TV Show Review - Friday Night Lights

So now that have reviewed three sports books, I have decided to broaden my horizon by taking a look at a TV show based around sport. Eventually, I hope to have reviewed just about every sports TV show and movie to make your job as a sports loving consumer a little bit easier. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the Friday Night Lights TV series.

A couple weeks ago, I watched the final episode of Friday Night Lights and I was left speechless. After watching all of the 76 episodes contained in five seasons, I can legitimately say that this is my favourite TV show ever. Now that is quite a bold thing to say but it's true. Even if you don't care about football, you are sure to like this show. Neal Gabler of the Los Angeles Times sums it up for me, saying that Friday Night Lights "may have the greatest emotional range of any series ever on television".

The show is from the book and film of the same name, a movie that I hope to review in the coming weeks. I won't ruin the plot for any of you who have never seen the show, which is probably a large number as this show is a hidden gem, or for those who are watching the fifth and final series currently being aired on NBC. However, I won't be ruining any surprises by saying that the first few seasons of this series revolve around the Dillon Panthers high school football team in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas and their coach Eric Taylor and his family.

Coach Eric Taylor

This series is incredibly well written and produced. The acting is generally flawless. Every episode will leave you on the edge of your seat and you will develop feelings for the realistic characters. The football scenes in this show are probably the best I have ever seen in a sports related show but as I mentioned before this series does not only deal with football. 'It addresses many issues facing contemporary Middle America, including school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, and lack of economic opportunities' to quote a well written Wikipedia page. I have never understood why this series has not become a huge hit but don't let that discourage you from watching Friday Night Lights. There is a box set is a box set containing season 1-4 available on Amazon(I have included a link to that below) which would require you to pick up season 5 separately as there is no box set containing all five seasons. I have also included a YouTube clip of the opening moments of episode 1 to give you a sample of what to expect.

RATING - 10/10