What a great cast you have, Friday Night Lights

(from l to r) Charles, Britton, Plemmons, Chandler, Palicki, Teegarden, Gilford, Kelly, Porter and Kitsch

I was watching Bunheads last night (I’ll be posting a review of that) and recognized an actress on the show but couldn't remember where I'd seen her before.  It was killing me because I'm usually pretty good at spotting people.  I kept picturing her as someone’s friend or sister, with dyed blond hair, and being kind of a mess.  After the show ended I looked it up on IMDB (my 2^nd bible) and realized she was Tyra’s stripper sister on Friday Night Lights.  It occurred to me that I’m forever pointing out guest stars on television shows and saying things like, “They were a beloved character on Friday Night Lights.”  Of course in my mind most everyone on that show was beloved.  Maybe not Buddy Garrity or Billy Riggins, though they had their moments.  It just goes to show how excellent FNL was that almost the entire cast has proved to be incredibly hireable.

We expect to see Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton in television shows and movies because they were established actors before the show.  Chandler seems to be having better luck in the big screen arena as he was in Super 8 and will be in some cool films like Argo (w/ Ben Affleck), and Kathryn Bigelow’s yet untitled but eagerly anticipated Navy SEAL Team 6 movie.  Britton is keeping busy on the smaller screen with roles in American Horror Story and a pilot called Nashville.  Amie Teegarden, who played their daughter, Julie, has landed a number of movie roles including Scream 4, Disney’s Prom, and Love and Honor with the younger Hemsworth.

I never miss an opportunity to post a picture of this man.

Most of us know about  Taylor Kitsch aka Tim Riggins’s attempts at fame.  He’s bombed in kind of a big way with John Carter and Battleship though neither can really be blamed on him entirely.  His next film is Oliver Stone’s drug movie, Savages, which has a pretty impressive cast (Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro John Travolta, and Blake Lively).  Derek Phillips, who played Billy Riggins, has kept busy with television guest spots on shows like Breakout Kings, Castle, Body of Proof and Parenthood.  Plus Phillips landed a movie about Jackie Robinson starring Harrison Ford, which will be out in 2013.  The women who just couldn't say no to those Riggins boys, Mindy and Tyra, have been getting work too. Stacey Oristano who played Tyra's stripper sister, Mindy, had a guest spot on In Plain Sight (which my parents refer to as “Oops, lost another one”) and has a recurring role on the aforementioned Bunheads.  Adrianne Palicki, aka Tyra, seems to be going the action route with her career.  She has the Red Dawn remake in the can though bets are being taken as to whether that will ever actually be released.  Another pushed back movie of hers is GI Joe: Retaliation.  Here’s hoping her movies do better than her television shows, which include the quickly cancelled Lone Star and Wonder Woman (did they even finish the pilot?).

Some of the rest of the cast are making attempts at both television and movies.  Gaius “Smash” Charles had roles in films like The Messenger, Salt, and Takers while landing a couple of guest spots on Pan Am and NCIS.  Jesse Plemmons had a role in the sci-fi buddy flick Paul and this summer’s Battleship and will be appearing in The Master with Joaquin Phoenix.  Plus he was in the barely seen but I loved it TV show, Bent with Amanda Peet.  Zach Gilford, who played beloved character Matt Saracen, landed the not at all beloved Shonda Rhimes-produced, doctors in the jungle TV show, Off the Map.  He’s got another show coming out this fall called The Mob Doctor, which I’m betting will not last.  Sorry Zach!  Luckily for him he has three movies coming out. One of those is with Mad Men’s John Slattery and another is with Schwartzenegger.  Louanne Stephens, who played Matt’s grandmother with Alzheimer’s, is a regular on A&E’s new show Longmire.  It’s a good show, you should watch it. 

Who am I forgetting?  Oh!  Ms. Minka Kelly, aka Lyla Garrity, may be more well-known for her on and off again boyfriend but has made a mark for herself in TV.  She recurred on NBC’s Parenthood and starred in the terrible Charlie’s Angels reboot.  She did land an impressive part in Lee Daniel’s new film, The Butler, which is about the Kennedy family.  She’s playing Jackie!  That’ll be interesting.  Brad Leland, who played Kelly’s dad on FNL, Buddy Garrity, has had guest spots on Parks and Recreation and HBO’s Veep.  Lyla's first boyfriend, the beloved Jason Street was played by Scott Porter.  He's had some recurring roles on Caprica and The Good Wife before landing his own show, Hart of Dixie (which surprisingly got renewed for fall).  Plus he’s going to be in the ensemble movie, The To Do List with folks like Andy Samberg, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Connie Britton.

(from l to r) Jordan, Smollett and Lauria

Tired of this yet?  Too bad!  The list keeps going!  Matt Lauria, who played frustrated farmer Luke on FNL was a regular on the cancelled The Chicago Code and has had guest spots on Burn Notice, CSI, and Person of Interest.  Lamarcus Tinker, aka “Tinker” has recurring roles on Cougar Town and Glee.  Jurnee Smollett, who has been acting steadily since she was five years old was a regular on (the cancelled) The Defenders and is going to be in Tyler Perry’s The Marriage Counselor (aka Kim Kardashian got a real job!).  Michael B. Jordan, who played Smollet’s boyfriend, Vince, on FNL, has recurred on Parenthood, had a guest spot on House, and had starring roles in the movies Red Tails and Chronicle. 

