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Amazon.co.uk Review
The first season of Friday Night Lights accomplishes something that few television dramas are able to do: It betters the 2004 film (starring Billy Bob Thornton) on which the series is based. Set in Dillon, Texas, where football--even on the high school level--is everything, Friday Night Lights is a compelling drama with a football subplot. Poignantly and effectively touching on racism, rape, steroids, jealousy, infidelity, and life-changing injuries, the series presents the inhabitants of Dillon as real people who are flawed, but remarkable in their ordinariness. Though the series struggled to find an audience during its inaugural year, it was a critical favourite thanks to some fine acting by leads Kyle Chandler (as Coach Eric Taylor) and Connie Britton (who portrays his wife, Tami).
Coach Taylor's career depends on his ability to get the Dillon Panthers to the state championship. If the team suffers a losing streak, he knows his family, which includes daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden), will no longer be welcome in Dillon. Britton, who also played the coach's wife in the film version, is a phenomenal actress who shares simmering chemistry with Chandler. Not content at just being the coach's wife, she lands a job as a counselor at the local high school. That position plays a pivotal role in the season finale, which leaves viewers wondering whether Eric will leave Dillon to accept a coveted coaching job with a university. Though the majority of the twentysomething actors appear too mature to portray high school students, they have the mannerisms of teens down pat. Gaius Charles is perfect as cocky running back Brian "Smash" Williams, who'll risk his health to make sure he gets a football scholarship to college. Local sweethearts Jason Street (Scott Porter) and Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) are the high school's golden couple. When a football injury leaves him paralyzed, he finds strength in what the future holds for him, but Lyla finds herself in a short-lived affair with Jason's best friend Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). Once the relationship comes out in the open, their classmates' reactions to the "traitors" show that sexual inequality is rampant even in the teen set. Tim's teammates briefly ostracise him, but just as quickly forgive him, especially since he's so valuable on the football field. But Lyla becomes persona non grata to the girls at school who take too much glee in calling the head cheerleader a slut. The hits she takes verbally are no less lethal than the ones the boys take on the gridiron. And the tentative relationship between Julie Taylor and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) is the best depiction of teenage love since Angela Chase fell for Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life. The actors do a wonderful job conveying the sweetness, pain, and hurt of falling in love without really understanding all of its implications. Peter Berg, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, has a strong presence as a writer on the series and evenly distributes the storylines between the kids and the adults. Friday Night Lights is a drama with teenage characters at its core. But the stories are universal. --Jae-Ha Kim
Synopsis
American Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States, but in Texas it's closer to religion. The first series of this award-winning show uses the game as focal point for each episode's structure, but the gridiron often takes the backseat to the more pressing issues of life in Middle America. The real star of the show is the fictional town of Dillon, a place that represents the struggle of hard-working-yet-flawed human beings getting through another year of life in a small community. The town's team, the Panthers, may be headed for the top, but can their coach (Early Edition's Kyle Chandler) and the players keep it together as the pressure of their personal lives threatens to knock them down?.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Wow, I'm not a sports enthusiast and just happened to watch a promotional clip on the web. Didn't take me long to check out the show on tv, and I'm forever grateful I did. It's just the best written, most realistic drama out there right now. I have yet to watch an episode that didn't move or satisfy me. I don't care about football, but there's something here for everyone, because this show has intelligence, heart and originality as well as humor. You really get to know these fictional people and you care deeply what happens to them. The truly unique thing is every episode is great, there is never any filler episodes. This show is a gem and I hope more people discover it soon.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Being a huge american football fan, i was a bit sceptical about a TV series based on the sport, and also it being a spin-off of a film and novel. But i was not dissapointed. It truely is one of the smartest and awe inspiring TV series to date. The actors are brilliant, especially Gaius Charles who plays Smash as well as Taylor Kitsch as Riggins.
The storylines touch on pretty much everything you would expect in a middle america town like Dillon. There is cheating, drug abuse, love affairs, love interests, the list is endless. but every single one is played to perfection.
And last but not least, Explosions in the Sky. They are all over the soundtrack and bring an element that no other music genre could bring to the show. If you like the series and like the music, i strongly suggest to pick up one of their cds and give it a good listen.
I'm looking forward to the release of the DVD and believe that ITV should give the show the respect it deserves and put it on ITV1 rather than ITV4 which is, well, rubbish to be honest.
The storylines touch on pretty much everything you would expect in a middle america town like Dillon. There is cheating, drug abuse, love affairs, love interests, the list is endless. but every single one is played to perfection.
And last but not least, Explosions in the Sky. They are all over the soundtrack and bring an element that no other music genre could bring to the show. If you like the series and like the music, i strongly suggest to pick up one of their cds and give it a good listen.
I'm looking forward to the release of the DVD and believe that ITV should give the show the respect it deserves and put it on ITV1 rather than ITV4 which is, well, rubbish to be honest.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
FNL is one of the best tv series' I've seen. I initially watched it because of the American Football aspect, but my girlfriend who has no interest at all loved the programme too.
It deals with all, and I mean pretty much ALL, of the cliched High School issues. But surprisingly it manages to handle them in an intelligent and unpatronising way.
Chances are that by reading this you've already seen it and know how good FNL is, but if you're thinking about checking it out for the first time, don't wait. It's worthy of all the hype. I can understand ITV sticking it on ITV4, but it had no advertising at all, and for an award-winning series I find that strange.
It deals with all, and I mean pretty much ALL, of the cliched High School issues. But surprisingly it manages to handle them in an intelligent and unpatronising way.
Chances are that by reading this you've already seen it and know how good FNL is, but if you're thinking about checking it out for the first time, don't wait. It's worthy of all the hype. I can understand ITV sticking it on ITV4, but it had no advertising at all, and for an award-winning series I find that strange.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant
This is an absolutely tremendous series, gripping, human and moving. I am not an American football fan but that doesn't matter a jot. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Sweet Acid
Excellent soapy fare
This series, one I'd never heard of, came to me highly recommended by an intelligent acqaintance, and indeed turns out to be not too bad at all: if you like, it's a slightly... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Stuart Wilson
Waiting for complete season...
As much as I'd love to own this, I'd rather wait to see if they will be bringing out the entire boxset of 1 -5 on region 2. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Em
Fabulous series!
This is one of those series that seems to have gone under the radar in the UK. We were hooked from the very first episode and it was compulsive viewing. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. Timothy Allen
Where is Season 2 Region 2?
Loved this series, the best watch in ages. JUST wished they had SEASON 2 for REGION TWO!!!!! DVD players!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will someone sell IT
Will someone sell IT
Published 5 months ago by friday nights lover
Motion sickness...
Friday Night Lights is brilliant BUT I really HATE the camera work. The constant movement of
the camera gives me motion sickness. Read more
the camera gives me motion sickness. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Paula Johnson
Underrated tv gold
I absolutely love this tv show.
I had bought it when i broke my foot as i was housebound for 11 months in plaster and was going stir crazy and it was on sale for £10 and... Read more
I had bought it when i broke my foot as i was housebound for 11 months in plaster and was going stir crazy and it was on sale for £10 and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sweetlilac
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS FOREVER
What a pity that this series has been pegged as male/sport/teen drama. This is truly one of the best series ever created and it is even more impressive that it has been produced... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Gill
Awesome movie and an even better tv series
Having enjoyed the movie with Billy Bob Thornton so much, I just had to watch the series too. I was not disappointed at all. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Dunners44
not for me
Actually I hated it but respect the views of others who liked it. Must be my age or something but I felt it was for an audience aged about 10 to 18. I am not. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2010 by misfit
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