Critically lauded by many as the best portrayal of marriage on television because of its realistic rendering of what it means to love someone for better and for worse, Eric and Tami Taylor, as played by the Emmy-nominated duo of Kyle Chandler and Britton, have managed to capture the many dichotomous moments in the life of a marriage. Where other TV series tend to focus either on the bickering or the saccharine, "Friday Night Lights" has thrived on nuance, creating domestic moments that simultaneously reflect adoration and frustration; tenderness and sarcasm; respect and fatigue.

I pulled the above quote from a pretty good LA Times article on FNL that focuses on the Taylor marriage.  I've written before about this aspect of the show and how it has inspired me to think about my own relationship with David, the birth of our son Lev, and the kind of wife/mother/friend I want to be.  Someone remarked that FNL brings out from me these personal reflections in a way that few other things do.  I'll make no apologies or excuses for this.  It's a credit, I think, to the stellar writing and acting that has shaped these characters.  Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton insisted early on that the writers steer clear of the common dramas that befall TV families: "Connie and I didn't want them to get divorced or have alcohol problems or sleep with other people because when that happens in the story of a marriage, you're limited. Once that trust and faith is broken, the magic is gone, and the audience doesn't care."  But don't these things happen in marriages?  Sure, but marriages also weather, every single day, all sorts of tensions and fractures.  It is constant (sometimes, exhausting) work, and I appreciated that this show was willing to show the Taylors go through a typical day experiencing the very real highs and lows of a life together.  And doing so through compromise and negotiation, with love and restraint.