DVD Review: Critical Darling ‘Friday Night Lights’ With Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton

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CHICAGO – The saga of “Friday Night Lights,” the fourth season of which is now available on DVD, is not unlike that of an underestimated football player who most people thought wouldn’t make the team despite his obvious talent but who proved everyone wrong by changing the rules of the game. “FNL” has never found the sizable audience that this quality program deserves but it has found an incredibly loyal one and, in doing so, has altered the landscape of television more than you might think.

HollywoodChicago.com DVD Rating: 4.5/5.0
DVD Rating: 4.5/5.0

Fifteen years ago, the ratings of the first season of “Friday Night Lights” would have led to cancellation and a decade of bemoaning the brilliant-but-canceled program that never got the chance it deserved. But the changing market and groundswell of critical acclaim for the adaptation of Buzz Bissinger’s great book and Peter Berg’s hit film changed this story. After looking at the DVD sales, downloads, and devoted fan base, a deal was struck between DirecTV and NBC and the third and fourth season of the show aired exclusively on the satellite network’s 101 channel in the fall before moving to the broadcast net in the spring. The deal will not only continue for the show’s upcoming fifth-and-final season but certainly helped save “Damages” from oblivion as that critical hit was recently saved by DirecTV after getting canceled by FX. Who knows what’s next?

Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season was released on DVD on August 17th, 2010
Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season was released on DVD on August 17th, 2010
Photo credit: Bill Records/NBC

While the show was struggling in the ratings and surviving much longer than anyone expected, “Friday Night Lights” continued to rack up critical acclaim and awards. The TV press has always loved the show. Look no further than the cover of the DVD with an amazing quote from the L.A. Times — “What may be the best dramatic series in the history of television. That’s right: history.” How could you NOT want to check that show out?

Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season was released on DVD on August 17th, 2010
Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season was released on DVD on August 17th, 2010
Photo credit: Universal

“Friday Night Lights” started to string together awards from in-the-know bodies like the Television Critics Association, Writers Guild, and the Peabody Award committee, but Emmy love stayed away from life in Dillon, Texas for the first three seasons. It picked up a few “below-the-radar” noms like casting and for Berg’s direction on the pilot but the fourth season finally broke through with Emmy nods for Outstanding Lead Actor (Kyle Chandler) and Outstanding Lead Actress (Connie Britton). Maybe the fifth season will land the Outstanding Drama Series nomination the show’s fans have long thought that the program deserved.

By the time the lights are finally turned off, “Friday Night Lights” will have produced over 70 episodes, far more than most of us expected based on the fact that it never placed above #90 in seasonal rankings. With the diversity of the market with new channels becoming players every month and new delivery systems like DVD, On Demand, and online downloading, traditional ratings don’t mean what they once did. What the show has done is redefined the word “hit” and in all the right ways.

If you’re unfamiliar with “Friday Night Lights,” don’t start with the fourth season. It’s a rich character drama that requires you watch it from the very beginning. If you wanted to jump into the game in the fourth quarter, then you’d still enjoy it but you’d miss out on a lot of the game. Universal has packaged the thirteen episodes from season four on three discs and they’re all presented in anamorphic widescreen with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and accompanied by Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. It would be nice to see a show with production values this notable released on Blu-ray but Universal is still one of the best studios at standard transfers, so the program still looks good.

As for special features, it’s a pretty extensive collection, which once again hints at the recognition that while not everyone watches “Friday Night Lights,” those who do absolutely love it. It’s nice that Universal treats them with the respect they deserve.

Special Features:
o Deleted Scenes
o Peter Berg Intros
o Audio Commentary on 4.1 — “East of Dillon”
o “Friday Night Lights…Camera, Action!”
o “New Faces, New Places”
o “Playbook”

“Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season” stars Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Brad Leland, Aimee Teegarden, and Zach Gilford. It was released on DVD on August 17th, 2010 and is not rated. It runs 577 minutes.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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