Friday Night Lights...
Dec. 30th, 2006 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSo, decided to take a breather today and watched the Friday Night Lights marathon on Bravo - only missed two episodes (most of the pilot that started at 9am, due to the fact that I slept late and got out of the shower by 9:45) and the episode at 3pm (took a walk - can only take so much tv in one offing. And no, I couldn't tape it or Tivo it since don't have that capability.)
When I told Wales I was going to do this the other day, her response was: "I thought you didn't like that show." My reply:"Well to be fair haven't given it a chance, and it's not the sort of show you can just jump in on. Very serialized."
The serialized bit is true. It's easier to pick up the thread in 24, Lost, or Grey's Anatomy than it is in this thing. You can't jump into it easily - it would be like jumping into the middle of a book or walking into a movie half-way through - granted you can do this with some books and movies (comic books come to mind) but not literary ones. And I have to say, upon seeing the whole thing now and not just fifteen minutes here and there - the series is not at all what I expected.
Fascinating and incredibly textured series with all sorts of interesting layers. Have a few quibbles with it. Don't love the teen love triangle - which I found annoying trite at first but after awhile shrugged off due to the performances and how it revealed interesting things about other characters not directly involved yet still oddly affected by it. And I'm struggling a little with the portrayal of female characters. But it is, after all, a series about a highschool football team - so you can't really expect to see that many women front and center - except to the extent they affect the men's lives, which is as girlfriends, mothers, sisters, daughters, teachers, and guidance counselors. The point of view in this series is predominately male and it should be. Just as Grey's Anatomy's pov is predominately female. This is better shot than Grey's, but not necessarily better written. They are different entities though and I'm not sure it is fair to either to compare them. Be like comparing BattleStar Galatica to Doctor Who or Heroes to Lost.
Outside of BattleStar Galatica and possibly Heroes, I think Friday Night Lights may be the most visually stunning series currently on non-premium channel TV (please note I have not seen the ones on Showtime and HBO (The Wire comes to mind) - so am not counting those nor am I certain it is fair to, since HBO and Showtime have different budgetary constraints and guidelines - you do not for instance have to make time for commericials, worry about network censors, or being allowed to finish a season. Sure they cancel series - but at least you get a year's worth. And you get to show the series in one shot - not in jagged spurts.). Rarely are you stuck in rooms watching people talk, lost of open shots, outside locals, movement, and a good use of silence. The characters and action feels real not idealized, as does the town of Dillon, Texas. There's a sense of cinemagraphic realism going on here, depicting scenes like you'd see them in reality or within a film, as opposed to the lower budgeted sound stages. (This show clearly has a huge budget - you can tell just by how it is filmed.) Use of color is also evident, the palette is subdued and heightened in just the right places, the deep blues of the teams jersey's to the paler colors of the rehab ward and the rehab scrimmage. Watching this series, much like watching BSG, feels like watching a film made for television or a cinematic novel. And makes one hunger for a wide-screen HDTV.
That's the direction. What about dialogue and writing? Outside of one trite subplot, which grew on me and was more or less justified by the finale episode before the break entitled It's Different For Girls, the dialogue and plotting are stellar. The trite subplot is the teen love triangel - which again is saved by the chemistry and acting of twenty-somethings portraying the teens and that episode. They do have chemistry with one another, and do sell the pathos of it, even if it feels like a retread of the Guinevere/Lancelot/Arthur triangle. Also the writers wisely don't focus on it too much and use it to provide insight to other characters - such as the new starting quarterback, a wet-behind the ears kid who is more artist than jock, the coach of the team, and the team themselves. In the last episode - the one I mentioned above that justifies this subplot, the focus is more on the women and is entitled "It's Different for Girls". Here we see a glimsp of how the times really haven't changed for women, no matter how many of us read or have been influenced by Betty Friedman's The Feminist Mystigue. It's an excellent episode and more than makes up for the triteness of that love triangle. There's a great line in it about how men are expected to tom-cat around, but when a girl does it she's considered a slut. "It was like watching the Scarlett Letter, seeing that girl walk down the hall and how the others treated her." It's true and women are worse about it than men. Just look at how viewers of the series BattleStar Galatica rail at Starbuck, while in the original series when the role was played by a man, women swooned over him even though he was an unabashed womanizer. Friday Night Lights does an interesting job of shining a candle on it, but doing it in a way that is more illuminating than preachy - a fine line.
