Devil Town

“I was living in a devil town
Didn’t know it was a devil town
Oh Lord, it really brings me down
About the devil town.”

-    “Devil Town” performed by Tony Lucca

For the past seven months, I experienced the best TV drama run in my life. OK, make that the last ten months so that we can include the series finale of “Lost.” During that stretch, I watched the best two seasons of “Mad Men.” “Boardwalk Empire” had a solid debut season. I finally had the fortitude to watch 2 ½ seasons of “Breaking Bad.”

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!

The most important drama show though was “Friday Night Lights.” After months of pondering if I should catch up on this critically acclaimed NBC series, I finally watched the show’s pilot last July. It was probably one of the most memorable pilot episodes I have ever watched. The show’s cinematography and camera work bring a different flavor. It might be polarizing because it is shaky but it adds perception and depth to how the characters convey emotion. The pilot episode also felt unique because it appeared more like a documentary. One may feel detached as you see a less personal viewpoint at times but as a sports fan, I felt the drama to be more real and spontaneous as the camera took behind the scene shots of the teams and their raucous fans. FNL’s first episode was unique.

The show did not keep up with its pilot style, but it delivered one of the most solid drama acting I have watched from a network show. Its first season had 22 episodes but it did not stop me to finish it within a month. The experience it brought was simply surreal. Its core is American Football but its actual theme surrounds on the fact that the show is about a town that deeply cares on its football team. The show tackles on various sports issues and lessons. Diehard fans embarrass their coach when idiotic outcomes happen during the game. Coach Eric Taylor had to suffer years of seeing his car painted with blue and yellow. “House for sale” signs on his lawn were a common recurrence whenever they lose. Steroids, gangs, racism and floundering team chemistry were some of the sports issues that were brought up in the show’s entirety. The charm of the show, however, was how it conveyed all these themes. With a stellar cast, they were able to pull off a genuine experience that FNL fans would talk about for years. It also helped that their flawed characters bring a dynamic that puts the show in position to explore on non-cliché outcomes.

Through the months, I watched each episode until I was able to catch up with the current season early December last year. It was just in time for the TV series’ final season. A week ago, the stellar show concluded. I am sure that it generated millions of tears from diehard fans across the globe.

"The Son" is one of the most emotional episodes of FNL

And to conclude one of the best drama shows of all-time, I am writing about “Friday Night Lights” in a podcast-style – meaning, I will tackle (or covering – forgive the pun) as much as I could. I will be sacrificing seamless direction in this write-up because of this format that I am going to try, but what the heck, I am in a writing slump these days anyway.

“Friday Night Lights” was a show that did something out of the ordinary. I will try to do that in this journal entry. I may not be able to give justice to it with this risky style, but hey, after watching Coach Taylor’s numerous ridiculous football decisions (and him getting away with it), it’s worth a try.

Clear Eyes, full hearts…

“Friday Night Lights” Best Characters

This category is tough for me. I had to leave some unique characters like Tim Riggins, Tyra Collette, Billy Riggins, Vince Howard and Lyla Garrity (just kidding) because the show just had too many interesting characters, except for Lyla who was more of an eye candy. Without further ado, here are the characters that I liked the most:

1)    Coach Eric Taylor. This is a no-brainer. If there is someone who can steal this year’s Emmy Awards Best Actor award from Don Draper, it has to be Kyle Chandler’s Eric Taylor persona. Coach Taylor has become the inspirational character of the show. He is a disciplined mentor who develops his players into better men with a huge emphasis on character. He may not be the best in-game tactician with his questionable decisions but because he has improved his players’ mindsets, they bailed him out (or proved the doubters wrong) several times. Eric Taylor was also one of the best TV husbands as well because of his perfect relationship with his wife (more on that later).
2)    Matt Saracen. QB One slightly beats Mrs. Coach because Matt is a unique character. He is the underrated backup QB who suddenly got a chance to start because their star quarterback got severely injured. His story was the inspirational storyline but it was always interesting with all the bumps in the road. He had father issues (and mother issues) because they left him. His character was in too much deep shit but because of his upbringing, he was able to pull through. And his reaction when his father died was just remarkable. If there was one character who embodied Coach’s mantra “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose,” that’s Matt.
3)    Tami Taylor. Coach Eric Taylor will never be a remarkable husband if Mrs. Taylor was a strong compliment as well. Their chemistry was just awesome. They disagreed a lot but because they understand each other, they rarely blow it out of proportion. Perfect relationship (more on that later). Tami also added depth to the show in its goal to expound on their influence to their neighborhood because of her role as guidance counselor/principal. Tyra will not be very relevant or some of the people may have acted unethically if Tami was not able to guide them. Coach was focused on developing character in his football team but Tami had the bigger scope (the community).

