A Goodbye to Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights ended last night. Well, at least for those of us living in the 21st century. For the rest of you still using, ahem, cable, I guess it will end in a couple months. It's sad that it has to leave at all.

It's probably had one of the more interesting runs on television. Mostly because it pioneered the "premiere on Direct TV and then on real TV 5 months later" format, which hopefully will never be duplicated because it is awful. On the other hand, thank God for the Direct TV deal or we wouldn't have had the last 3 seasons.

There have been a few missteps along the way - a murder/cover up comes to mind - but mostly it's just been brilliant. And the thing I liked most was the tone - not cartoony drama combined with moments of comedy. And also sports.

When this show debuted, I was skeptical at best. First of all, why make a TV show of a just okay movie? And second, why put a show called Friday Night Lights on Tuesday nights?

But they nailed it pretty much right away. The shooting style was cool, and the casting was spot on. I never liked Connie Britton on "Spin City", but there's no doubt she was the right Tami Taylor. Kyle Chandler was another homerun, as was the incomparable Tim Riggins.

I never thought anyone could be welcomed into the man love pantheon along side such folk heroes as Brandon Walsh and Pacey Witter, but Tim Riggins not only enters that realm, he might be its king. If nothing else, he's our fullback.

As good looking as the people on this show are, it was also a showcase for character actors, also known as ugly actors. I'm pretty sure Buddy Garrity will never be a regular on a TV series again, unless they bring back Walker Texas Ranger. And how about Landry Clarke? Some call him a retarded Matt Damon, I call him hilarious.

As much as "Glee" claims to be about the outcasts of high school, could Landry Clarke be on that show? Hey, he has a band, he plays music, could he be in Glee? Hell no. The man is a mutant. But he's awesome, and not a stereotype, and that's why Glee sucks - and my feelings on that have nothing to do with my hatred of gays.

Most teen shows fight tooth and nail to keep their cast together, even as the high schoolers turn into 50 year old Andrea Zuckermans. Friday Night Lights didn't do that. Sure, it probably was a budgetary thing, and it is odd that a show with such low ratings turned young unknowns into movie stars - but I guess the fact that it had Coach and Tami Taylor as such strong, adult anchors that it was able to do that.

Still, the loss of Riggs and Matt Saracen hurt the show. I don't think they did as good a job as casting on the second go around as they did in the first. Vince is all right, so is Luke. But where they dropped the ball was replacing Minka and Tyra.

Some of the best moments involved the Riggins, Minka, Six love triangle, and the Saracen, Julie, Coach Taylor awkward triangle. Things weren't the same with that team manager girl (Jess) and Becky, and those relationships just weren't as compelling.

So I felt it dragged this season, and then really picked up for the last 5 episodes, when the old favorites started coming back to town. That's all I'll say about the last season for you cable people, and I don't think that ruins anything.

Anyway, it sucks that it's over. I will miss Friday Night Lights. And I will really miss Tim Riggins.