Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Friday Night Lights Season 2 premier

I've just finished previewing the second season premier of Friday Night Lights (airing on NBC on Friday, Oct 5 @9pm). Its not as great as the first season but still wonderful. The complex characters and relationships are still there. Julie faces a dilemma in her relationship with Matt that Ive seen happen to real-life couples more than once. We don't get to see enough of Riggins, Street or Smash but Tyra and Landry get some much deserved screen time. There is a distinct danger with their storyline of becoming over dramatic along the lines of more of an OC or One Tree Hill kind of show as opposed to the real-life based character driven stuff of the first season. The episode's most shining moment was the brilliant Connie Britton's silent tears after her conversation with her husband- she's easily the most underrated actress on TV. I don't like that Landry is trying out for the football team though. I find when a show is centered around a certain activity its important to have a couple characters who aren't rooted in that activity to ground the show. For example, Alias was strongest when Sydney had a life outside the CIA from which she had to hide her real identity- it gave the show more dynamics. By integrating Landry into the team it seems forced and unreal. I found the final moments of the episode kind of confusing since they were giving out the state champ rings (and coach Taylor was giving them out) but Landry was in uniform so I was unsure whether it was a flashback. In fact the whole episode was strange because it skipped ahead 8 months from where we left off with very little exposition as to what had happened since we left. Also, I could have sworn Riggins was supposed to graduate last year. And why is Tyra's molester all of a sudden following her? it seemed as though she hadn't seen him in 8 months and now he shows up? it seemed badly constructed as a whole- but then again, I'm picky, really picky. The show as a whole still is the best character drama out there and I will be watching the premier again when it airs for real in October.

No comments: