Fresh and Exciting

A different way of telling a story

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Love, love, love this show! I can't believe it's been sitting there, unwatched by us for this long. The acting is incredible, we have completely bought in that these people are real, the stories are real, and the families are real. The casting- you could not have picked better people for each role. The coach and his wife are absolute perfection, probably one of the best cast husband and wife castings that I have seen. I wish they were together in real life!I think what makes this show so amazing is learning that so much of it is wasn't staged or blocked. The freedom of the actors to relate and interact with one another made it real. I sincerely hope FNL gets a reboot like Gilmore Girls (another show I didn't know about until much later- 2016). I would be the first one jumping down all over social media.

Friday Night Lights sat on my Netflix watch list for over a year before I gave it a chance. What a shock! I'm expecting a show about a football coach and a lot of game clips, instead I am quickly introduced to one of the best family drama's of excellent quality I've ever watched! Rare to see a positive drama in any context in recent years, yet this show portrays a loving couple and their family standing up for what is right in the face of a HIGHLY DYSFUNCTIONAL town with many dysfunctional people. But the story grows, and transitions in such an excellent way (excluding the abrupt end to season 2 I wasn't expecting - cut short by writers strike in 2008) the writing and story are excellent. Was casting 25 year old people as high school students a bit much, yes, but not uncommon... and when doing so to portray exceptional high school athletes; I totally get it, some of these high school football players DO LOOK 25 and they needed actors to look and play the part. Makes me give that a bye, along with the exceptionally pretty girls as that is also common practice.The important part was to me was how much of the story was character based, portrayed real life situations that as a parent I've had to deal with regardless of what I do because life happens to us all. As a father of 3 daughters some of it made me LMBO as Eric Taylor has to (try) and hold his temper in check and deal with his daughter growing up. I've said some of the things he said, and been in the same situations with some of my children so it really resonated with me as real. The transition from the Panthers to the Lions was a bit of a stretch as well with the first two seasons not really indicating there was a "wrong side of the tracks" in Dillon, but the shows introduction sequence does show a town with a lot of shuttered businesses, so it is not a stretch that there would be a lot of struggling families. True in so many small towns in this country.The best part was the shows ability to evolve and stay positive and life affirming in the effect this couple had on it and the way they ended it was very satisfying. One of the best quality family drama's I've seen.

At first I struggled with the pilot but I stuck with it and thank goodness I did. There are two parts to this show. The first part is my favourite but the second isn't too bad either. I shall explain below...There are some characters I had hated, rooted for and grew on. No two characters are the same and they all had their good and and not so good characteristics. In the end, I loved them all in their own ways. If you are worried this show might be the "typical" teenage show it is far from it. FNL involves teenage romance, friendship and stereotypes. But it also has real-life themes and problems. And of course, American football but it is a small part of what this incredible TV show has to offer. Once you watch this show you feel as though you are part of this family, team and community in this small Texas town. You go through their ups and downs, cheer them on when they are happy or feel their sadness during a tough time. I think this is what makes the show so great. If I haven't convinced you, just watch it, you will not regret it. But be warned, you will go through an emotional roller coaster as it unfolds but miss it everyday once its gone. Remember. Clear eyes, full hearts.

(This is a late review, I watched this show awhile ago, but haven't been able to get on IMDb to write reviews)As my Summary states, this show had mostly hits, but there were some misses as well. First off, Kyle Chandler did a fantastic job as Coach Taylor, he was really the biggest saving grace of the entire show. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have finished watching the whole thing. But other parts of the cast, it depends on how you view the whole "high school" context. Some problems were very petty (which high school is full of so..) and some things that happened were a little extreme for me, but I'll excuse it I guess. However, it does portray well the extreme allegiance that people have when it comes to their local sports teams(especially in Texas with football and definitely when it comes to parents of players and former players/alumni). Plemmons and Gilford did a good job, the two of them together was a good friendship portrayal.Season 1 was great, Season 2 dipped and then the show seemed to find its way again in the later seasons.Overall it was a decent show, but only because of Kyle Chandler.