Ok I think I’m done now.  All the movies and television shows I’ve mentioned are since the actor left Friday Night Lights or since the show ended.  It’s not often that TV shows or movies have casts that almost all go on to careers.  It kinda happened with Dazed and Confused (Matthew McConauwhatever, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey and even Renee Zellwegger (who didn’t have a line but was definitely in the movie).  In fact now my mind is totally blanking.  Can you think of another ensemble movie or television show that’s produced lots of hireable folks?  Dude!  Buffy!  And Angel!  Most of those folks pop up here and there, even if it is Joss hiring them for other jobs.

Friday Night Lights-season 2

The obligatory Riggs pic.

So my completion of the second season of Friday Night Lights mere days after I posted about season 1 is not as pathetic and alarming as it might seem--the season was cut short by the 2008 writer's strike (remember that?), running only 15 episodes. So all told, about a 6 on the pathetic and alarming scale. Spoilers follow!

This slate of episodes was a slight letdown from my rapturous raves about the first season. Remember when I said the show never veered into melodrama? A wise FNL fan warned me that wouldn't always be the case, and boy was she right. I knew we were in for trouble when Landry and Tyra dumped the body of her attempted rapist from last season in a river. Why would you do that, Landry? It was clearly self-defense, and you're the smart one! That drama, which didn't get resolved until the ninth episode, lasted precisely eight and a half episodes too long. I could have done without the multi-episode arc where Riggins and Jason Street go to Mexico for experimental spinal surgery. And Julie Taylor is starting to get on my nerves a bit. She makes bad decisions and then whines about them incessantly. She's sort of like the Dawn of FNL. I rolled my eyes when the d-bag rival coach revealed "My wife has only three months to live." Of course she does. Moving right along. Also, what happened to Smash's bi-polar girlfriend? Jason's tattooed hottie, whom I actually quite liked?

However, the good news is the writers have clearly accepted that this is the Tim Riggins show. Though his mini-break living with the meth dealer was a bit ridiculous, I love the way his character gets shafted time and again (his brother gets with the single mom he fell for last season; Lyla leads him on while dating a member of the Fellowship of the Sun; Coach Taylor falsely accuses him of taking advantage of Julie), but he remains as funny and loyal and stubbornly messed-up as ever. His "apology" to the team for missing a week of practice is classic. I was also pleasantly surprised that the addition of a new baby to the Taylor clan, usually the death knell of a series, was handled in a complicated and honest way.

Despite the slight drop-off from the first season, the show is still awesome and I'm looking forward to season 3 to see how the show will handle Smash's graduation and freshman season at an HBCU, whether Matty calls off his (well-deserved, but still) pity party, and whether Street is going to become a father. In the depths of my pop culture memory, I have some recollection of an abortion controversy attached to this show. Not sure if this is where it comes up.

Clear eyes, full hearts, on to season 3!

Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can't Stop Watching Friday Night Lights

Riggins's shoelessness solidifies his role as "the cute one."

So I'm about five years late to the party on Friday Night Lights, but thank God for Netflix streaming and a very, VERY flexible schedule. I had always heard that FNL was a great show, but as a person who cannot confidently say how many players are allowed on a football field during a game (it looks like about 30, but I have a feeling that can't be right), I assumed I wouldn't enjoy it. Wrong. I just finished the first season, and was blown away.

Football serves as the show's organizing principle, and a metaphor for the intricate, interlocking, and at times combative way the students, players, and adults in Dillon operate and co-exist. What I like best is the way the writers allow the characters to be as deeply complicated and at times contradictory as real people are. From marginal figures like the assistant coach who is both casually racist and devoted to his African American players, to central ones like the junior fullback, and new love of my life, Tim Riggins, who is both a careless and narcissistic alcoholic and a loyal and wounded kid with a huge heart. There are no examples of what E.M. Forster would call "flat" characters. Even the most minor figures' interior selves and histories are sketched in with deft concision. The show doesn't try to fit these personalities into a formulaic "sports movie" narrative--in fact, it's one of the most organic-feeling shows I've ever seen. There's a real sense that we're just watching people make choices, and deal with the ramifications and consequences of those choices as they play out in the contained and at times claustrophobic bubble of a small Texas town.

Though dramatic things happen--the opening episode finds the star quarterback paralyzed in the first game in one of the best pilots I've seen this side of Lost--the show never veers into melodrama or sentimentality. It watches like a more earnest and less arch Jonathan Franzen novel crossed with Faulkner in comic mode--a neo-realist character study where all the joy and messiness and pain of human life are illustrated through one tight-knit middle-class American community. It's really quite smart and funny and moving. I have high hopes for the next four seasons, which at this rate, I'll finish by Thanksgiving.