Last year my sister kept badgering me all season to watch Friday Night Lights. Since I had missed about half the season I decided to wait for it to come out on DVD. Two weeks ago I began watching the first season of Friday Night Lights on DVD.
I sat down to watch the first episode and ended up watching the entire first disc. I went through the entire first season in one week. I quickly saw what all the hype was about. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton were totally robbed of Emmy nominations, the stories were realistic and the Friday Night Light producers seem to be the only television show that can find 20 year old actors that are actually capable of acting.
I was excited that the second season of Friday Night Lights was starting so soon after I watched the first season since I had waited to watch it on DVD. Unfortunately my experience with Friday Night Lights this time wasn’t quite as good.
The Season Premiere of Friday Night Lights wasn’t horrible, but I also didn’t think it was the great show it was last season. Let’s take a look at our Friday Night Light friends and see where they are now.
The Taylors
I can’t believe they actually went through with having Coach Taylor take another job. There are only three possible solutions for Friday Night Lights and none of them are good.
The first solution is that Coach Taylor goes to his job in Austin and travels back home when they need him and he just conveniently is always home when we visit the Taylors’ home. The only way Coach Taylor could possibly go from his job and home that quickly is if he borrows Jack Bauer’s magical helicopter that goes from New York to Los Angeles in 3 minutes.
The second solution is that Coach Taylor’s scenes take place at his job in Austin. This means meeting even more characters and following two football teams and that is just way too much to follow.
The third solution is Coach Taylor quits his job in Austin, something happens with Dillon’s coach and Coach Taylor somehow finds himself the coach of the Panthers again. For a show that takes pride in realistic stories this would just be ridiculous. There is no way in real life that a coach would coach at a high school for one year, then bolt, and then be brought back to coach for them again in less than a year.
Matt Saracen and Julie Taylor
Not much going on with Matt Saracen in the Friday Night Lights season premiere. I didn’t really like the idea of Julie Taylor going after the Swede, going as far as going to a club to meet him. In the first season it seemed like Julie was such a cute, sweet and innocent girl and now they are changing her.
I know that she’s a teenager and does dumb things but they should not try and turn her into a girl that drinks and has sex and all that garbage. There is nothing wrong with having clean and innocent characters. Not everybody relates to people who like the popular kids, parties and wants to have premarital sex. If they decide to change Julie it will rank up there with the ruination of Rory on Gilmore Girls.
I also hate that Julie blamed her boy problems on her parents in the Friday Night Lights season premiere. Julie said that she didn’t want to turn into her mom and Matt turn into her dad. Please, just say you don’t like Matt anymore or say you don’t want the attention of dating the star quarterback but don’t pin your boy problems on your parents.
Lyla Garrity
In the season premiere of Friday Night Lights Lyla Garrity gets baptized and tells Tim Riggens that she is now a Christian. When I first saw that Lyla was now a Christian I thought it could be an interesting character. We could use more Christian characters on television.
Then the Garritys are at home having dinner and Lyla makes a comment about her mom’s new boyfriend taking advantage of a lonely woman and says her mom shouldn’t wear tight jeans. Oh she’s one of those Christians. The type of Christian that thinks she is holier than though. Lyla is the type of Christian that gives Christians a bad name.
Certainly this type of Christian exists and since they are so loud and brash they are probably noticed more than other Christians so it’s not that Lyla’s character is unrealistic or anything. I just have a feeling she is going to be really annoying this season.
Jason Street
There wasn’t anything too bad with Jason Street in the Friday Night Lights season premiere. I like that Jason Street is a coach now but on the other hand it isn’t as interesting as wheelchair rugby last season. It will also be less interesting if Herc isn’t around this season.
Tyra and Landry
The story with Tyra and Landry is getting a lot of complaints from the Friday Night Lights fans. In the Friday Night Lights season premiere the man that tried to rape Tyra attacked her again. Landry then attacks the man with a lead pipe and kills him. Tyra and Landry panic and decide to throw his body off a bridge into a river.
I don’t have a problem with Landry defending Tyra and going too far and killing the attacker but throwing his body off a bridge just seems like something that Landry would never do. Again it seems like they’re trying to turn a character into something they aren’t. Landry for the most part is a good kid. Good kids make mistakes too, but not killing somebody with a pipe and throwing their body off a bridge.
Friday Night Lights had a great first season but I’m going to have to throw the flag on the season 2 premiere and give it a 10-yard penalty. The season premiere of Friday Night Lights is trying way to hard to be a show that it isn’t. I understand that Friday Night Lights needs to get better ratings this season and they’re trying to be edgier or more dramatic like other shows but One Tree Hill-like story lines is not the solution. Friday Night Lights will always be superior to other shows about teenagers because of their superb cost but if their stories continue to head in this direction then it will no longer be must see television.
