Friday Night Lights, the TV series

Greetings. I’ve just finished watching the premier of “Friday Night Lights,” on NBC. First impression: this could be big; this could be really big. This is coming from someone who’s read the book a couple of times, seen the movie a few times, and as of a month or two ago, obtained the DVD of the movie. So, to say that I “like” the story might be understating the fact just a little.

For those that don’t know, Friday Night Lights follows the Permian High School panthers football team of Odessa, Texas. The book and movie were pretty close in content. At times where the movie varied from the book, it didn’t take anything away from the book at all. I used to be picky about movies that weren’t exactly like their respective books. Now though, as long as the movie stays more or less true to the over all picture of the book, I don’t mind. In fact, if the movie enhances the book and even, if possible, surpasses it, then all the better. I’m not sure if the Friday Night Lights movie does this with is book, but that’s another topic.

Anyway, getting back to the TV series. If the TV show continues to follow the over all picture of the book, of having plenty of hard hitting football, dialog, and maintaining the themes of the book and movie before it, then I don’t see any reason why we can’t get these United States excited about Texas high school football. True, there are some differences in the TV series from the book and movie before it, such as the name of the town and the names of the coaches, players, and other key people, but the rest of the plot looks to be the same. One difference I noticed right off is that the quarterback of the Panthers was injured and looks to be sidelined for the remainder of the season. In the book and movie, it was their running back. However, the second string QB looked to be pretty good himself, once he took a few snaps that is. I found myself cheering for the panthers to pull the game out and win. There’s a sign of a good show when you are rooting for the “good guys” in the first episode. My hope is that they won’t dip into the diverse issues of high school and lose sight of the intention of the main story line, that of the football team and its season. Time will tell on that front.

For those that missed the premiere of the show, there will be an encore performance tomorrow night on NBC at 7 Central time.

Another interesting side note: the producer for the movie Friday Night Lights, produced this first episode on television. Someone else will do the rest of the season I’m sure, but that’s pretty cool. When watching this pilot episode, I was able to tell the touches of the movie’s producer and where he enhanced the show. There aren’t many shows that I sit down to watch these days, at least not on a regular basis. This one has already been entered into my note taker’s calendar though. Enjoy, and “Let’s go panthers!” Or, as they say in the book and movie, “Mo-jo, mo-jo, mo-jo.”