Joint Subcommittee Meeting on the 50-Yard Line
Today’s top news story: Season One of Friday Night Lights is out on DVD today. Y’all should all go rent it, cause the new season starts in October, and you’re gonna want to get in on that — it is the best show on network television, and if you know how much TV I watch, that firmly-held opinion should seriously impress you.
Please for a minute put aside your prejudices against Texass, football, Texass football, and whatever else kept you from watching this last season; Billy Bob Thornton has nothing to do with it, nor does George W. Bush, and the football qua football is not the point, really. I hate football, myself, but I started watching this show to see how closely it hewed to my experience of small-town Texass and its football obsession — turns out, it hewed so closely that it gave me the howling fantods week after week, for reals.
The writing is AMAZING, the setting is ugly-beautiful (they use natural lighting and real locations wherever possible), the kids — while admittedly prettier than your average small-town Texass kids — are kickass actors, and while there are occasional minor details to quibble over (e.g. Coach’s wife wouldn’t have had to look for a job — there’d have been a niiice cushy one all lined up for her from the get-go, on the district’s dime), barely a note rings false; they get to the very marrow of what it’s like to live in a town for which high school football is the end-all, be-all, whether you personally give a flying fuck about the sport or not. The good, the bad, the very very ugly — it’s all there. It’s like these are not fictional characters played by actors — they’re real people, living real lives, and you can’t help thinking about them in between episodes; it’s like you know them personally and you kind of live or die with their triumphs and defeats.
FIRST AND TEN, DO IT AGAIN, RENT! THIS! SHOW!
This post dedicated to DHS Eagles #80, my fave football player of all time. It was always a thrill to watch you play.
Please for a minute put aside your prejudices against Texass, football, Texass football, and whatever else kept you from watching this last season; Billy Bob Thornton has nothing to do with it, nor does George W. Bush, and the football qua football is not the point, really. I hate football, myself, but I started watching this show to see how closely it hewed to my experience of small-town Texass and its football obsession — turns out, it hewed so closely that it gave me the howling fantods week after week, for reals.
The writing is AMAZING, the setting is ugly-beautiful (they use natural lighting and real locations wherever possible), the kids — while admittedly prettier than your average small-town Texass kids — are kickass actors, and while there are occasional minor details to quibble over (e.g. Coach’s wife wouldn’t have had to look for a job — there’d have been a niiice cushy one all lined up for her from the get-go, on the district’s dime), barely a note rings false; they get to the very marrow of what it’s like to live in a town for which high school football is the end-all, be-all, whether you personally give a flying fuck about the sport or not. The good, the bad, the very very ugly — it’s all there. It’s like these are not fictional characters played by actors — they’re real people, living real lives, and you can’t help thinking about them in between episodes; it’s like you know them personally and you kind of live or die with their triumphs and defeats.
FIRST AND TEN, DO IT AGAIN, RENT! THIS! SHOW!
This post dedicated to DHS Eagles #80, my fave football player of all time. It was always a thrill to watch you play.
posted by Gleemonex at 12:53 PM
8 Comments:
So, I tried to watch one episode of this show last year and was thoroughly confused and got bored so I gave up on it.
That said, you should encourage your readers to GO OUT AND BUY the show on DVD because it comes with a money-back guarantee if you're not 100% satisfied. THAT is how confident the producers are in the show. They will return your dollars if you are not hooked!
Whoa, really? That's some confidence. I'd back it too, if I didn't have kids ta feed, Jack.
It is an hourlong drama with a lot of characters, so I would advise giving it a couple eps to develop.
Just think, for instance, the sad pale life I'd have if I'd've given up on Deadwood after the first ep like I almost did (because I found it confusing) ...
my favorite show too!! well after the sopranos...but thats a mute point (as my co-worker would say)...
sometimes i watch it at my desk during lunch..nbc has all the shows on their website...
I'm crazy busy and have vowed that this season I will NOT add any new shows to the tivo schedule...but you know I'm THIS CLOSE to renting FNL Season I.
To tell the truth, I'm scared of it. I have repressed those football (drill team!! pep rallies on the square!!) memories for a long time and I would hate for my husband to see my face as it all comes flooding back.
But I might do it anyway. Please tell me who #80 is. I have an idea, but I'm not sure.
Do it ... doooooo iiiiit ...
It's seriously weird how all those memories do come rushing back, with force. Straange feelings, great show.
#80 is who you think he is -- the Hip Hop Lawyer. ;-) I should probably have also mentioned Eagles head cheerleader L., who as far as I know, doesn't blog, but shares the same parents w/me and HHL, heh.
i may be missing out. i've stayed away from this show for 2 reasons: (1) its on a broadcast teevee network, and (2) i'm scared it will amount to a mockery, a defilement similar to that found in "Varsity Blues". But I hear you saying that #2 is not the case... so maybe I'll go ahead and put it on the list.
by the way, the head cheerleader came for a visit very recently, and she was such the picture of normality that it kinda freaked me out.
"Varsity Blues" -- ugggh! All I can remember about that was the obese lineman who CHUGGED SYRUP from the BOTTLE. GodDAMN. I swear to you, FNL has precisely zero to do with that kind of assclownery.
The head cheerleader has recently been impressing me with an unusual amount of normality, as well ... dare we hope things have taken a turn?
Oh, and also: no Van Der Beek.
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