CastKyle Chandler
Connie Britton
Scott Porter
Minka Kelly
Adrianne Palicki
Taylor Kitsch
Zach Gilford
Aimee Teegarden
Gaius Charles
Jesse Plemons
Creator
Peter Berg
Running Time
15 Hours 55 Minutes NTSC
Aspect Ratio
1.78:1 Anamorphic
TV’s hottest new drama, Friday Night Lights, touches down on DVD with all 22 Season One episodes in a 5—disc collection! In the small town or Dillon, everyone comes together on Friday nights when the Dillon High Panthers play. But life is not a game; and the charismatic players, new coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), and the passionate fans find that their biggest challenges and obstacles come off the field in the compelling day-to-day dramas of their tight-knit community. From producers Brian Grazer (The Da Vinci Code) and Peter Berg (The Kingdom) comes the critically acclaimed TV series inspired by the best-selling book and hit theatrical movie. Discover why The Associated Press calls it `breathtaking in how it captures ordinary life set against extraordinary passions’.
I had seen and heard good things about this on and off for a while but resisted getting it even when it was going for a bargain price at Amazon for a long winded reason. Basically, some months before, I had seen a football clip where in the background there was clearly no crowd in the stands and I started thinking how silly it was to make a show where right from the beginning, given the time and resource constraints of TV it was obvious that the story could not be done right. The turning point was getting the film, which I don't think I knew existed, ex-rental from Blockbuster. It impressed me and I bought the box set. The film reminds me of that Sam Peckinpah movie Junior Bonner although not as good, in the same way L.A. Confidential is just not in the same league as Chinatown. That is really the only way I can describe it, there's just something about it that doesn't let it grasp the grandeur it reaches for.
The pilot episode is written & directed by Peter Berg as was the film and it has that same documentary feel to it. This shooting style is kept for most of the series which was shot around Austin, Texas until about the last quarter when it sort of resorts to the normal practice of talking heads on a set which coincided with what I would describe as the usual suspects turning up, guest stars like Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Alexandra Holden and Brooke Langton. Before that I didn't really recognise anyone other than Kyle Chandler [from catching some episodes years ago of that silly show Early Edition] and Connie Britton who was in the film and a few indie movies I saw over the years. It's not surprising with the twenty something actors playing the teenagers but the older cast I just didn't know and added to the unique look. Having said that I still liked it as much and the style does return, certainly with the last episode. The football scenes are quite short because it is mostly a melodrama, now I know very little about American Football but apart from the pilot, Mud Bowl episode and finale they are sort of weak points with the commentator voiceover sort of rubbing that in. It does seem strange they just wouldn't film whole plays from beginning to end in a single shot from the field and football is mostly not touchdowns but scrimmages which lead to nothing and more inclusion of those would have made me believe the scenes more. They did have spectators though which I guess in the last episode were mostly CGI.
It reminds me a lot of Party of Five in how most of the focus is on couples, where one of them has either a mental illness, physical illness/disability and/or is growing up with a less than two parent family depicted as severely dysfunctional.
Several of the cast including three of the younger actresses according to TV.com are former models which I have no problem believing. Minka Kelly slightly edges out Adrianne Palicki for me on looks but I do have a problem with her performance. It's not that it's a bad performance but that it's the wrong one, which doesn't suit her characters actions [spoiler] she sleeps with her boyfriend's best friend while he's lying crippled in a hospital bed. That is not the behaviour of a caring, loving human being but that's how she portrays the character. Surely she should have played her as a harder edged emotionally manipulative person who when she saw her plans were not going to work out fell apart and her true colours were revealed with disastrous results, which then ties in with Tyra's [Adrianne Palicki] attitude towards her right from the start.
Overall I really enjoyed it and will get the second season.
The extras are deleted scenes on most of the 22 episodes [presented with the scenes they come from but non anamorphic] and a short 20 odd minute featurette which I liked but surely could have been longer. There are no commentaries, which are usually deathly bad. Now that the writer strike is on it occurs to me whether this has something to do with the residuals they earn from DVD sales making those involved not want to support the medium.
There are 5 discs which aren't picture discs held in separate plastic trays the first four in twin stacks hinged on the right and the fifth as a single. They are attached to a three part cardboard gatefold which fits into a cardboard sleeve with a coverpage that opens to reveal a collaged cast photo.
