narrative shortcuts or reverting to cliche, they continue to do right by this character and his story, and Scott Porter tends to get me choked up at least once a week.

And, hey, they managed to come up with a Tyra subplot that seemed at least tangentially connected to the rest of the show. Good on them.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Disappearing acts

Since "Lost" is about to go bye-bye for the next three months, I wrote a column expressing my dissatisfaction with a lot of what's happened this season.

Haven't seen "Gilmore" yet, but some thoughts on "Friday Night Lights" and "House" -- both of which featured characters who went without a trace at some point -- coming right up...

Well, based on the early numbers, it looks like the "Friday Night Lights" audition in the "Studio 60" timeslot didn't bring a single new viewer back to the Tuesday airing. Not that I expect the show to survive to next season anyway, but couldn't they at least tease me with false hope every now and then?

As for the episode itself, a much stronger effort than last week. I like that the show isn't ignoring the realities of Street's recovery (the no ejaculation rule is a bummer, though I would think/hope it's temporary), yet is willing to be just sunny enough to show him and his two backstabbing pals having a fine old time on their day trip. Taylor and Saracen both struggled in their own way between, as Matt put it, doing what's right for the team versus what's just right. They're essentially in the same situation: considered too young and inexperienced for the job, in the position because of Jason Street, constantly having their authority questioned, etc. One of the things I like most about this show is the natural rhythms of the dialogue, the way conversations circle back over the same handful of phrases ("He was promising things") without sounding like a Sorkin pedeconference, and either Saracen or Taylor tends to be at the center of those exchanges.

The writers are still struggling with what to do with Tyra, who parachutes in for a few scenes each week that have little to nothing to do with the rest of the cast. The shame of it is that the actress playing her seems much more talented than the one who plays Lyla, but she's a square peg right now. (Smash isn't doing much better, spotlight-wise, but at least he's on the team, and the previews next week suggest he's finally getting his moment.)

So with Voodoo gone and the last win all but overturned, how dead is their season? Can a Texas high school team with two losses get within sniffing distance of the playoffs? What's interesting is that we've now gone six episodes and only seen three games. If that pace keeps up, Berg and company may be able to save up on life without football stories for next season... ahh, who am I kidding? Let's move on before I get too depressed.

Nice to see Pruitt Taylor Vince, my favorite character actor whose name sounds like it's listed backwards, wearing a ginormous fat suit on "House," but the meat of the episode was Detective Tritter's roto-rootering of House's life and pill-popping. Wilson is a terrible liar, and I look forward to seeing how he and House get out of this mess. Back during the Vogler arc, people kept speculating that House would wind up saving Vogler's life. The writers avoided the thorn in the paw approach back then; can they resist that temptation again? And what the hell happened to Chase for the second half of the episode? Does he hate fat people that much?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Screw the cheerleader. Screw your friend.

Spoilers for "Heroes" and "Friday Night Lights" coming up just as soon as I get some cupcakes out of the oven...

On "Heroes," Claire's dad -- or H.R.G. (Horn-Rimmed Glasses), as NBC officially bills him -- is quickly gaining on Hiro in the favorite character sweepstakes. They even had equally hilarious reactions to phone news, Hiro to his future sword (the entire Peter/Hiro/Ando conversation was great), H.R.G. to the idea that someone has the power to stop time. With Jack Coleman becoming a regular and the way he's been portrayed the last few weeks, I'm wondering whether he's really evil or just morally gray. When he and his bald buddy abducted Matt Parkman, for instance, all they did was scan his powers and then send him home without his memory of their encounter.

If he's not the big villain, then maybe Niki is. We knew her mirror-self was willing to do things she wouldn't, and some people had even guessed that those bodies in the desert were the people D.L. had been accused of killing, but that was some hard-core badness from her last night. Her fight with D.L. was the first straight-up comic book-style fight, down to D.L. using the Vision trick of phasing his hand into an opponent's body and then solidifying it just enough to make them pass out from the pain. (At least, I assume she's just passed out, as I can't imagine NBC allowing them to kill off Ali Larter this quickly.) I wish the episode had ended on D.L. running out of the room with Michah, because the quick cut to Eden (aka Pixie Girl) sapped some of the cool cliffhanger juice, making two episodes in a row that didn't end right on a stunner.

Also, no Nathan, Parkman or Simone this week. I know Peter and Isaac need to get the painting from Simone, but I'm hoping the producers have started to realize her pointlessness and are easing her out to make room for other characters like Ando and H.R.G.

I'm damn curious to see the ratings for "Friday Night Lights" this morning. If it did even marginally better than "Studio 60," then that's likely all she wrote for Sorkin's Folly. If it did the same number, or even lower (and, with real football as competition, that wouldn't shock me), then NBC has some tough decisions to make.

It's just too bad the "FNL" people couldn't have thrown together a stronger episode for this unplanned Monday showcase. There were parts of it that were very strong (the team visit to Street's room), and overall it was fine, but compared to previous weeks, it felt like a drop-off.

In particular, I think they fumbled the resolution to the QB One issue, first by making Voodoo such an obvious screw-up that no coach in America would have left him on the field, and second by skipping over some of the obvious beats after Taylor made the switch (the crowd's unhappy reaction to Saracen's return, followed by Saracen beginning to play well, etc.). The Voodoo scene in coach's office painted the character as morally ambiguous enough that the writers could have either gotten more mileage out of him or, at least, made Taylor's decision much tougher. (Though I continue to love any scene where Taylor goes berserk on one of his players. Kyle Chandler usually plays such easy-going characters that I didn't know he had this type of screaming in him.)