The series so far has not directly tackled racial issues, but does contain a realistically multiracial cast - with one of my favorite characters, running back - Smash, a boy who lost his father and still mourns him. And Waverly, a new character introduced in the last episode, the daughter of a preacher and a potential love interest for Smash.
While it's focus appears to be on Football, it uses football more or less as a metaphor for the agression, hopes, dreams, and struggle of the people in the town. Their main social activity, their anticipated event is the Friday Night football games of the title. To get this world, you would have to have experienced a small town, where there is one movie theater often playing two or three films, a strip mall, and maybe a few eateries. Culture is something to be found in the big cities such as Dallas miles away. The only small towns that have culture tend to be associated with Universities or colleges. While shows such as Gilmore Girls, Men in Trees, and the animated film Cars romanticize small towns, Friday Night Lights shines a light on what life in a small town is really like. The center being a cross section between high school and church and football lying somewhere in between. Another great line:"Can't we move somewhere else? Texas isn't even a state, it's a Republic. Be great to live someplace that is part of this planet."
The TV Show is based on the film of the same name, which I believe starred Billy Bob Thornton in the Kyle Chandler role and was also directed by Peter Berg (who you may or may not remember as the cocky doctor on Chicago Hope - I do because he was the only reason I was watching Chicago Hope for a while). The film in turn is based on a best-selling non-fiction book. All of which capture the obsession with football - depicting why that obsession exists.
Even if you don't like or understand football, I recommend you rent this baby on netflix or at the very least hunt down the film or book when you get the chance - since it does a good job of doing what in my opinion all good art should do - which is take you inside someone else's point of view, someone else's worldview, and along the way help you to see the world the way they do. It is only by doing that, I think, that we can come to terms with one another.
Here are just a few of the rich characters in an ensemble cast, with no true leads:
1. Matt Sarasen - the new starting quarterback, who has to fight for it, a wet behind the ears kid - insecure, un-charismatic, who is struggling with a father in Iraq and a grandmother rapidly moving towards senility.
2. Coach Taylor - played by Kyle Chandler, who is hard and soft at the same time. Juggling his family with his work.
3. Mrs. Taylor - Connie Britton - only hold-over from the film's cast, the school guidance counselor.
4. Smash - an African-American running back, who mourns his father and struggles to be noticed.
5. Tyra Banks - the cliche bad-girl who wants to get out of the small town from hell, yet is played the opposite of what you might expect, the actress doesn't play her as a bitch so much as a tough gal who knows the score. There's an interesting, albeit brief subplot with her and an investment banker...that ends as expected, but does provide depth.
6. Lance Landry - Matt's buddy, not as of yet fully developed, but has potential - a sort of counter-point to the football players.
7. Lyla's father and Team Coordinator - a character who may be amongst the most complex in the cast. In the later episodes he surprised me a bit.
I also like Riggins, even though the character is a bit of a tired cliche. This may be due to the performance and considerable charisma of the actor performing the part. I'm hoping they break him out of it of the bad-boy destructive crap soon or at the very least do something new with it - although there isn't much you can do at this point - it is a tired cliche. Same goes for Lyla and Jayson Street. Of the three Street is by far the most interesting - specifically the journey from quarter-back to parapeligic, demonstrating the risks and dangers of football as well as the glories of it. Even more interesing are some of the supporting characters introduced under his subplot - such as his "murderball" cronies. His storyline reminded me a great deal of the old Brando flick - The Men.
In short, if you thought all the critics praising this series were talking out of their hats, they weren't. It is amongst the best series this season.
When I told Wales I was going to do this the other day, her response was: "I thought you didn't like that show." My reply:"Well to be fair haven't given it a chance, and it's not the sort of show you can just jump in on. Very serialized."
The serialized bit is true. It's easier to pick up the thread in 24, Lost, or Grey's Anatomy than it is in this thing. You can't jump into it easily - it would be like jumping into the middle of a book or walking into a movie half-way through - granted you can do this with some books and movies (comic books come to mind) but not literary ones. And I have to say, upon seeing the whole thing now and not just fifteen minutes here and there - the series is not at all what I expected.