Matt and Julie | Credit: Friday Night Lights

4)    Julie Taylor. Call me biased because I have a crush on Aimee Teegarden but I have to admit that she pulled off Julie quite well. Other than the teaching assistant scandal, Julie’s storyline was strong. Her relationship with Matt has to rank up in the Top 3-5 Love Teams of All-Time. Her growing love for the town of Dillon in Season 4 was very unique and real. The sentimental person in me somehow returned because of Julie’s longing for Dillon. It further helps that her crying is highly effective.
5)    Buddy Garrity. Who would have thought?! Buddy was one of the insufferable characters in Season 1 but he redeemed himself in the next seasons. Not only does Brad Leland act well as Buddy, he also channeled an underrated viewpoint that is supposed to be very evident in sports – a passionate booster. His character went the next level when he sacrificed his love for his team to support his friendship with Eric. Well, he did not like the boosters of West Dillon but it was already exemplified by his actions that he wants to bail out to support his friend.

Pet Peeves on the Show

“Friday Night Lights” is easily in my Top 5 shows of all-time… no, make that Top 3. HIMYM, even if it has newfound momentum right now, got surpassed by FNL because it has always been solid (except for Season 2).

•    Coach Taylor’s questionable in-game decisions. These are off the top of my mind so I may be mistaken but there were some unorthodox decisions like: electing to go for two even if a field goal would have them tie the game; having a long drive to the end zone without any of his receivers or running backs going to the sides to stop the clock. I was supposed to complain on his decision to pass (which resulted to an interception) when they were leading with three minutes remaining but when I replayed the scene, I found out that they were in third down and long.
•    Where did Santiago go?
•    How did a guidance counselor suddenly become a school principal in less than a year? I never experienced a guidance counselor level up my entire school life.

Lyla throwing her cheerleader outfits is one of the biggest indecision of the show

•    How did the East Dillon Lions become a championship-caliber team after a horrible finish the previous year? The only “possibly good” player they added was Hastings (who did not get that much screen time during games). I guess they should thank Jess a.k.a. “Girl Version of Bill Belichick”
•    Lyla turning into a religious girl suddenly. Not even getting wet in a white shirt in the season opener could make it a good reason.
•    When Landry murdered Tyra’s rapist. Worst moment of the show. I almost burst into laughter when I heard Kyle Chandler in an interview saying that Landry (Jesse Plemons) had the best storyline of the characters.
•    Too many miracle games. It is not realistic especially for a powerhouse team (in Season 1). It also seemed that they could always pull off a win whenever they come back. Well, except in the state championship game in Season 3. That is why it was one of the best games portrayed in the show (because they lost).
•    Lack of lopsided games. There were but it was not that much. Most games are boring lopsided games. Yup, there is not that much story in those games but FNL is good in putting some twist to make the boring real life stuff interesting enough. They could perhaps show the players joking around on lopsided games. They had the swagger game in Season 5 (which was also a tad too extreme with all the penalties they got for being too cocky and aggressive). They could have portrayed one of the most common yet underrated themes in sports: complacency.

The Panthers win the State!

•    Winning State in the first season. It somehow made the second season bland because their goal was already met. Actually, they could have pulled it off by embarrassing the team several times in Season 2 by emotional losses (just to build up some lingering need to win). They could have tackled “the Disease of More” and the bigger pressure of repeating. Instead, they gave us a sucky second season. Winning the championship in the first season killed some potential plotlines in the show – something that “Glee” was able to fix because they lost in Season 1. “Glee” is obviously an inferior show as compared to FNL but the writers there got what the fans needed in the bigger picture. I am not sure how they are planning to write the next few seasons but if I had my way, this would be my style:
o    Season 1: Team barely misses the playoffs.
o    Season 2: Team reaches the playoffs but gets bullied by their archrival.
o    Season 3: Their star player’s final year so they should win it but they come up short in the State Championship game because the star player got injured.
o    Season 4: Most of the cast are graduating players. They have a dominant team and are poised to win State. They reach State. If you want to give the viewers more depression, make them lose the game. But, winning the State would just be fine.
o    Season 5: In case they lose in Season 4, their team would be inferior but because their players bonded well and they have superb team chemistry, they finally win State.

But because “Friday Night Lights” brought East Dillon into the picture, they made up with their Season 1 blunder.

However, “Friday Night Lights” has always been a show that is more than football. With all these pet peeves, I found it easy to forgive the show because of its strengths.

