The Unusual Life of Friday Night Lights

Brooklyn native Jason Katims admits he was an unlikely choice to take over as Friday Night Lights showrunner from Peter Berg, the writer/director of the feature film and the TV series pilot. He didn't have any background in the world of the show. He hadn't read the book, hadn't seen the movie, wasn't a football fan, and had never set foot in Texas.

What the writer/producer did have was an instant reaction to the "thrilling piece of work."

"I was very seduced by the world," he said during his Master Class at the recent Banff World Television Festival. "It really hit me when you see the shots of all the stores and restaurants closing on game day, and everybody in town making their way to this place on Friday night — which is Shabbas, of course. That is really what it was to me. Football is this spiritual thing, this coming together of a community, which is what makes it so powerful and makes it such a great backdrop to the show. The show is ultimately about the people in this town, people trying to do better and make their lives better."

Another thing Katims doesn't have: DirecTV. That might have to change, given the fact that his show was perilously close to being canceled until NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman "brokered this really creative deal with DirecTV to make the finances work."

That deal means the satellite company will air the third season beginning in October, several months before its NBC broadcast. It also means the audience will be able to catch up with the Dillon Panthers eight months after they left off, beginning with a new football season and a new school year.

According to Katims, the Panthers are coping with the loss of star player Smash, who is himself coping with an uncertain future. Quadriplegic ex-quarterback Jason Street is coping with fatherhood. And Tami Taylor is coping with a new job that puts her in conflict with her husband's: school principal. "She's going to change the world, and she immediately comes up against football," Katims said. "It's the world of academics, which is overlooked and underfunded, versus the overfunded and Dillon-obsessed world of football, which her husband runs."

Article Author: Diane Kristine Wild

Diane writes about boring things by day, pop culture things by night. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news about Canadian television. Follow her on Twitter @deekayw for more random thoughts.

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