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Special Features
Keeping Up Appearances Deleted Storyline
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Tomorrow Blues Commentary with Executive Producer Jason Katims and Co-Executive Producer/Episode Director Jeffrey Reiner
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Tomorrow Blues Commentary with Executive Producer Jason Katims and Co-Executive Producer/Episode Director Jeffrey Reiner
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Some televised dramas focus on families, others on singles and couples, but NBC's Friday Night Lights, among the finest shows of the decade, takes on an entire town. As with Sports Night, minimal enthusiasm for athletics presents no hindrance to enjoyment, just an interest in the concerns of Dillon, TX's populace, indelibly captured through authentic locations, handheld cameras, and naturalistic acting. If the off-shoot of creator Peter Berg's feature film doesn't look like most primetime programs, the cinematic score from Austin's Explosions in the Sky contributes to the big-screen impression.
Since the first season, Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his wife, Tami (Connie Britton), now Dillon High principal, remain constants as they guide their charges--including 17-year-old daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden)--through games, classes, and beyond. Where Jason Street and Smash Williams began as major players, they fade from view in the third as they figure out their post-grad futures. Instead, big-hearted garage-rocker Landry (Observe and Report's Jesse Plemons) emerges as the heart of the show, while his best friend, Matt (Zach Gilford), reaches out to his estranged mother, Shelby (Kim Dickens), for help when his grandmother’s deteriorating mental condition becomes too much to bear.
If everyone has financial struggles of some kind, new quarterback JD. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter) shares no such concerns. By the end of the season, however, his controlling father, Joe (D.W. Moffett), will go too far. And after a misguided move into criminal intrigue during the second year, Lights avoids any similar missteps this time around, and the entire cast rises to the occasion, including Taylor Kitsch (Riggins), Minka Kelly (Lyla), and Adrianne Palicki (Tyra), who portrays the show's trickiest character, a self-obsessed senior who takes advantage of Landry whenever it suits her needs. Extras include deleted scenes and insightful commentary from writer/producer Jason Katims. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
One of the most compelling, heartfelt and intense TV series of all time – Friday Night Lights – returns to more acclaim with 13 groundbreaking Season Three episodes. Return to Dillon, Texas, where the close-knit residents face new challenges and uncertainties as they deal with the day-to-day pressures of life transitions, heartbreak and hardships. Featuring a powerful all-star cast led by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights is the realistic series that has received unrivaled recognition from Time, Entertainment Weekly, the Primetime Emmy® Awards, Writers Guild and the American Film Institute. Discover why this gripping series from executive producers Brian Grazer, Peter Berg, Jason Katims and Jeffrey Reiner is being praised as “one of the best series on TV.” (Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
73 of 74 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Warning! Spoilers galore! Do NOT read this review if you have not seen all of Season 3!
Season Three of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS represents one of the most interesting attempts ever to keep a great, but lightly watched series alive. After Season One the series was renewed primarily based on the huge critical acclaim the show received along with its intensely dedicated, though small (though I would like to think growing) fan base. I honestly thought that after Season One it was going to sweep the Emmys, garnering a host of awards that would propel it to the next tier in public consciousness, much like what happened to another series that debuted in the fall of 2006, 30 ROCK. For some unfathomable reason it did not receive a single major Emmy nomination. It did go on, however, to win what have come to be the three most reliable indicators of quality TV. It won a Peabody award, something that most Emmy winners never receive. It won Salon's annual Buffy award, given to the best show neglected by the Emmys (named after the greatest TV series never to receive Emmy attention). And it was named one of the ten best shows on TV by the American Film Institute. Fans of the show watched in horror as clearly inferior shows like BOSTON LEGAL, GREY'S ANATOMY, HOUSE M.D., and HEROES got recognition that continued to escape.
Still, fans hoped that Season Two would see an increased audience share. NBC hoped that moving it to Friday night (the night that most people assumed it was airing) would help. It didn't and its ratings slipped further. Normally a show with the kind of ratings FNL had would simply have been cancelled. Much to NBC's credit, they decided to take new steps to save the series. They arranged with DirecTV to have that network air the thirteen episodes of Season Three in the fall of 2008 (when many of us were lucky enough to see it), with NBC showing it in the winter and spring of 2009. According to some rumors, DirecTV was happy with the results and is interested in continuing with another season of the show. I've seen no reports on how NBC is thinking (though the head of programming for NBC Universal did, in response to a question about FNL's chances for a Season Four, said that there would continue to be a place on the NBC schedule for quality shows with a smaller audience share). In a recent interview FNL creator and executive producer Peter Berg said that the decision to continue could be as much their decision as the networks. Suffice it to say that at this point it isn't at all clear that there will be a Season Four and possibly just because Berg and show runner Jason Katims may decide not to continue.
The reason for Season Four being in doubt is very easy to see. There is a major creative question about where to take the series in a fourth season. Many of the key characters on the show for the past three seasons have graduated. At the very least, Tyra, Riggins, Lyla, and Matt are out of high school. There is debate about whether or not Landry is a senior or junior. Spoiler alert! At the end of Season Three it appears that those four are going to four different schools, Tyra to University of Texas (where Landry could certainly go if he is a senior), Riggins to the fictitious San Antonio State, and Lyla to Vanderbilt, while Matt's college plans are murky. Coach Taylor's plans were not in granite, though he was clearly confronted with a very different situation if the show continues. Apart from Julie (and possibly Landry, if he is indeed a junior), there are no established high school characters continuing on the show and no high school football players. There are three major possibilities. One is to start from scratch with Coach Taylor at the heart of things and introduce a host of new characters. A second is to introduce new high school players for Coach Taylor while continuing to follow the characters we've come to love over the past three years. This would be especially easy in Tyra's case (and possibly in Landry's if he is a senior) since she is attending UT and the show is actually filmed in Austin. The third possibility is to have Coach Taylor take a coaching job at, say, San Antonio State, where Riggins already is, and perhaps find a way to get Matt, Landry, Tyra, and Lyla all to go there for whatever reason they can think up. A fourth possibility would be for the show to say goodbye to Riggins, Tyra, Matt, Lyla, and possibly Landry in a series of episodes like they did in Season Three with Smash and Jason. One thing is clear: if they have a Season Four, it will be utterly unlike the first three seasons of the show.
Season Three of FNL just might be my favorite so far. I loved Season One, continued to enjoy the show even with some iffy moments (along with several glorious ones) in Season Two, but I was just blown away by Season Three. There were not merely no weak episodes in Season Three, but few weak moments. The way I expressed my love for FNL to a friend is that while BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is my favorite show on TV and probably has 20 episodes that I think are better than the best episode of FNL, BSG also probably has 20 episodes worse than the weakest episode of FNL. FNL is just an absurdly consistent show. It may not have BSG's highpoints, but neither does it have its lowpoints. [There are, btw, several interesting connections between BSG and FNL. The creator of FNL, Peter Berg, directed the pilot of BSG creator Ron Moore's new series VIRTUALITY, while FNL producer and frequent director Jeffrey Reiner directed the movie CAPRICA, which also serves as the pilot for the BSG prequel by the same name. There are also some stylistic similarities. Both are shot with hand held cameras, with the cameras playing to the actors rather than the actors to the cameras. Both feature rich and enormously talented casts. And then there are the convoluted connections. BSG executive producer David Eick worked on HERCULES, which was created by Rob Tappert. FNL producer John Cameron not only went to high school with Tappert and did some work on HERCULES and XENA, but Tappert married a Cylon, none other than D'Anna Biers aka Lucy Lawless.]
Season Three is the senior year of many of the major characters. The football arc centers on these players' last hurrah, the attempt to go to state one last time, and getting prepared to move on. Matt's situation is complicated by the presence of an enormously talented freshman quarterback who is clearly more gifted than he is. Riggins takes on new responsibilities and begins to grow up both on and off the field. And the team manages to overachieve and do things it clearly should not be capable of. The final game the seniors play is easily the football highlight of the series. The last scene is clearly the most poetic.
Off the field the major stories involve the rekindling of Matt and Julie's romance, which becomes one of the most realistic and sweetest relationships one can imagine. Matt struggles not only with his changing role on the football team, but his grandmother's decaying mental state, which indirectly leads to reestablishing a relationship with his mother. Tyra's story is especially interesting in Season Three. If in Season One she only gradually started to do battle with her own low self-expectations and in Season Two she fought hard to be more than the person everyone expected her to be, in Season Three he has to overcome additional obstacles to finding a more fulfilling life. She has to overcome a new guidance counselor who doesn't believe in her like Tami Taylor did, the temptation of an older and dangerous rodeo star boyfriend, and her own low self-esteem. The show's penultimate episode, in which she struggles to write her college application letter, contains one of the very finest moments in the entire series, as she finally finds the words to express what going to college truly represents, namely, "The possibility that things are going to change." And you have to love a show that has as one of the most triumphant moments a girl ecstatic in getting her college acceptance letter.
For the Taylors, life is quite different, as Tami takes on her new position as Dillon High School's new principal. Eric not only has to make difficult decisions regarding his quarterback but has to battle with that quarterback's father, who is overbearing to the point of being abusive (the mother, by the way, is nicely played by Janine Turner, who fans of NORTHERN EXPOSURE will remember affectionately as Maggie O'Connell). Buddy Garrity struggles with a series of bad decisions while Lyla is in a full-blown relationship with Tim Riggins. Meanwhile, Tim's brother Billy and Tyra's sister Mindy get engaged, which leads to the purchase of quite possibly the most hysterically ugly wedding dress in the history of network television.
One thing that is sometimes overlooked is how brilliantly executed the show is. People ignorant of film technique complain about the photography. It is all done with hand held cameras. The actors memorize their scripts and then are allowed to more or less ad lib along the direction of the script. No scenes are blocked, so that the actors are performing their actions in spontaneous fashion. They use a three camera arrangement so that even if they do only one take of a scene, they can edit the final version from different angles (look carefully at the scene in the episode "The Giving Tree" where Matt reluctantly goes to the patio where Coach Taylor is cleaning the grill and pay attention to where the cameras are during their conversation; this degree of technique runs throughout the series).
I hope there is a Season Four. Although I can't quite imagine how the series would continue, I'm fascinated to see how they would do so. Read more ›
Season Three of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS represents one of the most interesting attempts ever to keep a great, but lightly watched series alive. After Season One the series was renewed primarily based on the huge critical acclaim the show received along with its intensely dedicated, though small (though I would like to think growing) fan base. I honestly thought that after Season One it was going to sweep the Emmys, garnering a host of awards that would propel it to the next tier in public consciousness, much like what happened to another series that debuted in the fall of 2006, 30 ROCK. For some unfathomable reason it did not receive a single major Emmy nomination. It did go on, however, to win what have come to be the three most reliable indicators of quality TV. It won a Peabody award, something that most Emmy winners never receive. It won Salon's annual Buffy award, given to the best show neglected by the Emmys (named after the greatest TV series never to receive Emmy attention). And it was named one of the ten best shows on TV by the American Film Institute. Fans of the show watched in horror as clearly inferior shows like BOSTON LEGAL, GREY'S ANATOMY, HOUSE M.D., and HEROES got recognition that continued to escape.
Still, fans hoped that Season Two would see an increased audience share. NBC hoped that moving it to Friday night (the night that most people assumed it was airing) would help. It didn't and its ratings slipped further. Normally a show with the kind of ratings FNL had would simply have been cancelled. Much to NBC's credit, they decided to take new steps to save the series. They arranged with DirecTV to have that network air the thirteen episodes of Season Three in the fall of 2008 (when many of us were lucky enough to see it), with NBC showing it in the winter and spring of 2009. According to some rumors, DirecTV was happy with the results and is interested in continuing with another season of the show. I've seen no reports on how NBC is thinking (though the head of programming for NBC Universal did, in response to a question about FNL's chances for a Season Four, said that there would continue to be a place on the NBC schedule for quality shows with a smaller audience share). In a recent interview FNL creator and executive producer Peter Berg said that the decision to continue could be as much their decision as the networks. Suffice it to say that at this point it isn't at all clear that there will be a Season Four and possibly just because Berg and show runner Jason Katims may decide not to continue.
