Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is a great show. It does not have the very clean-cut camera work like other successful drama series. It has more of a in-your-face documentary style of filmmaking. I think there is a level of honesty that not many other television shows have been able to portray. I think this rawness is what makes the show so great to watch. At least in the first season that is or when it doesn’t involve murder or a meth dealer obsessed with ferrets.

As you watch the show you feel like a part of the town and the football team. You connect with the characters, cry with them, laugh with them. It is like you are actually a part of their story.

The soundtrack will always be one of my favorites. I will always associate Explosions in the Sky with Friday Night Lights. There are such great instrumental songs played throughout the series at exactly the right time. The songs really emphasize the emotions of the show.  The most memorable song is the opening sequence theme song "Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky.

The Friday Night Lights opening sequence is also amazing.  The compositions of the shots are put together in a very cool way. There are multiple shots dissolving into each other slowly so at one point you see them at the same time. I would post a video of the opening credits but it seems that NBC has removed it from everywhere.

One of my favorite moments has nothing to do with football. It is a sex talk between a Tami (Connie Britton) and her daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden). A situation that is often used in television as comic relief. However, this speech is very real and emotional. Just reading the text doesn’t give the scene justice but I can’t find the clip anywhere. It can be found in season 1 episode 17:

“Don’t you smirk at me right now, I am very upset! You are not allowed to have sex! You’re 15 years old! It’s not just one body part going into another body part, and the fact that you think that it’s just one body part going into another body part makes me real clear on the fact that you really are not ready for this. And I need you to be able to hear that. I need you to be able to hear me say that to you. Let me tell you what the big deal is. Let me tell you what can happen. What can happen is that you can be hurt. And you can be degraded. And you can become hard and you can become cynical and I don’t want that to happen to you. This is something that’s special. It’s something that’s meant for people who are in love. And you can wait. I want you to be able to talk to me about it."  -Tami Taylor

Most of the time when you think of Friday Night Lights you think football but it’s much more than that. It’s about love, it’s about life, it’s about loss, and it’s about breaking free of the circumstances one is born into. It’s a fantastic show. I hope everyone who hasn't seen it will watch at least the pilot and then hopefully the first season.