Fascinating and incredibly textured series with all sorts of interesting layers. Have a few quibbles with it. Don't love the teen love triangle - which I found annoying trite at first but after awhile shrugged off due to the performances and how it revealed interesting things about other characters not directly involved yet still oddly affected by it. And I'm struggling a little with the portrayal of female characters. But it is, after all, a series about a highschool football team - so you can't really expect to see that many women front and center - except to the extent they affect the men's lives, which is as girlfriends, mothers, sisters, daughters, teachers, and guidance counselors. The point of view in this series is predominately male and it should be. Just as Grey's Anatomy's pov is predominately female. This is better shot than Grey's, but not necessarily better written. They are different entities though and I'm not sure it is fair to either to compare them. Be like comparing BattleStar Galatica to Doctor Who or Heroes to Lost.
Outside of BattleStar Galatica and possibly Heroes, I think Friday Night Lights may be the most visually stunning series currently on non-premium channel TV (please note I have not seen the ones on Showtime and HBO (The Wire comes to mind) - so am not counting those nor am I certain it is fair to, since HBO and Showtime have different budgetary constraints and guidelines - you do not for instance have to make time for commericials, worry about network censors, or being allowed to finish a season. Sure they cancel series - but at least you get a year's worth. And you get to show the series in one shot - not in jagged spurts.). Rarely are you stuck in rooms watching people talk, lost of open shots, outside locals, movement, and a good use of silence. The characters and action feels real not idealized, as does the town of Dillon, Texas. There's a sense of cinemagraphic realism going on here, depicting scenes like you'd see them in reality or within a film, as opposed to the lower budgeted sound stages. (This show clearly has a huge budget - you can tell just by how it is filmed.) Use of color is also evident, the palette is subdued and heightened in just the right places, the deep blues of the teams jersey's to the paler colors of the rehab ward and the rehab scrimmage. Watching this series, much like watching BSG, feels like watching a film made for television or a cinematic novel. And makes one hunger for a wide-screen HDTV.
That's the direction. What about dialogue and writing? Outside of one trite subplot, which grew on me and was more or less justified by the finale episode before the break entitled It's Different For Girls, the dialogue and plotting are stellar. The trite subplot is the teen love triangel - which again is saved by the chemistry and acting of twenty-somethings portraying the teens and that episode. They do have chemistry with one another, and do sell the pathos of it, even if it feels like a retread of the Guinevere/Lancelot/Arthur triangle. Also the writers wisely don't focus on it too much and use it to provide insight to other characters - such as the new starting quarterback, a wet-behind the ears kid who is more artist than jock, the coach of the team, and the team themselves. In the last episode - the one I mentioned above that justifies this subplot, the focus is more on the women and is entitled "It's Different for Girls". Here we see a glimsp of how the times really haven't changed for women, no matter how many of us read or have been influenced by Betty Friedman's The Feminist Mystigue. It's an excellent episode and more than makes up for the triteness of that love triangle. There's a great line in it about how men are expected to tom-cat around, but when a girl does it she's considered a slut. "It was like watching the Scarlett Letter, seeing that girl walk down the hall and how the others treated her." It's true and women are worse about it than men. Just look at how viewers of the series BattleStar Galatica rail at Starbuck, while in the original series when the role was played by a man, women swooned over him even though he was an unabashed womanizer. Friday Night Lights does an interesting job of shining a candle on it, but doing it in a way that is more illuminating than preachy - a fine line.
The series so far has not directly tackled racial issues, but does contain a realistically multiracial cast - with one of my favorite characters, running back - Smash, a boy who lost his father and still mourns him. And Waverly, a new character introduced in the last episode, the daughter of a preacher and a potential love interest for Smash.
While it's focus appears to be on Football, it uses football more or less as a metaphor for the agression, hopes, dreams, and struggle of the people in the town. Their main social activity, their anticipated event is the Friday Night football games of the title. To get this world, you would have to have experienced a small town, where there is one movie theater often playing two or three films, a strip mall, and maybe a few eateries. Culture is something to be found in the big cities such as Dallas miles away. The only small towns that have culture tend to be associated with Universities or colleges. While shows such as Gilmore Girls, Men in Trees, and the animated film Cars romanticize small towns, Friday Night Lights shines a light on what life in a small town is really like. The center being a cross section between high school and church and football lying somewhere in between. Another great line:"Can't we move somewhere else? Texas isn't even a state, it's a Republic. Be great to live someplace that is part of this planet."
