Don’t let the premise be the determinant…it would have turned me off had I been familiar with the story. It’s worth it to give it a shot just to get the feels that this show creates.
The comments on Friday Night Lights make we want to give it a shot, but I’ve seen the movie. How much different is the series? I thought the movie was very good, but I liked to at 2 hours. Not sure I’d want to watch 5 seasons worth.
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I am not a football fan. Friday Night Lights is, in my opinion and that of our local Boston critic, one of the best series ever made.
I cannot imagine that the movie could be as good. The strength of the series lies in character development and watching that unfold over time.
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I’ve read this thread over the past few months, but I’ve never joined in the conversation. Friday Night Lights was the first show that my H and I binge watched. We couldn’t believe how much we loved it. All this talk about it almost makes me want to watch it again!
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I have a family member who is a noted television/media critic - FNL would likely be in his top 10 ever series.
I was a late watcher of FNL - just finished summer 2020 - but could not get enough of it.
I care not a bit about chess nor do I know the moves - but adored Gambit.
I started Firefly Lane and really like it but won’t pick it back up until D2 leaves end of March. She and I never watched the last season of The Good Place so we decided to watch season 3 and then will watch the final season. Can’t wait to see how it wraps up. Also can’t believe I haven’t managed to be spoilered of how it wraps up!
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Add me to the FNL crowd. I don’t typically watch those kind of shows (I mainly watch PBS and foreign stuff), but I was hooked on FNL. I watched it several years ago - the first series I ever binge watched and embarrassed to admit how quickly I got through the entire series.
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My football player son and I started Friday Night Lights. Watched about 8 episodes and then gave up. It became too predictable and we didn’t love the characters.
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That’s part of my concern. The movie was good for 2 hours, but 5 seasons? I don’t know.
I am a big Kyle Chandler fan but FNL had just too much football for me. I couldn’t watch beyond a few episodes.
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We were early binge watchers of FNL, I think possibly even back when we only had Comcast On Demand (when it did not have commercials; before we had the many choices on Netflix and Prime). Binge watching was new to us, and we just loved the ability to watch a season end cliffhanger and then immediately watch the first episode of the next season. My husband and I both enjoyed it.
FNL had a tolerable amount of football for me as a non-fan. (When our son’s high school team played, a few times I paid for admission but only there a short while to watch his marching band.) I feel a bit the same way about the baby-delivery scenes in Call The Midwife … not my favorite thing to watch, but it goes along with the story.
I feel like if you were focusing on the football then you were not understanding that the football was just the secondary vehicle for relationships and community which were actually the primary focus. Sort of like how the bar was the vehicle for the relationships in Cheers.
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FNL the movie was based on the best seller, which chronicled a season at Permian HS.
As requested I have removed the rest of my post, lest I spoil a 17 yr old movie/20 year old book.
How funny - my kids know when a baby is born on Call the Midwife because they find me all teared up on the couch 
I love everything about that show.
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Please edit your post. Those of us who haven’t watched it yet don’t want spoilers.
The movie is 17 years old and this is a TV thread. People who don’t want spoilers should probably stay off the internet
SPOILER ALERT - Darth Vader is Luke’s father.
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I thought the poster was referring to FNL. Maybe I’m thin skinned but you are pretty snarky in responding to me like that.
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They were. I was passing out other spoilers.
I have removed my “spoiler”, per your request.
BTW, in Gone With the Wind, Rhett leaves. Has enough time passed on that one?
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Fine guys. Nice. Really nice.
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The “Friday Night Lights” movie producers followed my high school’s team (Austin Westlake) before they started filming. I didn’t realize that when I went to see the movie, but I recall thinking, “Wow, this movie is so realistic!” and then I saw the credits that acknowledged WHS’s help and realized why.
SPOILER BELOW
While following Westlake’s season, a player on one of the opposing teams suffered an injury that paralyzed him. The producers and the community of Westlake Hills ended up raising many thousands of dollars for the young man. This is why there is a paralyzed player in the TV version of the show.
They also used my high school’s field and uniforms in some of the episodes. The Panthers’ field is at Pflugerville High School outside of Austin, very close to my uncle’s house.
So I loved the series - I didn’t watch it the first go-around but just binge-watched the entire series. I think there are fewer football games shown as the series progresses.