Crimestoppers versus Lawyers: The State of Modern Television Folds Inward Yet Again Tonight

Three major premieres tonight, and all three reflect the current TV tendency to solve crime. Whether this is because we like the comfort of watching square-jawed heroes catch bad guys before we shuffle off to bed or because we like to unwind puzzles or because there’s something in the SAG contract guaranteeing the opportunity to [...]

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Gets Another Two Seasons

Once again, the Dillon Pathers live to fight another day–NBC and DirecTV have officially worked out a deal for a two-season, 26-episode pickup for critically lauded but ratings-challenged drama Friday Night Lights.
DirecTV will continue to premiere episodes of the series commercial-free before they air on NBC, with the two entities sharing costs. Production is expected [...]

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS “The Giving Tree”: A Quiet Place to Sit and Rest

We’ve never entirely been able to figure out why brilliant, nuanced, detailed shows can’t find an audience. Why won’t people watch Arrested Development or The Wire or Pushing Daisies or Firefly? Even with recent rumors that the show might live to see another season, we sometimes wonder why people just won’t watch Friday Night Lights [...]

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Renewal Buzz

It seems almost too good to be true, but Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello is claiming that NBC and Direct TV are in active talks to continue their Friday Night Lights partnership. Even better, they’re reportedly looking for a two-season pickup. After the marked improvement we’ve seen in the show this season, that would certainly be [...]

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS “Hello Goodbye”: Eyes on the Prize

One of the reasons the characters on Friday Night Lights dig themselves into trouble is because they are constantly looking over their shoulders. (It’s so bad you’d think the entire Texas landscape would be covered with pillars of salt). Matt can’t stop looking over his shoulder to see JD McCoy gaining on him. Smash can’t [...]

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS “Tami Knows Best”: Team, Team, Team, No One More Important Than The Other

People do awful, cruel, and just plain brainless things in the name of sport. Take, for example, fans setting off flares in the stands at the Australian Open this week. Heck, 43 percent of the bad behavior in Dillon, TX, is related to football (the other 57 percent, apparently, is related to sex. There’s a [...]

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS “I Knew You When”: Please Let Them Figure This Out

I have a hard time watching Friday Night Lights. This isn’t because of their often ridiculous football, or even because of often ridiculous plot contrivances like murders or Tami Taylor, Girl Principal (“Hi, y’all! I’m Tami Taylor, and I’ve been working at this school for a couple of years now, but I had no idea [...]

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Return Tonight

Dear NBC/Universal,
See, this is why The Peacock is a fourth-place network and why you will be purchased by the Sheinhardt Wig Company someday. Two of the most acclaimed shows in what passes for your stable these days (since you own the Sci Fi Network, too), Friday Night Lights and Battlestar Galactica, return with new seasons [...]

30 ROCK, MAD MEN, CLOSER Top SAG Noms

This year’s Screen Actors Guild nominations, announced this morning, seem to look an awful lot like last year’s SAG nominations. There were only a few surprises, among them well-deserved nods for Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss and Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union. Also, oddly, this is the first year that House has been nominated for [...]

THE WIRE, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Recognized by WGA

The Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East today announced nominations for outstanding achievement in television, radio, news, promotional writing, and graphic animation during the 2008 season. Obviously, we only care about television. And we’re excited, because finally someone has given The Wire and Friday Night Lights their due. And [...]