“Friday Night Lights” produced one of the best soundtracks a TV show can produce. Most of the time, they featured solemn instrumental songs which convey emotion louder than songs with lyrics. For my take, here were the top three songs in FNL’s soundtrack:

1)    W.G. Snuffy Walden and Bennett Salvay - Friday Night Lights Theme Song
2)    Explosions in the Sky – Your Hand In Mine (Goodbye)
3)    Tony Lucca – Devil Town

Funny Moments of the Show

For a serious show, “Friday Night Lights” had its share of hilarious moments. Here are some of the ones that stuck out to me

•    Most of the Gracie Bell moments. Some FNL fans always make fun of Gracie’s huge forehead and for her being an ugly baby. I say we give the kid a break. Come on, she’s just a toddler and she is already having some moments in this stellar show. The way she convinces the uber serious Coach Taylor was adorable. Gracie’s reaction to Buddy Garrity when he said “clear eyes, full hearts…” was funny and innocent.
•    Landry winning Tyra’s heart. OK, this was not supposed to be funny but it made me toss several Landry Clarke jokes.
•    Coach walking in Matt Saracen’s room seeing him and Julie naked after having sex. Funny and awesome moment of the show. Their awkward faces were perfect.
•    Did I mention Landry?

Eric Taylor-Tami Taylor Relationship: The Best Relationship in TV History

Best TV relationship of all-time? | Credit: Friday Night Lights

As Alan Sepinwall mentioned in his blog, the Taylors’ relationship is one of the best – if not the best – of all-time. It was a perfect relationship – something that TV shows rarely tackle because having such would be boring. But in reality, that is how a lot of relationships go. I actually lost interest of several TV shows’ wild relationship arcs because their cast members always switch partners like they change dresses. “Grey’s Anatomy,” no matter how dramatic its storylines are, lost a lot of its luster because their characters always cheat on its other. By the time the show featured the third partner of Dr. Alex Karev, I was not even mildly psyched.

“Friday Night Lights” lead couple were perfect for each other and they got to tackle perfect couple issues that we rarely see on drama shows. It was amazing how they handle such misunderstandings. Coach Taylor spits out a joke to break the ice. And if ever Eric becomes insensitive at times, Tami just shrugs it off and does not make a big deal. She has been with Eric for a lot of years that she has learned to accept his mistakes. When Eric ignored Tami’s offer in a Philadelphia college in the final season, Tami sadly waited. If it happened on other shows, you might see the wife filing a divorce. In a world where divorces have become common, the Taylors’ relationship is a bright inspiration to couples to avoid the drama. Eric and Tami shows to us that couple fights are overrated. They do have misunderstandings on a daily basis but they deal with it instead of blowing it out of proportion.

Another dynamic that I like in the Taylors’ perfect relationship was the fact that there was no sign that they wanted to cheat on each other. Eric never had a potential secret lover. Tami got kissed by her co-worker (which produced one of the most awkwardly funny moments in the show). She stayed away from it and decided not to tell Eric. That could have produced a major fight. Eric learned of the incident when the teacher confessed to him. The fact that Tami did not relay it to him would have instantly blew his mind. However, Eric and Tami were able to shrug off the incident during their talk. Why? Because they understand each other. Because they genuinely love each other.

The best thing is, it is realistic.

FNL Characters’ Equivalents to Real Life

Matt Saracen – Tim Tebow. Both of them have been backup quarterbacks who were able to start because the primary starter got injured. Both have questionable passing games but scramble exceptionally. Most importantly, both are winners who thrive on the intangibles.
Smash Williams – Carnell “Cadillac” Williams. Because he is injury prone but has been a standout in college.
Vince Howard – Cam Newton. Both had controversies involving their fathers. But still, they ended up as standouts. Both won the coveted title this year.
Luke Cafferti – Danny Woodhead. Hardworking running backs who played offense and defense in high school. Both were highly ignored by Div I schools as well.
Lyla Garrity – Ines Sainz
Tyra Collette – Jenn Sterger
Landry Clarke – Brett Favre. Because of the Jenn Sterger connection. Actually, I just wanted to make fun of Landry again.
Buddy Garrity – Jerry Jones
Jason Street – Matthew Stafford. Promising QB but always gets injured.

Are Harbaugh (left) and McCoy (right) long-lost brothers?

Joe McCoy – Jim Harbaugh. Because they freakishly look alike
JD McCoy – Andrew Luck. Because of the Harbaugh-Luck connection.
Jess Merriweather – Bill Belichick. Because they video tape their opponents.

OK, I better stop now. I am a Patriots fan. I should not be making any SpyGate reference.

“Friday Night Lights” and its Target Market

FNL had bad ratings. It stuck for five years because the critics and the executives liked it. Simmons and Sepinwall talked about it in their podcast that the show failed to get a lot of viewers because 1) the football thing did not interest the women, and 2) it was about teen drama so it discouraged the men. It had a small target market and I am glad to be part of it. Why did I easily fall in love with the show?

