Friday, October 05, 2007

Quick review: Friday Night Lights

So earlier in the week, I said I was anticipating the first episode of the Friday Night Lights season as if it were a reunion.

Thankfully, the folks at my actual reunion are faring a lot better than the folks in Dillon, Texas.

The show wasn't bad. It never is. But it was definitely a downer, and you could detect the not-so-subtle hand of TV execs' "notes."

Note to TV execs. Your "notes" never work.

Case in point: Boomtown. This promising show started out with an interesting gimmick -- unraveling the story from several points of view, not quite chronologically. The first episode was pure poetry. Another early episode was equally brilliant.

But it didn't catch on in the ratings. The answer to the problem, the execs said: Let's strip of everything that's unique. Make it just another cop show.

They did. And fewer people watched it, because those of us who like quality TV (I'm thinking it's roughly 1.2 million people nationwide) ditched it, leaving only those who (A) were desperate to see all things Wahlberg or (B) were desperate for network programming and didn't like the offerings on ABC, CBS or that other network.

I'm afraid I see that fate for Friday Night Lights. They didn't attract the OC crowd last year, and they won't this year. They'll tamper a bit too much, and they'll lose some of the viewers.

Fortunately, we have one brilliant season to cherish.

And again, I'll watch as long as it's on. I hope I'm wrong.

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