Friday Night Lights News (Page 4)

NBC has announced the launch of its new service, "NBC Direct," which will allow users to download and view NBC's popular primetime and late-night programs on their desktops for up to a week after they are initially broadcast.

Among the programs available for download will be Friday Night Lights. This new feature provides another platform on which fans will be able to enjoy NBC content, said Vivi Zigler, Executive V.P. of NBC Digital Entertainment.

"With the creation of this service, we are acknowledging that now, more than ever, viewers want to be in control of how, when and where they consumer their favorite entertainment," said Zigler. "Not only does this feature give them more control, but it also gives them a higher quality video experience."

The first version of this new feature, which will begin beta testing in October, will allow users to download full episodes of Friday Night Lights or other shows for viewing on PCs. Each episode will be licensed to users via "NBC Direct" for one week following broadcast and will then expire.

The file will provide users with an improved viewing experience compared to traditional streaming video. A list of programs available at launch includes Heroes, The Office, Life, Bionic Woman, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Sprrrrrring Breeeeeeeak!!!!

Well, not really. But a Friday Night Lights film production unit was in Brownsville and popular party spot (and natural wonder) South Padre Island, Texas, last week to shoot scenes for the series, according to news reports.

Cast and crew spent a fews days filming in Cameron County parks on the Island, said assistant county parks director Joe Vega, who took in some of the action.

"We're glad they are going to feature our beautiful beaches on their show, even though (this episode) is supposed to be set in Mexico," he said.

This is for the episode in which Tim Riggins, Lyla Garrity and Jason Street decide to take a road trip south of the border. While South Padre is still in Texas, it's remote and about as close (geographically) to Mexico as one can get.

Austinite John Patterson, locations manager for the series, said his group includes more than 80 people. Three of the show's stars - the three who take the trip - came with the crew: Taylor Kitch, Scott Porter and Minka Kelly.

"Ninety-five percent of our crew are Texans," said Patterson, a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, where the show films the majority of its footage. "It's possible we may shoot more sequences here in Texas."

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You'd think the most original depiction of the modern American family since The Sopranos would reel in countless viewers and a big sack full of Emmys.

Not so for Friday Night Lights.

Despite developing into the most dynamic, heartwearming drama on the small screen and garnering glowing praise from swooning critics and passionate fans alike, this gem still hasn't attracted the ratings or awards it deserves.

However, for what it's worth, Friday Night Lights has won Salon.com's Buffy Award, the fourth annual, given to the most underrated show out there (past winners are The Wire, Veronica Mars and Battlestar Galactica).

But don't take their word for it - or ours. Ask anyone who watches Friday Night Lights and you'll see it in their eyes how madly in love they are.

While so many programs mutate into the realm of perky, overstyled, bantering professionals - a shiny, idealized picture that either feels too giddily happy or too heavy, Friday Night Lights shows real Americans living real lives.

Week after week, they endure the indignities of frustrating jobs, grapple with narrow minded co-workers or neighbors, usher up laughter in spite of family arguments, and do the best with what they have.

While the Dillon High School Panthers football team wins or loses, the true heart of the story lingers, like life so often does, somewhere in between.

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According to TV Guide, Friday Night Lights came this close to moving out of the Lone Star State for year two of NBC's critical darling.

"Texas didn't follow through on some of the rebates promised when we based the production in Austin," reports Aimee Teegarden, who plays Julie.

"NBC said, 'we're going to move.' It was talks about money. Arizona and New Mexico were both anxious to have us and offered incentives, so I was expecting our show was going to leave Austin."

"Aimee's right," executive producer Jason Katims confirms, noting that the cast of FNL is now back in Austin.

"We were scouting new location bases and were courted by the other states' film commissions, but eventually the network and the appropriate people in Texas settled things. I can't provide specifics, but it worked out so we could remain here."

And what did Aimee Teegarden get out of this?

"I got a new apartment in Austin," replies the Southern California native. "There was no reason to keep my original place when I heard we might move to New Mexico or Arizona."

Teegarden celebrates her milestone 18th birthday on October 10, five days after the launch of Friday Night Lights' second season. We're glad she and her cast mates remain in Texas as they film the series.

NBC has drafted one of its MVPs - one responsible for the greatness that is Friday Night Lights - to tinker with one of its new shows, Bionic Woman.

According to sources, Friday Night Lights executive producer Jason Katims has agreed to lend a helping hand on NBC's highly touted redo as a series consultant. The Peacock expects big things from Bionic Woman, and adding this veteran producer to the brain trust can only help.

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.

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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Tomorrow night, September 1, Friday Night Lights will be shown an amazing three different times by NBC as the network hopes to boost exposure of the critically acclaimed, but under-appreciated series in advance of Season 2.

Besides buying the Season One DVD, what better way to get yourself back in the Friday Night Lights spirit than watching on NBC from 8-11 p.m. Saturday.

Sources say that the final three episodes of the terrific first season - "Mud Bowl," "Best Laid Plans" and "State" - will air in that order.

Follow the Dillon Panthers as they make their way through the Texas state high school playoffs amidst rumors of their coach, Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), not returning the following season. A number of the show's amazing characters find themselves at personal crossroads, as well.

In an era when a new form of literature is emerging, the simultaneous release of two works - today - heralds its arrival.

But they're not books, they are DVDs, collecting the first seasons of two TV shows, Heroes and Friday Night Lights.

Tom Maurstad of the Dallas Morning News writes that the effect of watching these two collections - the depth, the intensity of the experience - will make you want to press your well-worn copies into the hand of a close, but uninitiated friend the way you once would have done with a beloved novel, delivered with an updated version of the timeless imperative: "You've got to watch this."

Amid the seemingly constant barrage of reports and rumors of breakthroughs and paradigm shifts, it sounds kind of funny to attach words like "new" and "emerging" to the old-world media of TV, even if it is nudged along the timeline by being presented in the mid-world format of DVD.

But Friday Night Lights and Heroes are two shows that represent examples of a new kind of TV viewing experience, a distinction heightened by their packaging as DVD collections.

In the opinion of many fans, to watch one of Friday Night Lights or Heroes is to want to watch another... and another, until you've exhausted them all.

And while there are always the Internet and on- demand services, DVDs remain the ultimate expression of this power-viewing style of consumption.

Both collections were made with a keen understanding of this, although, as with the shows themselves, they take opposing approaches.

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