Product Details

• Actors: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Minka Kelly
• Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: August 17, 2010
• Run Time: 9.5 hours
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0032UYFAQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,330 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The fourth season of Friday Night Lights begins with Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) in what appears to be a lose-lose situation. Fired from Dillon High School as the Panthers' football coach, Taylor is offered a position coaching the East Dillon Lions. No matter how the school board tries to spin it with platitudes about both schools being equal, East Dillon is rundown, has no funds, and has a football squad that's a team in name only. Of course we all know that Coach Taylor being who he is, it's only a matter of time before he turns the team around and gets a little vengeance on the snooty Panthers. Meanwhile, his wife Tami (Connie Britton) is principal of Dillon High School, where their daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) is a senior. Her boyfriend, Matt (Zach Gilford), who had the chance to go to art school in Chicago, stayed behind in the small Texas town because he didn't want to leave behind his grandmother--who's suffering from Alzheimer's--or Julie. Though some of the plot points may sound melodramatic, they play beautifully in the 13 episodes, which originally aired on television during the 2009-2010 season. There are cast changes, reflecting the graduation of some of the characters. Lyla (Minka Kelly) briefly returns from her studies at Vanderbilt to attend a funeral, while Tim (Taylor Kitsch)--the boy she left behind--struggles with his ambivalent feelings for college and his need to help take care of the only family he has: his older brother, sister-in-law, and infant nephew. And new characters like Vince (Michael B. Jordan)--a central part of at least half the story lines--easily fit into the ensemble cast. Meanwhile, Lyla's dad Buddy (played by Brad Leland with just the right combination of sleaze and pathos) turns out to be instrumental in helping get the football program off the ground at East Dillon. Landry (Jesse Plemons) realizes that his on-again, off-again girlfriend is never coming back to him. And he's OK with that as he tackles the challenges of being the new kid at East Dillon. But, as his best friend Matt notes, "he's like a girl" when it comes to holding grudges. There also is major fallout for Tami, who is accused of telling a teenager to end her pregnancy, and trouble for a football player who gets hooked on drugs after an injury. When his religious parents tell him to pray, he does: "Dear Lord, please let me get some more drugs before Friday." There are a few scenarios that ring false, like when the Panthers' star quarterback J.D. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter) seemingly turns into a malicious, spoiled brat overnight. But overall, Friday Night Lights scores just the right touch. --Jae-Ha Kim

Product Description

One of the greatest TV dramas of all time continues with 13 gripping fourth season episodes of the critically acclaimed series Friday Night Lights. Small-town life in Dillon has changed irrevocably with the dramatic split of the school district. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) finds himself fighting for the respect of the East Dillon Lions, while his wife, Tami (Connie Britton), faces her own battles as principal of the Dillon High Panthers. Across town, it’s a season for change as graduating students face life after high school, and new students deal with hostile rivalries. From executive producers Brian Grazer, Peter Berg and Jason Katims comes the show that critics rave “may have the greatest emotional range of any series ever on television” (Neal Gabler, Los Angeles Times).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best season yet, February 15, 2010

By 

Lala (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season (DVD)

I just finished watching the last episode of Season 4 - it has been an amazing season. While I did miss some of the show's regular characters, the addition of new characters and new story lines is simply a reflection of reality. People move in and out of our lives all the time, we meet new people, we lose track of others. As much as I adore the people in Dillon Texas and irrationally think of them as real people, I don't know if I've ever been moved so deeply as I have been this season watching new character Vince. I wanted to reach in through the screen and give him a hug and tell him that he was doing the right thing and that I was proud of him. That's how real this amazing young actor was. The story's shift to a less affluent side of town was also eye-opening and dramatic. Coach and Tammy Taylor continue to show us the most natural and real depiction of married life on television. I just can't say enough good things about this show. I'm so grateful that DirectTV and NBC continue to bring this to us. I consider the best show on the air - on any network - and still can't understand why it apparently has such a limited following, unless people are scared off thinking it's just a sports show. Friday Night Lights is not about football; it's about life, the choices we make, and our struggles to do our best. Looking forward to it finally making its way to NBC in April and will be first in line to purchase the season DVDs when they become available.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the BEST Show on Television, May 27, 2010

By 

Dolphin (Vancouver, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season (DVD)

The writers had quite a task in Season 4 in a short 13-episode season. Unlike so many of the teenage shows, FNLs actually allows its key young actors to move on, sometimes come back ... just as in real life. And it introduces new characters into the lives of the people of Dillon. This coming and going of people in their lives is just as it is in high schools across America.

Season 4 centers around Coach Taylor's exile to dilapidated East Dillon High school, while his beloved wife, Tami, remains Principal of Dillon High. The re-districting creates a schism between the Taylors, the Panthers and the Lions, the students of the 2 schools, the Boosters, and the town make for some interesting story-telling. It also creates a further schism between the races and economic classes ... the "haves" and the "have nots." This season mirrors the Great Recession where everyone but a very few struggles. Tami is now the major breadwinner in their family, Coach is still out on a 2 year "non-compete" from his contract with TMU, there are no jobs in Dillon. Buddy is no longer the richest man in Dillon, as his car dealership struggles. The richest man is now Joe McCoy, the Stud of Suds. (In real life, beer sales are in fact at an all time high during this recession ... so this seems very fitting). McCoy is oblivious to the suffering of others, as his family is unaffected and his eye remains on making his son the greatest quarterback in the history of Texas.

