Friday Night Lights - The First Season - DVD Review

I'd been anticipating the Region 4 DVD release of the first season of Friday Night Lights for quite some time, due to the resumes of those involved and the glowing reviews from critics. I certainly wasn't disappointed. One introductory point I'd like to make which has never been a problem for me - but can be for many, is the show's premise - or what the show is about. This is not a football show. Firstly, a scripted prime time drama primarily about a sport isn't realistic or sustainable, so I'm not sure how people get these ideas into their heads. Obviously, the sport is going to be secondary to character or plot - and in the case of Friday Night Lights the fact is glaringly obvious, as the show is exceptionally character-driven, as opposed to plot-driven or even sport-driven.

Anyway, the series is helmed by Jason Katims who wrote for such shows as Roswell, My So-Called Life, Relativity, and the new ABC show Parenthood. This is important because the show continues the tradition of very personal shows that never get bogged down in plot - I can't really say that about Roswell - but that show has a complex behind-the-scenes story. The show was developed for television by Peter Berg who directed the feature film based on a book that this series is based on. The show maintains the hand held visual style and the beautiful, atmospheric guitar-driven music from Explosions in the Sky that the movie had. Although not scored by Explosions in the Sky, W.G. Snuffy Walden adapts their style of music for the show, fantastically.

Friday Night Lights is about life in small town America, and it takes an even-sided approach, looking carefully at the good and bad. The Texan town of Dillon, in which the show is set, is driven by high-school football. It connects the entire town and brings all of the characters together through a common interest. This is quite a beautiful thing and shows the great aspects of small town life. The show centers around Eric Taylor, (Kyle Chandler, Early Edition) his wife Tami, (Connie Britton, who also played the coach's wife in the Friday Night Lights feature film) and daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden, 90210) who move to Dillon when Eric takes a head coaching job for the high school football team. They find out very quickly how seriously the town takes football when they go from love for the coach to hate as quickly as a final game buzzer. Among the other characters are boozing footballer Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch, The Covenant), star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter, Prom Night), cheerleader and boyfriend to star quarterback, Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly), slut with little self-respect, Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki, Supernatural), and many more. My point is that these are all very stereotypical characters. However, the thing Friday Night Lights does amazingly, is add extra dimensions to these characters and allows them to grow and become layered. I can comfortably say that about every one of characters in the cast. The show uses some improvisation in scenes to enhance the show's realism as well as multiple cameras so the cast can freely develop scenes without extensive blocking. This was a very wise move by the producers as it gives the show a unique edge over a lot of what is currently on television. The scripted dialogue should also be mentioned as it is usually perfect. Whenever the show does take a rare misstep in plotting, the dialogue and performances still retain emotional truth and naturalism. It really is a testament to the show's cast and crew when such a huge aspect of the show never falters.

The strongest episodes of the first season are in the first half which is near-perfect. Later on in the season, as if the writers hadn't heavily outlined a full 22 episode season, some plot-lines are put on characters, as opposed to them growing organically from the characters. As I said, even when this is the case the show is still compelling and I really hope the rest of the series lives up to the greatness achieved in the first sixteen or so episodes. I'm not going to discuss the plot or any events that happen over the season just because the show is very light on plot and the wonderful moments on the show are the little things; the interactions, the small changes in character - so I'll leave you pure.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 is clear and sounds great, however, I wish that 5.1 was used as is in the U.S. release.

Video

The video is in 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and looks absolutely wonderful. I love the show's visual style and some may find the flat colours and grain annoying, but I think it adds to the shows huge emotional resonance along with the beautiful score and music.

Extras

There are no special features on this release which is a damn shame, considering the U.S. release did come with some. Oh well, let's hope for the season 2 release to step up and git'er done.

If you like cable drama or some of the great but few downbeat network dramas like My So-Called Life and Once and Again then please watch this show as enough people don't. Screw you NBC for ruining yet another one of your dramas and thank you DirecTV for picking the show up and giving it a second lease on life.