The devastating loss of Veronica Mars only truly sank in during the last month when her name was notably absent from all of the talk of the new season. It seemed like none of the 700 series on my DVR roster could replace what she took with her, what I really love about television: perfectly executed prime time drama. And while some new shows come close, and sporadic cable offerings come even closer, there is still one show on television this fall that scratches my itch for blissful TV nirvana: Friday Night Lights.
It’s quite possibly the greatest thing since sliced bread (and by “sliced bread,” I mean Buffy, Veronica and Battlestar Galactica). After a successful season on and off the field, we pick them up again this evening, eight months later, in their new, more logical (if slightly annoying) Friday night timeslot. With all that time passed, things are not where we left them. Our protagonists are as physically and emotionally scattered as you could imagine. Characters have such complicated and interweaving relationships that you would think the show demanded the attention you normally reserve for French cinema, but it’s almost palate-cleansing in its crisp simplicity. It’s the easiest, most satisfying show to watch, and you can check out my full review of the season premiere over at Metromix.
FNL is not above criticism though. The season opener, while awesome, has an uncharacteristic plot twist towards the end of the episode. To be as vague as possible, it’s a little too I Know What You Did Last Summer. But if Friday Night Lights completely avoided the traps of high school TV melodrama in their first season, who’s to say they can’t embrace them a little in the much-deserved second? As long as they execute them with the quality we’ve grown accustomed to, I see nothing wrong with it.
Friday Night Lights airs Fridays at 9pm on NBC