The reason for Season Four being in doubt is very easy to see. There is a major creative question about where to take the series in a fourth season. Many of the key characters on the show for the past three seasons have graduated. At the very least, Tyra, Riggins, Lyla, and Matt are out of high school. There is debate about whether or not Landry is a senior or junior. Spoiler alert! At the end of Season Three it appears that those four are going to four different schools, Tyra to University of Texas (where Landry could certainly go if he is a senior), Riggins to the fictitious San Antonio State, and Lyla to Vanderbilt, while Matt's college plans are murky. Coach Taylor's plans were not in granite, though he was clearly confronted with a very different situation if the show continues. Apart from Julie (and possibly Landry, if he is indeed a junior), there are no established high school characters continuing on the show and no high school football players. There are three major possibilities. One is to start from scratch with Coach Taylor at the heart of things and introduce a host of new characters. A second is to introduce new high school players for Coach Taylor while continuing to follow the characters we've come to love over the past three years. This would be especially easy in Tyra's case (and possibly in Landry's if he is a senior) since she is attending UT and the show is actually filmed in Austin. The third possibility is to have Coach Taylor take a coaching job at, say, San Antonio State, where Riggins already is, and perhaps find a way to get Matt, Landry, Tyra, and Lyla all to go there for whatever reason they can think up. A fourth possibility would be for the show to say goodbye to Riggins, Tyra, Matt, Lyla, and possibly Landry in a series of episodes like they did in Season Three with Smash and Jason. One thing is clear: if they have a Season Four, it will be utterly unlike the first three seasons of the show.
Season Three of FNL just might be my favorite so far. I loved Season One, continued to enjoy the show even with some iffy moments (along with several glorious ones) in Season Two, but I was just blown away by Season Three. There were not merely no weak episodes in Season Three, but few weak moments. The way I expressed my love for FNL to a friend is that while BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is my favorite show on TV and probably has 20 episodes that I think are better than the best episode of FNL, BSG also probably has 20 episodes worse than the weakest episode of FNL. FNL is just an absurdly consistent show. It may not have BSG's highpoints, but neither does it have its lowpoints. [There are, btw, several interesting connections between BSG and FNL. The creator of FNL, Peter Berg, directed the pilot of BSG creator Ron Moore's new series VIRTUALITY, while FNL producer and frequent director Jeffrey Reiner directed the movie CAPRICA, which also serves as the pilot for the BSG prequel by the same name. There are also some stylistic similarities. Both are shot with hand held cameras, with the cameras playing to the actors rather than the actors to the cameras. Both feature rich and enormously talented casts. And then there are the convoluted connections. BSG executive producer David Eick worked on HERCULES, which was created by Rob Tappert. FNL producer John Cameron not only went to high school with Tappert and did some work on HERCULES and XENA, but Tappert married a Cylon, none other than D'Anna Biers aka Lucy Lawless.]
Season Three is the senior year of many of the major characters. The football arc centers on these players' last hurrah, the attempt to go to state one last time, and getting prepared to move on. Matt's situation is complicated by the presence of an enormously talented freshman quarterback who is clearly more gifted than he is. Riggins takes on new responsibilities and begins to grow up both on and off the field. And the team manages to overachieve and do things it clearly should not be capable of. The final game the seniors play is easily the football highlight of the series. The last scene is clearly the most poetic.
