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Lights Out

February 11, 2011, 8:49 am » Brett McCracken

On Wednesday night, Friday Night Lights aired its series finale on DirecTV, a few months before the entire season will air again on NBC. After five years and five stellar seasons, the under-rated show ended its run, and in characteristically poetic, elegiac fashion.

I remember back in the summer of 2006 when I first saw the pilot for Friday Night Lights. I was writing a Fall TV preview for Relevant and so the networks sent me all the DVD pilots of their new shows that season (including 30 Rock, Heroes & Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip… remember that one?). I had been a fan of the Peter Berg-directed film version of Lights, but I was admittedly skeptical about NBC’s serialized version. The pilot floored me. The characters were instantly real, recognizable, sympathetic. The solemnly nostalgic tone and uplifting ethos were evident from the get go. Coach Taylor and his motivational speeches. “We all fall.”

Tags | Arts and Media | Friday Night Lights | TV

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Turn on the Lights

October 29, 2010, 8:42 am » Brett McCracken

The first episode of the 5th (and sadly final) season of TV’s best show, Friday Night Lights, aired last night. It’s absolutely tragic that only 9 more episodes remain in what TV history will surely document as one of the sharpest highlights of the waning days of the network era. NBC’s creative arrangement with DirecTV to co-finance Lights and air the show twice (I’m watching it on DirecTV now… but it will air on NBC sometime in 2011) is a fittingly transitional model for a show that thrives on the tension between old and new, nostalgia and moving on.

Tags | Arts and Media | Friday Night Lights

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Best TV of the 2000s

November 2, 2009, 8:53 am » Brett McCracken

In 2020, will there be TV anymore? Who knows. But on the off chance that the death of television hasn’t been greatly exaggerated and is indeed imminent, we can at least celebrate the good twilight years that were the 2000s. In case TV fades into oblivion or merges with the Internet or something, this wasn’t such a bad decade to have ended on.

Here are my picks for the best TV shows of the decade:

1) Friday Night Lights (NBC, 2006-present): This show, based on a movie that was based on a book, became the best adapted television show of all time. More than a high school football show, FNL is beautiful rendered, stunningly mature look at Middle America. It’s close to perfect on almost every level and one of the great dramas of the contemporary network era.

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Why You Should Watch Friday Night Lights

January 14, 2009, 9:58 am » Brett McCracken

I was born and raised on the banks of the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a sandy and humid spot to grow up—full of pecan trees and azaleas and armadillos. People were nice, and most everyone seemed to be working hard to support their families and maybe earn enough to put in a below-ground pool. And football was huge. From elementary school on up, it was the thing to do.

I remember some great Friday nights when I was about 10, watching our local high school team (the Jenks Trojans) playing at their stadium across the bridge, on the other side of the river. On Fridays at school, everyone wore school colors (maroon), and there were occasionally pep rallies. Sometimes the high school players would come in their jerseys and make an appearance at an elementary school assembly. We all thought that was pretty cool.

Tags | Friday Night Lights

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My Favorite Things of 2008

December 18, 2008, 12:43 pm » Brett McCracken

Following in the footsteps of Fraulein Maria (and Oprah too, I suppose), here are a few of the things that have been my favorites in 2008:

The buildup and payoff of The Dark Knight: The anticipation of this film, especially following the passing of Heath Ledger, was astronomically huge. No film could ever live up to hype like this. But The Dark Knight did. It more than earns the “best comic book movie ever” moniker. Seeing this film on opening night was one of the joys of my summer (and seeing it later on IMAX was also a thrill).

Almond croissants: My love affair with almond croissants goes back longer than this year, but I think it reached some sort of major turning point in 2008. It got to the point that no matter where I was—coffee shop, bakery, hotel—I would order an almond croissant. When I was in England this summer I think I had at least one a day. Really, they are quite amazing.

Friday Night Lights on DirecTV: Season 3 of Friday Night Lights premiered and has aired exclusively on DirecTV this fall, and it has been my Wednesday night mainstay. What an amazing show this is. I am continually surprised from week to week at how it sustains its high quality. Truly one of the best things on TV. It will air on NBC starting on January 16. Get into it! You’ll not be sorry.

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Lights Out

Turn on the Lights

Best TV of the 2000s

Why You Should Watch Friday Night Lights

My Favorite Things of 2008

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