Yes, I did just see the season opening installment of Friday Night Lights. And it would seem odd to be watching anything to do with football. Except for the fact that there is a fresh, tidy blanket of snow outside. But in Dillon, Texas, it is August and it is hot. Are we confused? Only if we are unable to separate tv from reality. Don't get me started on reality tv, which is a whole 'nother bucket of Gatorade. In preparation for tonight's viewing, I have been brushing up on Season 1 of FNL. When it originally aired, I didn't get in on the action until the Mud Bowl episode. Twenty of twenty-two! After that I did see a few earlier shows, but still had a number of gaps in the story that I wished to fill in. And in the spirit of good things coming to those who wait, earlier this week I picked up Season 1 on dvd for ten bucks!! I have viewed the first nine installments including a short documentary on the making of the series and how it made its leap from the big screen to the small. Also included are deleted scenes for many of the shows. A detail that I really enjoy and appreciate about FNL is how fluid the cast has been over its five year run. Students move away and others arrive in the hamlet of Dillon. They graduate and move on. The adult characters weather serious, life-altering situations. They make mistakes and at times triumph over them. They seem so very much like real people with real lives. And for me, that's what makes it interesting to watch. That and easy on the eyes Kyle Chandler. Like I've typed before, I don't give a flying fig about football. But I'd follow Coach Taylor through a cloud of hornets just to massage the frown from his forehead and hand him a cold one. You've gotta love a dad who plays ping-pong with his daughter while handing out fatherly advice. Go Panthers! I mean Lions.
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