Since becoming a victim of Friday Night Lights I’ve often wondered just who else can relate to this show. And if you are a fan you know what I mean by victim. Glances at the TV screen, iPad or computer screen can lead to yearnings for that edge of the seat crush that could come out of a  near half hour of FNL. 

But as I’ve said before, generally I haven’t forgiven the show for their inability to seriously integrate some Latinos into the show. Texas is mostly Latino now, ok? David has said, that well, the book did focus on that and one of the Latino characters that disappears from the show to prison was in fact one of the few to return and be a successful lawyer. Ok, but why the hell isn’t that something the producers and writers can deal with on the show? How come it is mostly just poor Whites and African-Americans? Is that the FNL audience? Whose heart strings are really being tugged by this show, what kind of audience has it really reached?

Beyond ethnicity or race, I was thinking about what the larger appeal of the show is. Is it family values? Is it leadership? Is it small town dwellers? What is it? Is there one thing? Who hates it and why? 

I mean, going back to why we started watching it, David Jacobs’ nagging, my Texas heritage and the appeal of the Texas twang (fake or not), the explosions in the sky emotion, was it just one thing that hooked us? I doubt it. I mean Tracie heard the first four or five episodes while she was diligently working on projects for her new company in our bedroom, back before they landed their cool desk and space in downtown Brooklyn. 

Our friend was in town and we tortured her with an episode or two while she was here. I say tortured, because it seems she didn’t get it, didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Maybe she was above it, maybe I’m just reading into things. But I detected a strong lack of affinity on her part for the show, because of its centering on stories around high-school football. She was a band geek, football was meaningless to her. She went on to attend Wellesley and get a degree in Architecture and Urban Design. But why the hell is it that it doesn’t appeal to her? I mean, she appreciates good dramas and good stories. What is it?

Perhaps it is something personal with her specifically. Or, perhaps it is because, she hasn't ever been a leader in a public situation. And I don’t mean to pick on her, I think this applies to anyone that hasn't been a parent or a part of a cohesive team and been to some extant a leader in their group. I think if you haven’t been a part of that, then you may have an excuse to not pay attention to FNL. Maybe that is why you hate football too, you haven’t got it yet. 

Could it be that FNL is itself just an advertisement for friendly competition and leadership? Is there something more to it than that? Over the holidays, I mentioned the show to my Mom and she said they tried to watch it but “fell asleep” and “never got into it”. But they watch ‘House’ and ‘Monk’ and crap like that. Is it that we enjoy thinking about hard situations in life and they don’t? Could it be that FNL doesn’t appeal to those looking to ‘veg out’ and escape into another world they could never be a part? Could it simply be it hits a little too close to home? 

I love it for that. As we try and turn more and more friends to it, I think that is the under-arching reason for doing so. I want to see what they have to say when they see these issues, often issues we’ve all been through or maybe are going through right now, acted out on the screen in one iteration. We need it played out so that we can be better people and make the right choices. Am I really saying that a TV show can do this? Yea, I think I am. 

And you see it [CAUTION: Spoiler]...

...and you see it when Vince in Season 4 finally gets his Mother into rehab, only to find out a split second later that he’s traded a part of himself for her. 

That’s some serious shit man. I guess it only appeals to people who could get into shows like M.A.S.H. And that is the good thing, back when TV writers were on to something. Reflecting the strain of the political and daily lives of Americans. We aren’t that clear cut. We bleed and cry and shit hits the fan sometimes. But overall, overall we deal with it man.

Texas forever.

Back in the early 90's as I was wading through the bliss-less years
that will forever be known as high school, I would have never imagined
that I'd be so interesd in a story based on high school football. My
arty kid self, with longish hair and Megadeth jacket, would've
probably guffawed at the mere thought of my mid-thirties self sitting
down to even contemplate writing a sentence about high school
football, much less a full length journal entry about it. But then
someone went out and produced and orchestrated this thing we will
forever refer to as FNL.

In 1978 on the Northwest side of San Antonio The Clark Cougars
strutted out onto the field for the first of many unsuccessful
attempts at winning the state championships. To this date, they still
haven't won. Sometimes when I watch the show I like to pretend that
the other team is Clark. Hell, one time, I swear it was. But 1978 was
4 years after I was put on this earth. It wasn't until the early
nineties that I'd passively ignore all the football goings on about
me. They were from a different place than me. I knew a few footballers
from growing up with them, but by no means was I ever one of them.

I never would have imagined that football or stories centered around
football in a small Texas town would be something that would bring me
on the verge of emotional breakdown on a regular basis. In my
experience, few things have been able to capture the feelings I have
of my home state, but I have to give it to the team at FNL, they
really have hit the nail on the head.

Being a transplant from Texas has its pluses and deltas for a guy
living in Brooklyn, NY. Texas has always had its mystique of
badassedness and I've never been want to play along. I think, as a
dramatical story, while maybe FNL struggles to portray the realities
of high school footballers or any real football teams as I've heard
some express, it does a phenomenal job at expressing the complexity of
Texas politic and persona.

I've always been struck by these vague accusations that I've gotten
whenever I mention where I'm from. Everyone asks one or a handful of
the basics: where my gun is (I sold it), did I ever have a horse (I
did), do I have boots (I do), am I proud of BUSH (I'm not), or Don't
mess with Texas. I guess we have our famous politicians (Johnson, The
Bush Family, and the like) to thank for much of these simplifications
and misunderstandings of the Texas nature, if there is one. Or perhaps
we can pen it on our 'liberal' hollywood or our 'liberal' media.

Either way, I've generally have enough of those kind of things. And I
actually miss home quite often. So, when economics prevented me from
heading back Friday Night Lights has done a really great job at
filling the gap between phone calls to family for feeling back home in
Texas. Shit, I think my accent is coming back, even if the actors are
mostly not Texan.

Moral of the story is I love the show. I think its 'family values' are
stronger than some of the chronic bullshit that's spewed on the
airwaves, liberals and conservatives alike, and get true comfort from
the emotional roller coaster of a ride this show and ensemble of cast
puts me through. I'm only at Season 2 thus far. I hope it keeps up.
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.