Off the field the major stories involve the rekindling of Matt and Julie's romance, which becomes one of the most realistic and sweetest relationships one can imagine. Matt struggles not only with his changing role on the football team, but his grandmother's decaying mental state, which indirectly leads to reestablishing a relationship with his mother. Tyra's story is especially interesting in Season Three. If in Season One she only gradually started to do battle with her own low self-expectations and in Season Two she fought hard to be more than the person everyone expected her to be, in Season Three he has to overcome additional obstacles to finding a more fulfilling life. She has to overcome a new guidance counselor who doesn't believe in her like Tami Taylor did, the temptation of an older and dangerous rodeo star boyfriend, and her own low self-esteem. The show's penultimate episode, in which she struggles to write her college application letter, contains one of the very finest moments in the entire series, as she finally finds the words to express what going to college truly represents, namely, "The possibility that things are going to change." And you have to love a show that has as one of the most triumphant moments a girl ecstatic in getting her college acceptance letter.
For the Taylors, life is quite different, as Tami takes on her new position as Dillon High School's new principal. Eric not only has to make difficult decisions regarding his quarterback but has to battle with that quarterback's father, who is overbearing to the point of being abusive (the mother, by the way, is nicely played by Janine Turner, who fans of NORTHERN EXPOSURE will remember affectionately as Maggie O'Connell). Buddy Garrity struggles with a series of bad decisions while Lyla is in a full-blown relationship with Tim Riggins. Meanwhile, Tim's brother Billy and Tyra's sister Mindy get engaged, which leads to the purchase of quite possibly the most hysterically ugly wedding dress in the history of network television.
One thing that is sometimes overlooked is how brilliantly executed the show is. People ignorant of film technique complain about the photography. It is all done with hand held cameras. The actors memorize their scripts and then are allowed to more or less ad lib along the direction of the script. No scenes are blocked, so that the actors are performing their actions in spontaneous fashion. They use a three camera arrangement so that even if they do only one take of a scene, they can edit the final version from different angles (look carefully at the scene in the episode "The Giving Tree" where Matt reluctantly goes to the patio where Coach Taylor is cleaning the grill and pay attention to where the cameras are during their conversation; this degree of technique runs throughout the series).
I hope there is a Season Four. Although I can't quite imagine how the series would continue, I'm fascinated to see how they would do so. Read more ›
45 of 51 people found the following review helpful
By Puppluv
Format:DVD
I was heartbroken when it was cancelled and became a huge fan of directv when they picked it up for season 3...BUT I just read on [...] (which is linked to Amazon) that they are releasing only the shortened/edited NBC season 3 - not the full episodes aired on directv's Channel 101. AND changing the music for the dvds.
Basically, the fans and directv saved this show - and NBC is going to shaft the fans-AGAIN- by releasing shortened episodes instead of full directv episodes. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAD. How much more could it really cost to release the entire episodes? And something has to be done to negotiate use of the music up front because fans of all shows usually love the music that was originally chosen by the original creative forces behind the show - rather than after the fact, haphazard changing the music to save money. If you are willing to spend $30 on season 3 (or buy it on sale) - you would probably spend $40 just as easily to get the full episodes with the real music.
What a racket! I usually hate 1 star reviews that have nothing to do with the show - but the way it was released(like a volume 1 etc. just to make money) but when the way it is being released means you have no access to the full episodes on dvd-I think it deserves 1 star because it is content related. At least with a volume 1, they may be squeezing you for money but you know you have the option to buy volume 2 and get the entire season. This way, you just get edited episodes - with no hope of full episodes.
By the way, it also said there would be a season 4&5 - YAHOO!!
Basically, the fans and directv saved this show - and NBC is going to shaft the fans-AGAIN- by releasing shortened episodes instead of full directv episodes. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAD. How much more could it really cost to release the entire episodes? And something has to be done to negotiate use of the music up front because fans of all shows usually love the music that was originally chosen by the original creative forces behind the show - rather than after the fact, haphazard changing the music to save money. If you are willing to spend $30 on season 3 (or buy it on sale) - you would probably spend $40 just as easily to get the full episodes with the real music.