The Tyra subplot felt divorced from the rest of the show and was made especially odd by the fact that, outside of her High School Slut-wear, Tyra looked roughly the same age as the scruffy young businessman. The show had already done a good job of establishing that she's a lot smarter than she looks and that she longs to get out of this one-horse town, so unless (as Marian guessed) she winds up pregnant as a result, not sure what the point was.

Whether it was the visit by the team (and, especially, Riggins) or he was going to do it on his own, glad to see Street decide to skip over the six months of self-pity and move directly towards training for some Murderball. I think I would feel more investment in the love triangle if the actors playing Lyla and Rigggins were better, but Street's cool.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Logan + Logan = ????

Thoughts on, in order, "Veronica Logan," "Logan Girls" and "Friday Night Logans" just as soon as I Logan my Logan with some Logan, and possibly top it with an order of Loganberry pancakes...

So what exactly are the differences between VM-Logan and GG-Logan? Both are sons of privilege, with abusive (or, at least in the case of Mitchum Huntzberger, emotionally distant) fathers, they surround themselves with obnoxious rich friends, know how to be polite in front of adults but generally behave like asshats except when they're around their respective girlfriend -- and even there, it can be iffy. Genetics aside, if Jason Dohring and Matt Czuchry tried to pull the Prince and the Pauper gag and traded places for a week, would anyone be able to tell?

Which, of course, made casting Czuchry as VM-Logan's long-lost half-brother on last night's "Veronica Mars" seem like such genius casting that it didn't occur to me that he was an impostor until he mentioned that he surfed. (The episode was called "Charlie Don't Surf," an "Apocalypse Now" tribute.) A nice showcase for Mr. Dohring and a better Logan/Veronica story than last week.

The "Just Shoot Me" reunion gave an interesting twist to the usual private eye infidelity case, in that Keith's client badly wanted her husband to be a cheat -- and not just because she liked having barefoot pizza parties with Keith. Looked like Keith wanted that, too. I am unspoiled on this, and am curious to see if she returns down the road.

The heavier focus on the rape storyline was welcome, though the amount of time spent on Logan Squared robbed it of some urgency, particularly at the end. I'm sure we'll deal with the mysterious Asian guy in the photograph next week, but it felt off to have Veronica clear the frat and then immediately go back to helping Logan without making any apparent effort to track this guy down.

Speaking of our mystery man, there was a "Lebowski" shout-out in that scene where Veronica said "The Chinaman is not the issue here," but the censors cut it. So we had to settle for the "Careful, man, there's a beverage here!" In other Things That Got Cut, the girl with the rat trap idea was at one point going to be Alia Shawkat's character from "The Rapes of Graff," but they couldn't get Shawkat to come back for some logistical reason. And I have to assume there were more Wallace scenes that wound up on the cutting room floor, because I know how carefully Rob and company try to dole out appearances by the non-Veronica/Keith/Logan characters, and they wouldn't waste one of Percy Daggs' episodes on a single scene, would they?

On to the show where the other Logan actually plays Logan, "Gilmore Girls" continues the hard sell on the Lorelai/Christopher relationship, arguably past the point they needed to. I think I understood Lorelai's point in the scene where she contrasted Chris abandoning Rory with Sherry abandoning GiGi, but it came across as her absolving him of all guilt because he was just a stupid kid. (As opposed to him continuing to float in and out of Rory's life through all of his 20s and most of his 30s...) And I'm surprised Lorelai or Sookie failed to mention the other pitfall of sending GiGi to Paris on her own: if Sherry suddenly becomes so gripped with maternal feelings that she doesn't want to give her back, Christopher's going to have a much harder time re-asserting custody across international borders.

While GG-Logan doesn't make me want to punch him in the face quite as often as when he was first introduced, I still don't care much about him or his relationship with Rory. But once again I'm relieved that the Rosenthal regime has characters actually expressing their feelings immediately instead of passive-agressively stewing for half a season. And wasn't that the Orbit gum girl as Logan's leggy colleague?

For me, the highlight of the episode -- outside of the look of pure, Stanley on Pretzel Day glee on Richard's face at the prospect of seeing the Emily in jail photos -- was the bad pickle smell, which was silly and broad but got just enough screentime that I didn't get sick of everyone's horrified reaction to it.

Finally, we have our one non-Logan-related drama of the evening in "Friday Night Lights." (And I tried really, really hard to find some kind of Logan-ish element. Closest I came was the fact that the actor who plays Voodoo is also on "The Game," which airs on the same network as both of the Logans.)

I don't know that this episode was quite as gripping as the first three, but I liked the extended focus on Saracen, as well as continued realistic friction in the Taylor marriage -- and the meeting of the two stories when Coach realized he had just suggested that his quarterback get his daughter into the back of a Volkswagen (or similarly uncomfortable place).

Questions: Is there any way the Street rehab storyline doesn't turn into "Murderball: The Series"? Will the writers need to make Voodoo commit some particularly heinous act to justify Saracen's continued status as QB One? And whatever happened to the good old days when high school sports rivals just stole each other's goat mascots?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post