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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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.