There are sports dramas, and then there’s Friday Night Lights.
While All American and other series have explored the heightened drama that unfolds on the gridiron and in the locker room, no show in modern history has consistently done so with as much heart as FNL.
ESPN columnist Bill Simmons once hailed it as “the greatest sports-related show ever made.” Many critics would add that the contest is not a particularly close one.
(NBC Universal (YouTube screenshot))
Last month, Variety reported that Universal was developing a reboot of the beloved series, which ran from 2006-2011.
Now, the news has been confirmed, and the spinoff has been picked up by Peacock.
Surely some fans are excited about the prospect of returning to the world of Texas high school football.
But the prevailing mood at the moment is one of utter confusion.
And the question on the minds of many FNL devotees is simply: Why?
(©NBC Universal, Inc./Virginia Sherwood)
Network execs often can’t help themselves from messing with perfection by returning to proven properties.
But in this case, the move is particularly baffling for a number of reasons.
For starters, the original Friday Night Lights is simply not that old.
Thirteen years might be an eternity in the entertainment industry, but FNL holds up incredibly well, and it’s still available on Netflix.
(NBC Universal, Inc./Virginia Sherwood)
And this is not a situation where the show is of historical interest to young people because it depicts a bygone era of unrecognizable customs and beliefs.
Members of Gen Z might watch Friends or The Office to peer in on a different world, but Friday Night Lights is almost shockingly contemporary in its themes and interests.
Its depiction of small-town life and the challenges of high school are as relevant now as they were during the Bush years.
Speaking of politics, the changing state of the world might have factored into the decision to make the trip back to Dillon, Texas.
(© NBC Universal, Inc./Virginia Sherwood)
But part of the appeal of the original series was its timeless quality.
Friday Night Lights began life as a 1990 non-fiction novel by H.G. Bissinger.
It was then adapted into a short-lived 1993 television series called Against the Grain (starring a young Ben Affleck!)
Then it became a 2004 feature film directed by Peter Berg, who happens to be a cousin of Bissinger’s.
(Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
And then it lived on into the Obama years as a series that enjoyed the kind of cross-demographic appeal that we rarely witness nowadays.
In each of these iterations, the names of the characters changed, but the town, the team, and the coaching staff remained focused on winning as a means of preserving the pride of their community.
Yes, the original FNL dealt with timely issues like racism, abortion, and substance abuse, but in many respects, it was a defiantly old-school show.
Would a new series be able to maintain the same level of populist appeal? Can any show pull off that magic trick in these hyper-divided times?
(NBC/Netflix Screenshot)
No show should be expected to strive for complete political impartiality, and the original FNL certainly didn’t.
But in the 2020s, the show would likely prompt a thousand irritating thinkpieces along the lines of the current speculation about Yellowstone’s political alignment. And that’s the last thing we need.
Further dampening enthusiasm for today’s news is the rumor that the new version of FNL would focus on an entirely new set of characters.
That means, of course, that Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, and the rest of the incredibly stacked cast would not be returning.
(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Britton seemed to confirm that rumor in recent remarks on the subject.
“I heard that they’re making another Friday Night Lights, which I find bizarre,” she told Variety in September.
Needless to say, it sounds like she’s not involved with the project.
So yeah, the remake is definitely happening, and we’re as anxious as a backup QB called in after the star signal-caller got knocked out of the game.
It’s a strange feeling to see such a fantastic show back in the headlines and feel anything less than giddy enthusiasm. But when it comes to this reboot we’re having a hard time summoning our “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” mentality.
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