Friday Night Lights and the Benefits of Binge-Watching

Over the Summer, my family decided to take a huge leap into the 21st century and not only buy a new TV to replace our 20+ year-old model, but to also spend an extra $8 per month on Netflix's streaming service. This opened up a world of possibilities; my dad could watch old episodes of Star Trek, my mom could finally catch up on Mad Men, and I had three whole months to binge-watch to my heart's content.

After re-watching Breaking Bad, I decided to take what I thought would be a brief detour to the world of Friday Night Lights. I quickly discovered, however, that the town of Dillon, Texas had a certain magical quality about it, and I soon found myself falling deeper and deeper under its spell. All of the notions that I had about the show - that it would be a conservative, cliched story about a football team vying for an ever elusive spot at the Texas State High School football championship game - were thrown out the window after the first episode. (SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)

Is it cliche at times? Certainly. But the fact that the Dillon Panthers end up winning the State title is in no way reflective of the show as a whole. In the pilot episode, all star, pretty boy quarterback Jason Street, who was predicted to lead the team to victory and maybe one day even play in the NFL, is paralyzed and told that he will never walk again. Throughout the show, characters are hurt, cheated on, lied to, and forced to deal with the hardships that come with being in high school, a football program, or any kind of relationship. It can be dark, and not everyone has a happy ending.

But through all the soapy drama and football action alike, there is one constant: Coach Eric Taylor. Played with a steel jawed, sparkling-eyed confidence by the incredible Kyle Chandler (who won the Emmy for best actor in a drama series for his performance in FNL's fifth and final season), Coach Taylor is everything that this show stands for. He is a symbol of hope for those who have none, and commands attention whenever he is on screen. Youtube videos can't do him justice, but for what it's worth, here's a highlight reel.

So I'll admit it: Friday Night Lights got me hooked. I watched the whole series, all five seasons, in just under two months. Now, this may not be binge-watching in the truest sense of the word (I've known people who have plowed through the show in a matter of weeks) but I still watched it much quicker than the creators ever intended it to be watched. Some people claim that this ruins the integrity of the show by not allowing you to connect to the characters as much as you should be and by also helping to promote the "gotta have it all right now" attitude that our generation tends to live by. Hell, Jim Pagels, a columnist for Slate.com, wrote a very convincing argument against binge watching. Read it here.

Maybe it's just my college student mentality, but I have to strongly disagree. Not only are sites like Netflix and Hulu Plus a resource for television students like myself, but they offer a TV watching experience that is 100% tailored to the viewer. If I wanted to watch three episodes of FNL back to back to back, there was nothing (besides my job) that could stop me from doing so. On the flip side, if I was busy for a few days straight and not able to watch an episode, I didn't have to worry about missing anything, since I knew that whenever I got back, Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen and all of my other favorite Dillon Panthers would be there, waiting for my return.

Which brings me to another point; all of the TV characters that I've felt closest to, that have connected with me on a deeply personal level, have come from shows that I've binge-watched. Whether it be Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad or the more recent Coach Taylor, these characters have all left their mark on me. It's not that I now find watching shows on a week to week basis to be boring: it's that I have had the experience of truly immersing myself into a world for two month's time that it's now hard to be torn in and out of that world once per week. The times are changing, and TV is learning to change with it. I'm just along for the ride.

I just finished Friday Night Lights, and after I choked back my manly tears, I got the feeling that you get when you finish a really great book and realize that everything is over; that there's no more story to tell. But with the recent news that Connie Britton (Mrs. Taylor) has a copy of a script for a potential FNL movie, the Dillon dream may live on after all. That sounds like pretty great news to me: any chance to hear Coach give one more goosebump-inducing speech or see Tim Riggins wistfully look off into a Texas sunset is an opportunity that I can't miss out on. The only advice I have to give for everyone involved with the possible film?

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't Lose.