We had a good response to the Friday Night Lights writeup last week, and I thought that all the loyal fans out there should be made aware of Ben Silverman’s recent comments about the fate of this beloved (apparently cult) show.

Silverman is the new head cheese at NBC, and he was recently thrown some questions by one of the writers at RADAR. When asked the fate of FNL, his response was:

“I love it. You love it. Unfortunately, no one watches it. That’s the thing with shows. People have to watch them. We’re NBC, we have a reputation to uphold. And, man, with this writers’ strike … well, we’ll see what we can do. But start watching ‘30 Rock.’”

So there you have it, folks — when a network goes out of its way to NOT promote a quality show (especially when there’s a frickin’ strike going on and all we have to watch is Deal or No Deal and American Gladiators), they let it die a sad death.

Maybe all of us diehards should start sending jockstraps to send a message: Keep this show on the air!

Damn right I’m going to talk about NBC’s Friday Night Lights on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s the only show that deserves mention on a day when the Patriots are seeking perfection and the Giants are looking to become one of the greatest underdog stories in NFL history. Friday Night Lights is perfect — and it’s one of television’s biggest underdogs.

Inspired by H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 book and the 2004 film directed by Peter Berg,
Friday Night Lights uses football as a jumping point introduce us to the citizens of Dillon, Texas, one of those small American towns Steve Earle sang about in his song “Someday.” In Dillon, high school football isn’t just an extracurricular activity; it’s a way of life. The players on the Dillon Panthers football team are in their glory years, which is sad because most of these young men have yet to turn 18. Almost all of them will graduate high school, some will head to college, and one or two of the elite will be recruited to play college ball. The rest will either join the military or wind up living the rest of their lives in Dillon or some other blue-collar Texas town. They will sell cars, work construction, or just shuffle from job to job. The fame and attention they’re receiving may be the best they ever get. That sounds kind of depressing, doesn’t it? Not exactly the kind of “entertainment” you’re looking for on a Friday night, huh? I beg to differ. With delicacy and grace, Friday Night Lights strives to show the good and bad in humanity in all of us by giving us characters full of hope, trying to rise about the racism and economic hardships of their town. Whether you catch it live on NBC, TiVo it, or stream episodes online at NBC.com (where every episode from both seasons is streaming), I implore you…watch this show.

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Welcome to The Three Strike Rule, the Popdose television column. If you’re reading this live, you must either be a really big fan of the site, or you don’t have much to do on a Sunday morning. Whatever the case, thanks for dropping in and reading me blather about TV for a couple of minutes. My hope is that with this column, we’ll be able to begin a conversation about television, both as a consumer product and as an art form. While so many people still view the television landscape as a vast wasteland, I say they’re wrong. True, there are hundreds of channels of crap out there. But there’s a reason that so many film actors are choosing HBO, FX or Showtime over starring in an empty-minded blockbuster. Moreover, the quality in production values and in the craftsmanship of good television series rivals those of many independent movies and some big budget features. My hope with The Three Strike Rule is that I’ll be able to shed a little more light on television and you, as a reader, will appreciate the finer things about it.

To start off the new year, I thought I’d introduce my likes with a list of the ten shows I think are worth watching and to look out for in the coming months. (more…)