Michael Giltz: DVDs: Friday Night Lights Fights http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-emfriday-night-light_b_97682.html [4/5/2009 7:07:09 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Similar Bloggers DVDs: Friday Night Lights Fights Posted April 21, 2008 | 12:06 AM (EST) Read More: Cloverfield , Dvds, Friday Night Lights , Laura Linney , Laverne & Shirley , Movies, Philip Seymour Hoffman , Puppetry , Sally Mann , Shirley Temple , TV Shows , Breaking Entertainment News Never -- and I say this with love -- never has a TV drama been so good and then gone so completelyoff the rails as Friday Night Lights.</p><p> I loved thefirst season of this drama about a small Texastown where the thwarted and mundane lives ofseemingly everyone was channeled into a passionfor the high school football team.</p><p> Beautifullyacted with a great cast, respectful of the faith thatinforms many people's lives, filled with subtletyand charm, sexy as hell -- Friday Night Lights had it all.</p><p> Including low ratings.</p><p> Perhaps out of panic, Season Two began with a show stopper of a plot twist -- one character defending themself and clearly frightened out of their mind killed a vicious rapist who had promised to attack again.</p><p> This turn of events soon devolved into idiotic dumping of the body, burning cars to hide evidence and other shenanigans.</p><p> But this much-debated twist was only the tip of the iceberg.</p><p> Virtually every character suddenly began behaving like a bonehead.</p><p> The engaging young couple (the stammering, sweet high school quarterback and his smart, coach's daughter girlfriend) split up for no reason.</p><p> The coach's wife -- always a rock of intelligence and humor and wit and warmth -- became a desperate, weeping wimp collapsing under the pressure of a new baby.</p><p> The coach's new job at a major university was clearly just a stunt and it was only a matter of episodes before he returned to town.</p><p> The paralyzed quarterback - a smart, driven man destined to succeed -- decided to go to Mexico and let a fly-by-night surgeon with seedy offices on the second floor of a run-down building operate on his spine.</p><p> And on and on and on.</p><p> Every week I yelled back at the screen as people I'd come to know behaved completely out of character.</p><p> And every week I came back.</p><p> Despite the major stumbles in the scripts, this is the bestensemble on TV right now.</p><p> And they still managed to wring some genuine emotion and truth out ofthe most soap opera-like random twists.</p><p> It's a testament to the emotional investment people makein a series that they'll keep coming back even after the show has lost its way or simply exhausted Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Like this story? Get Alerts of big news events.</p><p> Enter your email address Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! 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SNL: Madonna And Angelina In Weekend Update...</p><p> Reality Star Jade Goody Buried In Lavish...</p><p> Robert De Niro Nanny Sues For $40,000 "HGTV's $250,000 Challenge": Families Vie For Mortgage...every possible storyline from its setting.</p><p> That's why millions of people still watch ER.</p><p> That's why I still watch Friday Night Lights.</p><p> I can walk away (from Lost and Desperate Housewives ) or just reduce my attention to an occasional glance or fast-forwarding ( Ugly Betty ).</p><p> But when you really love a show, it's really hard to give it up, even if they've given up.</p><p> And who knows, maybe in season three they'll find their way back again.</p><p> I won't give up on them any more than the locals would give up on the Dillon Panthers.</p><p> Oh, sure, they'll bitch and moan.</p><p> But they still show up for every game.</p><p> Also out this week: The Orphanage ($27.98 and $35.99 on Blu-Ray; New Line), a well-received Spanish ghost story directed by J.A.</p><p> Bayona that marks Guillermo Del Toro's leap into above-the- banner endorsements; I like Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Bosco very verymuch and yet I had a violent dislike for The Savages ($27.98; Fox), the story of unpleasant siblingsfighting over the care of their unpleasant father, so go figure; Human Resources ($24.95; Kino) a woefully under-appreciated French drama about a son graduated from college high on businesstheory who joins the factory where his father works and soon takes the lead in laying off countlessemployees to improve profits (and seemingly this story will always be timely); The WoodyWoodpecker Collection Vol. 2 ($39.98; Universal) has 75 cartoons so if the kids are going to watchALL of them make sure they're in another room or that maniacal laughter will eventually drive youto drink; groundbreaking photographer Sally Mann (and her family, naturally) is studied over aperiod of five years while developing a new project in What Remains ($29.99; Zeitgeist); the larky, genial Charlie Wilson's War ($29.98; Universal) is not the ode to the CIA that some liberals feared and not the damning indictment of foreign entanglements that conservatives imagined but just ablack comedy about good intentions gone awry and featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman in one ofthe best performances of the year (I told you I liked him); who but the Criterion company wouldtake the care to compile Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies ($44.95; Eclipse) for its no-frills but increasingly essential line of inexpensive DVDs; Cloverfield ($29.99; Paramount) proved better marketing than movie, so anyone with a hankering for monsters on the loose should follow thiswith the superior Korean flick The Host ($19.98 Magnolia); Shirley Temple -- America' Sweetheart Collection Vol 6 ($29.98; Fox) is inexpensive, but really, when you get up to movies 16, 17, and 18 in a series (including one of her best, Wee Willie Winkie ) shouldn't they be double features on each DVD and packaged more compactly?; Before The Nickelodeon ($24.95; Kino), a loving documentary about the forgotten cinematic pioneer Edwin S.