The TV Show is based on the film of the same name, which I believe starred Billy Bob Thornton in the Kyle Chandler role and was also directed by Peter Berg (who you may or may not remember as the cocky doctor on Chicago Hope - I do because he was the only reason I was watching Chicago Hope for a while). The film in turn is based on a best-selling non-fiction book. All of which capture the obsession with football - depicting why that obsession exists.
Even if you don't like or understand football, I recommend you rent this baby on netflix or at the very least hunt down the film or book when you get the chance - since it does a good job of doing what in my opinion all good art should do - which is take you inside someone else's point of view, someone else's worldview, and along the way help you to see the world the way they do. It is only by doing that, I think, that we can come to terms with one another.
Here are just a few of the rich characters in an ensemble cast, with no true leads:
1. Matt Sarasen - the new starting quarterback, who has to fight for it, a wet behind the ears kid - insecure, un-charismatic, who is struggling with a father in Iraq and a grandmother rapidly moving towards senility.
2. Coach Taylor - played by Kyle Chandler, who is hard and soft at the same time. Juggling his family with his work.
3. Mrs. Taylor - Connie Britton - only hold-over from the film's cast, the school guidance counselor.
4. Smash - an African-American running back, who mourns his father and struggles to be noticed.
5. Tyra Banks - the cliche bad-girl who wants to get out of the small town from hell, yet is played the opposite of what you might expect, the actress doesn't play her as a bitch so much as a tough gal who knows the score. There's an interesting, albeit brief subplot with her and an investment banker...that ends as expected, but does provide depth.
6. Lance Landry - Matt's buddy, not as of yet fully developed, but has potential - a sort of counter-point to the football players.
7. Lyla's father and Team Coordinator - a character who may be amongst the most complex in the cast. In the later episodes he surprised me a bit.
I also like Riggins, even though the character is a bit of a tired cliche. This may be due to the performance and considerable charisma of the actor performing the part. I'm hoping they break him out of it of the bad-boy destructive crap soon or at the very least do something new with it - although there isn't much you can do at this point - it is a tired cliche. Same goes for Lyla and Jayson Street. Of the three Street is by far the most interesting - specifically the journey from quarter-back to parapeligic, demonstrating the risks and dangers of football as well as the glories of it. Even more interesing are some of the supporting characters introduced under his subplot - such as his "murderball" cronies. His storyline reminded me a great deal of the old Brando flick - The Men.
In short, if you thought all the critics praising this series were talking out of their hats, they weren't. It is amongst the best series this season.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-31 04:38 pm (UTC)I'm one of those people who don't get football, still don't understand the damn scoring. OTOH, I was captain of the soccer team in college, and obviously played compulsively, so I mostly understand the mindset - though I wish our coach had worked us that hard.
As for "It's different for girls," I imagine there is some truth to this in small towns, particularly in the south. OTOH, that may be just another cultural idiom that Hollywood loves to promote - small southern religious town - repressive for girls, etc, which is less true than it once was, but still popular in Hollywood for reasons of cultural prejudice and thus for use in writing shorthand.
But, obviously in this case, there are a couple of issues layering what is going on - first of all, her boyfriend is crippled and she sleeps with his best friend. That would be bad if a guy did it, too. So it is not just different for girls. And the guy she sleeps with is treated pretty badly too.
And then there is the fact that otherwise she is pretty much perfect - faithful Christian, perfectly nice and sweet, straight As, in great shape and a great athlete; so it is the fall from grace of Miss Perfect, which is a lot different than an already deeply flawed character falling deeper into self destruction, like the best friend.
You wrote: It's true and women are worse about it than men. Just look at how viewers of the series BattleStar Galatica rail at Starbuck, while in the original series when the role was played by a man, women swooned over him even though he was an unabashed womanizer.
I don't get either position. I like Starbuck, she's a great character, though I think she's an idiot to get with Lee since I think she is confusing her desire for some kind of safe familial love with sexual love. And Lee feels safe to her, except when she has sex with him. Anders, OTOH, is all edge, and matches her and, I think, understands her. It's perfectly clear that Lee doesn't have a clue about Starbuck.