What a racket! I usually hate 1 star reviews that have nothing to do with the show - but the way it was released(like a volume 1 etc. just to make money) but when the way it is being released means you have no access to the full episodes on dvd-I think it deserves 1 star because it is content related. At least with a volume 1, they may be squeezing you for money but you know you have the option to buy volume 2 and get the entire season. This way, you just get edited episodes - with no hope of full episodes.
By the way, it also said there would be a season 4&5 - YAHOO!!
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By B. Woyan
Format:DVD
Ok first let me state that I am huge fan of this show and own the first two seasons on DVD. When I found out about the deal with DirectTV I went through the pain of switching from cable to DirectTV because I had heard the season 3 episodes would be longer on DirectTV and shorter on NBC.
Now you are probably asking why I'm rating this season 3 release with one star. I just found out at TVSHOWSONDVD.COM that the season 3 release will the the shorter episodes broadcast on NBC and NOT the extended versions of season 3 that were broadcast on DirectTV. There will also be music substitutions according to TVSHOWSONDVD.COM. You can check out the story here at www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Friday-Night-Lights-Season-3/11616
This is just the [...] marketing decision I've seen in a while. This show has a clear fan base and deserves to have the extended versions of the episodes. Considering the hassle myself and other fans of the show went through to switch to DirectTV just for this show I feel we all deserve the extended versions. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that by providing the extended DirectTV versions would improve sales. I'm also upset with the music substitutions that they are doing on the release.
Based on this I'm boycotting this release and will not be buying it. I refuse to support [...].
Now you are probably asking why I'm rating this season 3 release with one star. I just found out at TVSHOWSONDVD.COM that the season 3 release will the the shorter episodes broadcast on NBC and NOT the extended versions of season 3 that were broadcast on DirectTV. There will also be music substitutions according to TVSHOWSONDVD.COM. You can check out the story here at www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Friday-Night-Lights-Season-3/11616
This is just the [...] marketing decision I've seen in a while. This show has a clear fan base and deserves to have the extended versions of the episodes. Considering the hassle myself and other fans of the show went through to switch to DirectTV just for this show I feel we all deserve the extended versions. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that by providing the extended DirectTV versions would improve sales. I'm also upset with the music substitutions that they are doing on the release.
Based on this I'm boycotting this release and will not be buying it. I refuse to support [...].
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this series and wish it was still being offered
Great series. Wish the show was still being developed. The story lines flowed well and they developed the characters nicely.
Published 3 days ago by Cynthia Fritz
5.0 out of 5 stars
missing FNL production
I recently became a big fan of this show, but the worst part about it is that having cranked out 3 seasons in a week i have very little to look forward to because they stopped... Read more
Published 7 days ago by saltasm
5.0 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this series, I wish there was more!
I thought this was a great show, with lots of heart and entertaining. You really come to love the characters and root for the games!!
Published 7 days ago by Wendy E Olivier
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Show
I really like this show. It is a great alternative to what's currently being shown on tv. Give it a try
Published 8 days ago by avia
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love Thiis Show
I really enjoyed this series. It's entertaining and keeps your attention. Realistic characters that are easy to get attatched to.
Published 11 days ago by stylchk
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best show!
This show is incredible!! You can't go wrong. Highly recommend it. Watch all 5 seasons on amazon prime for free.
Published 12 days ago by Alexandra L
4.0 out of 5 stars
Keeping it fresh!
The writers have done such a good job keeping this series fresh, giving the characters new
challenges, introducing new characters, and keeping up with some of the old... Read more
challenges, introducing new characters, and keeping up with some of the old... Read more
Published 15 days ago by Reine
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great! Great!
This is one of the best shows I have ever had the pleasure to watch! I just got around to watching all the episodes on Amazon. Read more
Published 21 days ago by conniegs
5.0 out of 5 stars
Contemporary Programming
Well balanced story lines dealing with teen and adults issues and perspectives. Much better than most on-air programs. Rivals UK, Swedish and Canadian produced series.
Published 23 days ago by William Banis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding
It's one thing to make a movie out of a best seller,( The movie never lives up to the book and if it does it's a rarity) but it's another to squeeze 5 seasons out of a book and... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Jill Cunniff
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