September 2007 News Archive (Page 5)

It may have been blanked from the major categories, but Friday Night Lights picked up an Emmy for best casting when the creative arts Emmy awards were bestowed Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Austin's Beth Sepko was honored for location casting, reports today's Austin American-Statesman, with Linda Lowy and John Brace both taking home Emmys for the show's primary casting.

This is nice, but ow a series can win best casting while no members of its cast receive individual Emmy nominations is beyond us. It makes zero sense.

Friday Night Lights' cast was universally snubbed.

Nevertheless, the Central Texas-filmed series, as it enters its sophomore season, should have received Emmy consideration for best drama series and several acting nods, but it got only two nominations, for casting and directing.

The Primetime Emmys will be handed out Sunday, September 16, with Friday Night Lights nominated for best directing in a drama series. Peter Berg, who adapted FNL for TV, and helmed the pilot, is up for the award.

For the best casting in a drama series award, Friday Night Lights beat Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Tudors. Not bad for a show that earned high praise but low ratings its first season.

Below is a brief preview of Season Two of Friday Night Lights, complete with a synopsis of Season One, as compiled by BuddyTV.

Premiere Date / Time: Friday, October 5, 9 p.m., NBC
Time Slot Competition: Women's Murder Club, Moonlight, Nashville, WWE Friday Night Smackdown
Cast: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Zach Gilford, Adrianne Palicki, Jesse Plemons, Minka Kelly, Scott Porter, Aimee Teegarden, Gaius Charles, Taylor Kitsch

Based on the film and the book of the same name, Friday Night Lights was one of the most acclaimed series in the 2006-2007 season.

Despite its critical success, the series was largely overlooked by viewers and failed to garner much in the way of ratings.

Fortunately, NBC recognized its worth and its potential and renewed it for a second season, to air on the new night and time of Friday (fittingly) at 9 p.m.

The drama centers on the high school football team in the small, fictional town of Dillon, Texas. Times are hard in Dillon, and the Dillon Panthers, led by head coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), are the one shining beacon in an often bleak West Texas existence.

Last season, Friday Night Lights ended on an electrifying and bittersweet note, with Dillon winning the state title but Coach Taylor on the way out of town, having accepted the head job at fictional Texas Methodist University.

His wife, Tami (Connie Britton) had just discovered that she was pregnant, and has decided to stay in Dillon until their teen daughter, Julie (Aimee Teegarden) finishes high school.

The new season will begin eight months after last season's finale.

Tami is about to give birth, but Eric is in Austin. Former quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) has become an assistant coach for the Panthers.

With less than a month to go until Season Two debuts, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has the casting scoop on one of the show's new guest stars.

Sources confirm that Jessalyn Gilsig of Boston Public and Nip/Tuck fame has been recruited to play the recurring role of Connie Britton's hip, single and smart sister who moves to Dillon in the second season of Friday Night Lights.

We look forward to seeing Jessalyn Gilsig in Season Two!

It's almost Emmy Awards week, which is great, except that perhaps the four best shows all year — Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, The Wire and The Shield — accumulated a meager six nominations... total.

To correct this injustice, Entertainment Weekly presents The Gluttys, given to the most egregious Emmy snubs of the year. Let's take a look...

Best Series, Drama
The nominees: Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, The Shield, The Wire.
And the Glutty goes to... The Wire! It wasn't just the best drama of the year, it was perhaps the best drama of any year. An engrossing look at cops, crime, politics, and education, and how they intersect in ways we never imagined.

Best Actor, Drama
The nominees: Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Eddie Izzard (The Riches), Ian McShane (Deadwood).
And the Glutty goes to... Kyle Chandler! Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose! Except, apparently, when it comes to the Emmys. Indeed, Kyle Chandler's snub is mind-boggling to many.

Best Actress, Drama
The nominees: Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), Annabeth Gish (Brotherhood), Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica).
And the Glutty goes to... Annabeth Gish! As a cheating addict-politician's wife, Gish was last summer's biggest surprise. Well, second biggest, if you include Tuesday Night Book Club making it onto a network schedule.

Best Supporting Actor, Drama
The nominees: Jack Coleman (Heroes), Walton Goggins (The Shield), Gerald McRaney (Deadwood).
And the Glutty goes to... Walton Goggins! In a naked and raw performance (literally and figuratively), Goggins mesmerized as a cop haunted by his past.

Best Supporting Actress, Drama
The nominees: Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), CCH Pounder (The Shield), Sonja Sohn (The Wire).
And the Glutty goes to... Elizabeth Mitchell! Katherine Heigl over her? Really? As fertility doctor Juliet, Mitchell was savvy, intelligent and complex — all the things that Emmy succeeds so well in overlooking.

To kick off the second season premiere of the critically acclaimed football drama Friday Night Lights, NBC has partnered with Houseparty.com to set up 1,000 house parties on September 14 in anticipation of the October 5 premiere.

Specializing in bringing an exclusive experience, such as a first taste or advance viewing, Houseparty.com helps market their partners' product via a thousand in-home events scheduled for the same day across the nation.

In this case, Houseparty.com and NBC are offering lucky fans an exclusive sneak peek at the season 2 of Friday Night Lights.

"We thought that this partnership with Houseparty.com would be a great way to reignite the excitement of the fan base for Friday Night Lights," said John Miller, Chief Marketing Officer of NBC Universal Television.

Host a house party and see Coach give Matt Saracen an earful (among other highlights from the first season of the hit series we know and love).

There is a Friday Night Lights page on Houseparty.com (see link at bottom). Hosts will have their own page to manage their parties. Potential hosts may apply at Friday Night Lights sites, NBC affiliates, or on Houseparty.com.

NBC will sponsor each party by sending out party kits to hosts. Each kit includes a sneak peek of the Season 2 premiere; a special DVD (with an introduction by stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton) of Episode 17 of Season One, "I Think We Should Have Sex"; a DVD of the first four episodes of season 1; and various Friday Night Lights merchandise.

Hosts will also get a sneak peek of NBC's new drama, Bionic Woman.

Learn more about hosting a Friday Night Lights party HERE!

When shooting for Season Two began in July, it was like the first day back to school for the returning cast of Friday Night Lights, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

Probably compounding that feeling this feeling was the fact that they were shooting at an Austin alternative school.

Though the show only earned two Emmy nominations, spirits remain high on the set.

Taylor Kitsch (pictured, who plays Tim Riggins), returning from shooting an independent film called Gospell Hill, said he was glad to be back and was happy to slip back into Riggins' evolving world of problems.

"It feels funny. It feels good," Kitsch said.

"We are all so lucky."

Taylor, who recently bought a condo in South Austin near the Alamo Drafthouse on Lamar Boulevard, is taking the show script by script.

He said he wasn't bitter about the show's Best Drama snub, but there's no doubt members of the cast were, in fact, snubbed.

"Truthfully, Kyle Chandler really deserved it. He's the spine of the show." Kitsch said. "Hopefully it will give the show more fuel for the fire. It hasn't taken away from the confidence we all have in each other."

Spoken like a true leader on the football field.

Meanwhile, Adrianne Palicki (Tyra Collette), who spent time back home in Ohio and in L.A. with Connie Britton for the summer, says a lot of loose ends get tied up in the first two episodes of Season Two, including the return of the character who tried to sexually assault Tyra.

Palicki says she's getting lots of positive feedback from fans, especially those who appreciate the show's strong female characters.

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