But I'm not going to bash her for it, because it makes the story vastly more entertaining. Moreover, what she needs is a psychologist to straighten her out. But the only one who seems able to access all that darkness, whom she doesn't just shut out, is Leoben. Which complicates the story and makes it even more entertaining for the viewer of course.
As for the original BSG, I imagine that the original Starbuck would now play as incredibly dated and narcissistic. Well, unless they made his womanizing all dark and self destructive - then it would be psychologically interesting at least.
Pretty much agree
Date: 2006-12-31 08:46 pm (UTC)Should clarify a bit: I agree with your take on both Starbuck and the triangle personally. What I was commenting on to some extent -was some of the posts I've seen online about both shows by women - which I found disturbing.
Particularly regarding the Starbuck character. People really railed at her for marrying Anders over Lee, and for sleeping with Lee (although this may be because they are shipping the characters.)
And one of the reasons RM made the character of Starbuck female as opposed to male was partly, and I agree with this sentiment, that the original character had become a cliche, somewhat narcissitic, and dated. A female version of it, makes things much more interesting.
On the triangle in FNL - you raised a good point regarding Riggins, he does get beaten up severly for it and much like Lyla, has to prove himself to his teammates to get beyond it. What's interesting, and for me somewhat grating, is he get's his support from the Coach. While Lyla really only gets it from Riggins - who tells her to do the cheerleading in spite of the scorn. Men in a way are lucky - it's more upfront, physical - car wacked to pieces, a bloody nose. While the girl gets shut-out, scorned, and placed in exile - the punishment in a sense, lasts longer.
You raised another point - regarding how small towns deal with adultry and how it may be a cultural idiom that Hollywood loves to write about. On the fence here - in small towns it still is prevalent to an extent, since everyone knows your business and if a girl is labled a slut - it's the worst thing on earth, akin to the boy being labled a virgin. That has changed a bit over time, more so than Hollywood realizes, I suspect. Which is ironic considering one of the reasons it has changed is Hollywood. (I saw another reference to it in Little Children.)
The one thing I found odd about the storyline - was that the adults did not appear to be that upset about the fact that this teenage girl was having casual sex. You'd think it would have disturbed them more, or at the very least riled her father. The fact that her father did not get upset about it, interested me far more than the classmates and Jason's reactions. Maybe because it was unpredictable.
Can't say I was all that sympathetic to Lyla, felt sorrier for Riggins and Street - up until that episode. But what intrigued me about the episode - wasn't Street/Riggins/Lyla - but rather the other people reacting around them.
Nice to know, I'm not the only one who watched that marathon. Hee. ;-)
Re: Pretty much agree
Date: 2006-12-31 09:19 pm (UTC)I didn't so much engage with the character who didn't really strike me as all that interesting; but I did relate to what she did, what she went through. You have principles that you can't imagine breeching, and then one day, you shock yourself by abrogating them. And you live there for a while. And then you have to renegotiate your view of yourself. That's the kind of detail that happens in life, which is why I wasn't bothered by the triangle. I found the story interesting.
In the end, it will create an opportunity to make the character/person a broader and more empathetic person.
I did feel Lyla was getting support from coach's wife, but unlike Riggins with coach,
coach's wife wasn't scheduled into Lila's daily activities.
Re: Pretty much agree
Date: 2006-12-31 10:17 pm (UTC)My problem with the triangle is I'd seen it done too many times on TV before.
And how it played out was nothing new. It was more or less predictable. But, the characters handling of the situation in that last episode was slightly different. I'm curious to see where they go with it, if it does change the character - make her as you state a more empathetic person.
And you are correct, the Coach's wife did not have as much invested in Lyla as the Coach does in Riggins. The person who should have been supporting Lyla, and we never see doing it - was her cheerleading coach.
Re: Pretty much agree
Date: 2011-01-03 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 11:16 pm (UTC)And it's pretty dead on in that regard. Except the town where I grew up didn't even have a movie theater. We had to drive 30 miles to another small town if we wanted to see a movie (and it's still the same way today...only more poor because all the industries have now moved away).