September 2008 News Archive

It's been a long time coming, but Friday Night Lights is back! Season Three premieres this Wednesday night at 9 p.m., only on DirecTV channel 101!

Kristin Dos Santos of E! Online has the scoop on our beloved Dillon peeps - a new cowboy, a shirtless Tim Riggins, a two-steppin' Tyra, the departing Smash, an emotional Matt Saracen and romance, romance, romance.

Check out the clip below, Panther fans, for five solid minutes of new Friday Night Lights news, rumors, interviews, spoilers and gossip!

October 1 will bring commercial free HD programming to DirecTV subscribers as third season of Friday Night Lights will make its 101 Network debut.

As part of the unusual arrangement that's kept the show from being canceled, subscribers of DirecTV will get to watch episodes commercial-free and in high-definition before the show’s planned NBC run in early 2009.

This season Friday Night Lights will follow Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) as he copes with an uncertain team after the graduation of star running back Smash Williams (Gaius Charles, who will have only a recurring role).

Tami (Connie Britton) will adjust to her role as the new Dillon High School principal and the ways in which her new duties affect the Taylor family.

Tyra (Adrianne Palicki), Lyla (Minka Kelly) and Tim (Taylor Kitsch) enter senior years and must grasp the pressures of high school romance - and of coming of age. And don't even get us started on Matt and Julie!

Other shows to air on 101 Network include Live From Dillon, Rock & A Hard Place, and Supreme Court of Comedy. DirecTV will also feature a sneak preview of Crash, the first original drama from Starz Entertainment.

The new 13-episode drama will premiere October 1 at 10 p.m. EST, following the Friday Night Lights Season Three debut.

Friday Night Lights' Zach Gilford, 26, a Chicago native, got a degree from nearby Northwestern but actually rooted for Michigan. It's a long story.

He was raised on the North Side but would rather chug phlegm than see the Cubs win a World Series. Gilford is an Ozzie Guillen guy. A Bears guy (he owns an authentic Nathan Vasher Bears jersey). A Bulls guy (a high school friend tattooed "Pip 33" on him in honor of Scottie Pippen, and his dog is named Pippen).

Anyway, we were there to talk about him and Friday Night Lights, a series so achingly well written and well acted that it almost makes you want to go through high school again. Season Three begins October 1 on DirecTV.

It isn't a perfect viewing arrangement, but it's better than waving goodbye to Friday Night Lights altogether after Season 2.

Peyton Manning is a huge fan of the show, which chronicles life and times in a small Texas town and its obsession with high school football.

That's what Manning told Scott Porter, who plays Jason Street, the Dillon quarterback whose life is forever changed when he suffers a spinal injury. Porter introduced himself to Manning not long after the Colts won Super Bowl XLI.

"I don't want to bother you," Porter said. "I just wanted to tell you congratulations on the Super Bowl."

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Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has some Friday Night Lights gossip in his column today, notably on the relationship between Tim and Lyla ...

Q: I'm dying for some great Tim-Lyla scoop. Anything from Friday Night Lights' unlikely likely couple?

A: Let's check in with Taylor Kitsch himself: "Lyla and Riggins are a couple now. In the first three episodes, we’re just trying to figure out how this is going to work. It's Tim Riggins, though, so you can understand why she’s apprehensive. There’s a bit of convincing going on; it’s just a give-and-take. You really do see how these guys are close, but at the same time, there are obviously some blow-ups."

We haven't caught any real scenes from Season Three of Friday Night Lights, which debuts October 1, but this brief promo has been making the Internet rounds, and DirecTV is definitely looking to put its mark on the new season.

The latest ad for the upcoming season gives Friday Night Lights an indie rock, almost supernatural makeover. There is no sign of football anywhere in the clip, but there's defnitely plenty of drama in the heart of Dillon, Texas.

Heightening the ghostly atmosphere is the soundtrack of the clip, a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Devil Town" by indie rock's Bright Eyes, a song of lonely reverberation - sounding as if it's being performed in an empty church.

Check out the cool, and very different, Friday Night Lights preview below ...

What's going on with Smash and Street's upcoming exits from the cast of Friday Night Lights? Enter Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly ...

Q: Any scoop on Friday Night Lights?
A: Gaius Charles just wrapped his final episode as Smash, and co-star Taylor Kitsch reveals that he saved the best for last. "I was involved in his last shooting scene, and, in my opinion, it was the best scene of the season [so far]," he says. "Smash and I are in the locker room just talking about memories and stuff. It really felt like old school Friday Night Lights. [Gaius Charles] has grown so much. He left a very strong mark."

Awesome. Meanwhile, if you're wondering how Scott Porter's last scene went, it's still a ways away. Per Kitsch, Brothers & Sisters' future Ryan (fingers-crossed!) just started work on the first of his final four episodes.

Here's a look behind the scenes of Friday Night Lights as the show gears up for its third season premiere on DirecTV ...

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TV Guide's Matt Roush fielded a couple of questions and opined on the future of Friday Night Lights in his recent column. Have at it ...

Q: So explain this to me one more time: How is Friday Night Lights moving to DirecTV in Season Three (just until January or whenever) supposed to help ratings? Don't DirectTV customers already get NBC, in which case DirectTV customers have already been exposed to Friday Night Lights? And don't Nielsen ratings take satellite TV watchers into account? How much can 13 episodes really help in saving a show? And if the show was originally an NBC show, why doesn't NBC air it first and then DirectTV? I thought I understood everything that was going on with this scenario, but I guess not.

Plus, I heard Ben Silverman (the one who wasn't a fan of Friday Night Lights) is leaving or stepped down from NBC — is that just a rumor? Sorry for all the questions, but I began rewatching Season One of FNL last night and was reminded (because it's been so long since I last saw an episode) how good this show really is and how much I love it.

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Wondering what's to come in the new season of Friday Night Lights? Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly offers the following tidbit ...

Q: Have you forgotten about a little show called Friday Night Lights?

A: Who do you think I am, an Emmy voter? Anyway, if I'm interpreting your passive-aggressive dig correctly, you're hungry for something on Friday Night Lights. Well, per my on-set spy, the show has recently shot several flashback sequences that will help fill in the considerable gap between Season 2 and 3. For starters, we'll see first-hand how the Panthers ended their season and what led to Smash's choice of colleges.

Life is going well for the cast in Austin as we await Season 3. E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has the skinny from the Friday Night Lights set.

Q: I need to know what's coming up for my Friday Night Lights folks, especially Julie-Matt and Tim-Lyla!
A: As you read this, I am actually in Austin, Texas, at Casa de Taylor, stalking and interviewing cast members. I just got a two-step lesson from Adrianne Palicki (no joke, and awesome, and she even let me be the girl) and heard about her hot new cowboy boyfriend Cash (Zach Roerig, meeting him later), and even met Matt Saracen's mom!

More on this as it develops ...