This divide is going to cause the same conflict that so many re-districted towns experience ... all anchored this season by the Coach and his family. The writers throw everything but the kitchen sink at Taylors this season(as well as some other key characters). As Coach said in the Pilot episode, now, they will all be tested. In the backdrop of this unrelenting economy ... I thought the writers did an excellent job of tapping into what is happening in America today ... how we are all being tested.

This season plays special homage to Matt Saracen and Tim Riggins, in the same thoughtful way that Smash and Jason Street were showcased in special episodes. Compelling new characters are introduced, most noteworthy: Vince, Jesse, and Luke. An episode called "The Son," is one of the stand out episodes of the entire 4 years of the show.

This was a lot for the writers to take on in 13 episodes. For the most part, I thought they were very successful! In fact, I put this season on par with Season 1 in terms of story-telling, acting, casting. In my very honest opinion, Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, and Zach Gilford (for 'The Son') are deserving of the Emmy for their performances in Season 4 ... not the nomination, but the actual statues themselves. They turned in outstanding performances, time and time again. Taylor Kitsch, Brad Leland, and Amy Teagarden also turn in some very, very fine performances.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lights Shine In East Dillion, February 21, 2010

By 

Reconnecting To My Childhood "Time Won't Let ... - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season (DVD)

***Spoiler Free Review of the Season***

The fourth season of Friday Night Lights was fantastic! It's a very important season of transition for the show as it attempts to move from the show we knew into the show it has to become. Rather than allow it to become a standard drama that repeats the same stories with the same characters the writer's decided to work on having characters we love move on in realistic fashion at the same time as they introduced us to and tried to make us care for new ones. To help ease the transition the writers wisely cheat to keep familiar faces Landry and Julie around for one more year of high school. Meanwhile Matt Saracen and Tim Riggins are both still struggling to get their lives started this season and they each hold some of it's strongest scenes in a season partially designed to give their amazing characters proper send off.

The show can never exist without the continued presence of Eric and Tammy Taylor at it's core to hold all the pieces together. This year finds the happily married couple facing much more daunting issues and problems than they have in any previous season. They constantly struggle to keep their lives, and the lives of the kids around them together. All the while Eric and Tammy seem to be continually punished by the community simply for doing what's right. The best thing about the Taylor's is rather than dealing with conflict within their relationship the writers keep them a united loving couple dealing with external conflict caused by life, which is much more relatable and realistic.

The fourth season consists of thirteen very strongly crafted episodes spanning one high school football season in the town of Dillon:

East of Dillon

After the Fall

In the Sking of a Lion

A Sort of Homecoming

The Son (*Fantastic Episode, deserves an Emmy)

Stay

In the Bag

Toilet Bowl

Lights of Carrol Park

I Can't

Injury List

Laboring

Thanksgiving

Special Features Included On This Set:

- Deleted Scenes

- Peter Berg Intros: Three short interviews with Peter Berg as he talks about directing the season premiere, the unique shooting style of the show and where this season starts off.

- Commentary on 'East of Dillon' by Executive Producer Jason Katims

- Friday Night Lights...Camera, Action! - A featurette that goes on set and finds the cast and crew discussing the unique shooting style and the amazing staying power of this fan adored show. (Runs just over 7 minutes)

- New Faces, New Places - A featurette that explores the new characters on the cast by talking to the actors who play them and Jason Katims. (Again runs just over 7mins)

- Playbook - Learn more about the shooting of a football game scene for Friday Night Lights. Cast and crew discuss the work and some of the complications that go into creating game scenes. (Runs just under 5mins)

The special features are great and will be entertaining for any fan of the series to watch. While I wish there was more that doesn't mean we aren't getting our money's worth. I do however strongly wish there had been some mention to the individual storylines they crafted for the season, and I would have loved commentary on episodes 'The Son' and 'Thanksgiving'. Still, I'm very happy with what we're given here knowing that they made these special features specifically to please the shows die hard fans.

There are a lot of new faces this year with Vince, Luke, Becky and Jess but I find them to be great replacements for the cast that has moved on and honestly feel they hold just as strong storytelling possibilities as the original cast did. Vince is a complex character who slowly earns our respect. He and Jess already clearly have unspoken history together and Becky and Luke by seasons end have gone through one of the most difficult experiences that two teens can go through. Though no one will ever replace Matt Saracen as a wonderfully crafted and instantly likable character, these characters quickly grow on you.

I have always loved this show, even in the messy parts of season two, but this year was particularly great. They were able to tell so many different levels of stories and all while keeping the drama involved in them at a completely realistic level. In comparison with the fantastic first season of the series that taught us the uplifting message that "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Can't Lose" this season goes out of it's way to teach us in the same uplifting way that "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Can Lose" but what matters is how you deal with it and how you let it define you from there.

As the show moved to DirecTV and 13 episode seasons I found the writing return to the greatness we expected in the first season and with the excellent handheld camerawork and character acting that makes you feel as if you are right there watching what you feel are real people, Friday Night Lights now feels like a cable series that could become as great as The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men or Breaking Bad. This is a fantastic show and I'm ecstatic that this season has been released on DVD with some special features. It gets better each time I view it.

Hopefully many others will buy this set and watch the fifth season too, thanks for your time.

*On a small note I'm usually okay when shows have to change music for a DVD release but was really disappointed that they had to change Bob Dylan's "Don't think twice, it's alright" to another song at the end of episode 'Stay'. Guess I'll keep my downloaded version of that episode. Several other songs are also replaced with sound alike music and usually at key moments, just a heads up.