"Mud Bowl" is one of the best episodes

1)    It depicts the drama that sports die-hard fans experience. As a Blue Eagle fan, I could totally relate to the Dillon Panthers. They have a rabid fanbase that skips their activities just to be in the games. They are strongly supported by boosters who would move heaven and earth just to provide the team with the best players they could possibly have. The Panthers boast of a rich winning tradition. Their alums always wear their championship rings and are proud of it. The team is unlike other Hollywood sports teams that are underdogs. The Dillon Panthers are actually championship contenders. They are media darlings, thus such overblown media stories from simple moments in their lives were evident in the show. Usually, Hollywood loves the underdogs and the losers that rooting for them has become a cliché. “Friday Night Lights” just illustrates a sports story as it is.
2)    The Texas scenery. I am actually not a fan of Texas before because I prefer watching New York’s bright lights but FNL was able to show how homely rural Texas is. I guessed I just liked how simple and lovely their setting was.
3)    The Hot Chicks. “Friday Night Lights” will always be known with the trifecta of Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki and Aimee Teegarden. These three have been worthy eye candies for the entirety of the show. Even those who replaced them (Jurnee Smollett and Madison Burge) were also beautiful. Brea Grant (Daphne of “Heroes”) and Smash’s girlfriends were attractive guest stars. If you are looking for cougars, Connie Britton looks good for her age.
4)    Eric and Tami Taylor Relationship. Matt Saracen-Julie Taylor Tandem. Two of the best TV love teams of all-time.
5)    I like teenage drama. Back when I was in elementary, I used to watch T.G.I.S. Then, I grew up watching a flurry of teen flicks like “American Pie,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Can’t Hardly Wait,” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” I also liked “The Breakfast Club.” For TV shows, I think that “That ‘70s Show,” “The O.C.,” “Veronica Mars” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” belong to my personal Top 20. Do not get me wrong, I still dislike some sappy drama but “Friday Night Lights” is anything but that. Thus, Teenage Setting + Excellent Drama = Like to the 100th power.
6)    It is a family show. I am such a sucker for family-oriented flicks.

Some Thoughts on the Finale and the Show

Eric and Vince | Credit: FNL

I really liked how they ended the series. Season 1 may have the novelty and the dozens of teenage and community themes but I think that Season 5 was the best FNL season ever. It had some shaky moments but it was strong all the way. It began in Episode 3 with Coach Taylor’s emphasis on character. It reached to a higher level in the Kingdom episode. It became ambitious in the Panthers game episode where the tension was built up. Some things may have felt rushed but the writers were able to make it believable at the very least.

Maybe, I just like the East Dillon Lions more than the Dillon Panthers.

Part of the reason why I think that Season 5 became effective was the fact that the replacement cast was able to match their predecessors quite nicely. Michael B. Jordan’s acting as Vince Howard was stellar. I rarely shed a tear when watching these days but I did (or was on the verge to) when he complained about character in Episode 3. Kyle Chandler also put his drama chops a notch higher in the final two seasons with his shiver-in-the-spine speeches. If there was only one disappointment in Season 5, it would be Julie Taylor’s storyline. It was not out of the character but it became annoying as a side story.

Season 5 also put in the irony about the show’s focus on the football team. They were back again as the focal point of the story in the middle of the season. It was interesting on how they evolve into a killing machine which had side effects with it. But by the time we reached the series finale, it did not matter if they won or not. The subplots on the closure of several characters had bigger relevance.

If there was one thing that I wished they could have done differently in the finale, that would be the actual game. I think winning was the better result but they could have executed it differently. They went with the background music after all. It would have been better if they showed the Lions dominating all the way instead of another Hail Mary pass. But then, they did not show the actual celebration in the ending so I forgive the writers for almost botching it. The transition from State game to Philadelphia practice in the end was perfect. It pretty much showed what “Friday Night Lights” is about – things go on with or without the characters. In sports, people leave but the show still goes on. That was the heart-wrenching yet real realization in the movie. The characters move on after the State Championship game while Coach Taylor moves on to lead and teach a new set of boys.

It was also heartwarming when Coach Eric Taylor says “clear eyes, full hearts…” in Philadelphia. Yes, he has moved on but it just showed that a part of Texas still remains in his heart.

All in all, “Friday Night Lights” has been a very memorable show. It may have been dark for most of the time but it has served well in its inspiring parts. Just like in every sports story, “Friday Night Lights” emphasized on how important the journey is.

Thanks to the writers of FNL. This show is one of the best of all-time

If I were to rank FNL in my pantheon of best TV shows of all-time, I will easily put it in my Top 3 (sorry, HIMYM). In hindsight, FNL is actually more consistent than “Lost” (although the latter had more philosophical insight). On the acting level, few shows like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” can match “Friday Night Lights.” I think I will re-watch “Friday Night Lights” from the start again.

Clear eyes, full hearts…

Can’t lose!

Can’t lose.