</p><p> Porter (the man behind The GreatTrain Robbery ), with 19 complete shorts; we're still waiting for the successor to Jet Li, though Donnie Yen argues his case pretty well in Flash Point ($24.95; Genius); Penny Marshall went on to direct Oscar-nominated blockbusters and Michael McKean cowrote and starred in This Is SpinalTap so let's just call Laverne & Shirley Fourth Season ($39.98; Paramount) a case of when smart people make dumb sitcoms; lesbian romance is spiced up with curry in Nina's Heavenly Delights($24.95; Here); The Best Of Backyard Habitat Volume 1 ($14.95; Genius) contains a generous fourhours of this kid-oriented series about practical ways to create an animal friendly environment inyour backyard so be prepared to get your hands dirty; for fans of puppetry and stop-motionanimation, the adult-oriented work of Kihachiro Kawamoto is a delight and the long-overduerelease of these DVDs very welcome indeed, including mostly shorts from the 70s in The ExquisiteShort Films Of Kihachiro Kawamoto ($29.95; Kino) and his 2005 feature length film The Book Of The Dead ($29.95; Kino).</p><p> So, is there any TV show that's let you down the way Friday Night Lights let me down? 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Comments 6 Pending Comments 0 Ads by Google Watch Friday Night Lights Free Full Episodes Online Now. "Friday Night Lights" at Fancast. www.Fancast.com Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All aznurse See Profile I'm a Fan of aznurse permalink I forgot I was boycotting ABC, so off it goes.</p><p> But Boston Legal is another show that has gone off the deep end. 67bug See Profile I'm a Fan of 67bug permalink Never heard of it.</p><p> Hey, AI is on tonight, woohoo! navalflightofficer See Profile I'm a Fan of navalflightofficer permalink I loved Friday Night Lights, but my wife was never invested, so I've missed most of the second season.Imagine my shock at coming in midway.</p><p> I loved (and still love) Dead Like Me.</p><p> It was a phenomenal series that got canceled.</p><p> I believe it started on FX.</p><p> Our whole family got enthralled, then found out there were no more seasons! Jude2004 See Profile I'm a Fan of Jude2004 permalink I watched the first season of Friday Night Lights, even though it frequently made me angry.</p><p> I blogged about it: http://onlycrook.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/friday-night-lights/ That town is filled with sluts and losers, and I only marginally care about two of them: the coach and his wife.</p><p> I wouldn't want to get to know any of the others.</p><p> Too bad it wasn't cancelled, but will live on foranother year. jvarga See Profile I'm a Fan of jvarga permalink I'm pretty excited, my X files complete series box set gets delivered today (was 50% off at amazon).</p><p> Inever saw the last couple of years of it, so I hope it doesn't let me down.</p><p> Note: if anyone thinks it is, trynot to ruin it for me :P aznurse See Profile I'm a Fan of aznurse permalink Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News Cars MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein.</p><p> In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael GiltzAntarctica has HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Related Tags Cloverfield , Dvds , Friday Night Lights , Laura Linney , Laverne & Shirley , Movies , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Puppetry , Sally Mann , Shirley Temple , TV Shows Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:22 AM on 04/23/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:32 PM on 04/22/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:33 AM on 04/22/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:09 PM on 04/21/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:21 AM on 04/21/2008This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: DVDs: Friday Night Lights Fights http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-emfriday-night-light_b_97682.html [4/5/2009 7:07:09 PM] HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Comments are closed for this entry One of the highlights was watching Mrs.</p><p> Couch and her teenage daughter go at it to the bewilderment of Mr.</p><p> Couch.</p><p> Been there, done that! The "tornado" scene was the beginning of stupid times in Dillon land.</p><p> But when give great lines that ensemble can act!!!! I miss them all.</p><p> I wonder where the plot line of next season will start.</p><p> Rescue Me is another one of my favorites and that one gets off track sometimes,but I really care about those characters too.</p><p> Damages was great too and I'm looking forward to its return.</p><p> You must be logged in to reply to this comment.</p><p> Log in or Ads by Google Watch Friday Night Lights Free Full Episodes Online Now. "Friday Night Lights" at Fancast. www.Fancast.com Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:41 AM on 04/21/2008
