Clear Eyes, Full Hearts

If you weren't feeling old enough already today, 10 years ago tonight Friday Night Lights debuted. The Atlantic has an article on how the show helped turn tv into literature:

While FNL wasn’t the first series to apply the structure of the soap-opera to televised literature—it was one of a trend-setting group that included The Wire and The Sopranos and, slightly later, Breaking Bad and Mad Men—it was uniquely systematic in its insistence that each character get their due. The show would take care to give special moments to the running back Smash Williams’s mom. And to Buddy Garrity, the smarmy car dealer and football booster. It would offer long-term character arcs to the paralyzed Jason Street, and to the pheromone in bootcut jeans that is Tim Riggins, and to the husband-and-wife duo who may be the best couple ever presented on television: Tami and Eric Taylor.

Of course I posted about the show a zillion times.

Including, of course, at the end:

 I had no idea until just now that tonight's episode of Friday Night Lights is not just the season finale, but the series finale.  This is probably because of it's unique, rambling history of nobody watching, constantly being threatened with cancellation, and then the weird tv deal with NBC, lurching on for years with a "when it's on, it's on" vibe and accompanied by fawning critics begging people to watch it.  There are two types of people: those who've seen a minute of FNL and immediately became slavishly devoted, and those who haven't seen it despite the first group nagging them to please, please watch it.

Unfortunately, those devoted slaves were comically outnumbered.  I really don't know why.  And what are they watching in the South/Middle America if they're not watching this?  How much "more America" can a show get?

I'm also surprised at how quickly I accepted the later cast; I have a tendency to cling to the originals and groan about change, but the flow from one team to the next was seamless; I'm gonna miss Luke and Vince as much as I will Smash and Landry.

At least we'll always have the Riggins boys  :)

There's some incredible scenes to remember HERE. One great scene they missed was Luke's. An oral history HERE. 

The final scene is about 20 minutes away...if they end it with another improbable, last-second heroic win, I'm gonna be pissed.  They should come running onto the field, the ball is kicked, and then...black screen.

So we can get to that Buddy Garritty spin-off the world needs!!!!

UPDATE: Of course they sold out.  And of course I cried during the montage, cause I'm such a fucking pussy when it comes to finales.