Texas Forever.
Christina Daffre
8075673
ENG1100Z
K. Gildea
University of Ottawa

Last Sunday most of North America sat on their couches with a cold beer and cheered on their beloved football team in the NFL Super Bowl XLIX. For many people football is not their preferred source of entertainment. So a television drama about the travails of a high school football team in a small town in Texas might not sound like the most appetizing fare. However, Friday Night Lights (FNL) will more than likely make you appreciate the sport a bit more. The drama is not just about the challenges of winning a football game but, about family, community and a deep sense of values. Friday Night Lights is one of the best dramas on television because it exemplifies the true nature of the American dream that connects to us all.

The story of coach Taylor, his pragmatic wife Tami and the various losers, dreamers, jocks and dropouts who make up the high school football team, the Dillon Panthers, offers something quite different from many other acclaimed shows: optimism. Friday Night Lights isn’t gritty or hard-hitting, and yet the show had no problem dealing with difficult issues most shows stay away from. The show tackles many controversial topics such as race, class and faith, which could easily be turned into melodramatic stereotypical clichés but, instead manages to display a level of honest, raw humanity that few TV dramas have ever achieved. FNL realistically addresses the issue of racism in the south of Texas. The shows character, Smash Williams expresses the complexities of racism with delicacy and nuance rarely seen on television. The drama successfully depicts rational, balanced views of issues without judgments or influencing the viewer own beliefs. Friday Night Lights ability to realistically display its character’s everyday problems, while wearing their heart on their sleeves, makes the show incomparable.

One of the more prominent reasons the show is so great is the shows ability to make you feel like you part of the town and team. The show does not pretend to be to be perfect. Nor does it pretend that the characters are. They are human, and they screw up, but despite their shortcomings, most of the characters strive to be better people and do the right thing. The show hits you hard and teaches you real life lessons. The show teaches you to learn from your mistakes, that being a good person may not always be fulfilling and sometimes your going to fail. Friday Night Lights knows that life is not perfect or wonderful, that terrible things happen but, it tells us that life is also worth living, that friends are worth celebrating and that even the smallest of dreams can be worth chasing. It is a drama not afraid to