but, you are aware that there's an invention called Television

[elpollodiablo]

We're about halfway through se. 1 of FNL now. Thanks to everyone who talked up this show so much, I doubt I would've invested the time in it were it not for all of the rave reviews.

[heather marie]

We're about halfway through se. 1 of FNL now. Thanks to everyone who talked up this show so much, I doubt I would've invested the time in it were it not for all of the rave reviews.

Ditto. I was like "haha dumb show about football" but now that I have caught myself up with it, I may be pretty hooked. As far as S2 goes, though, I just can't see it getting any better than S1.

[nonotyet]

Whether it does or doesn't depends entirely on your patience with plot devices that may or may not have been thrown in to up the ratings because the show was kinda struggling for a while, I think.
Although I believe there are several shirtless-Riggins scenes in more than one episode.

[dieblucasdie]

Yeah, as we've said before, S1 had its share of questionable plotlines, too.  I don't know, I think as it goes on S2 stands to be just as good (the Coach/Tami/Julie stuff is as killer as ever, Riggins and Smash finally got some halfway compelling storylines, and Lyla has made a nice transition from eye-stabbingly annoying to servicable.)  The murder plotline is terrible to be sure, but so were Tim Riggins with the neighborlady,  The Streets and their lawsuit, and Waverly DEAR SWEET LORD WAVERLY in Season 1.  Especially if the plotline-that-shall-not-be-named wraps up next episode, when we look back on S2 we'll be able to forgive it.

[nonotyet]

 Dude, where did Waverly even go? I am annoyed that there was no explanation for her complete disappearance, and/but I didn't mind her that much.

[dieblucasdie]

It was just kind of farfetched and such a canny attempt to show The Softer Side of Smash that it annoyed me.  The acting made it more bearable, though, sure.

[lastclearchance]

Dude, where did Waverly even go? I am annoyed that there was no explanation for her complete disappearance, and/but I didn't mind her that much.

Africa

I think someone already asked that and I already made this joke but I'ma keep doing it if people keep asking

[hannah]

Look! Someone created YouTube videos that compile every scene my favorite X-Files character was ever in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGu7gNGBm2E#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czUrWhIeCAk#

[dieblucasdie]

Apparently "TBagLover89" is hannah's soulmate.

[Wally]

We're about halfway through se. 1 of FNL now. Thanks to everyone who talked up this show so much, I doubt I would've invested the time in it were it not for all of the rave reviews.

YES! It's as if that fisherman got that big fish in that big book.

[elpollodiablo]

The problems (as I see them) so far:
-As a network television show, FNL is beholden to all sorts of bullshit, like weekly ratings. What I truly despise about watching network shows is that if a dark or ambiguous plotline falls flat, you can count on more sex/treacle/zaniness in the weeks to come. When everything hangs on THAT week's audience draw, I think the quality of the shows diminish rather rapidly. This is the greatest advantage (of many) that venues like HBO have over conventional television--when a season is filmed, it's filmed. For better or worse, it's going off as its creators/writers envisioned it. If things don't go over well, they can go back to the drawing board between seasons (or not--though I think you'd be hard pressed to show me that premium channels are more ruthless about cutting non-performers than the networks). This isn't to say that poorly performing shows haven't in the past benefited from some quick fixing and retrofitting at the behest of the network overseers... one doesn't come immediately to mind, but then again I don't watch much network tv.
-Tyra. I realize this show needs to draw more female viewers. Its premise makes it necessarily a male-centered program, and  it needs compelling, sympathetic female characters to carry interest for those ladies who could give a damn about all the football stuff. But seeing as how Tyra is neither compelling, sympathetic nor believable... What's the deal here? Her secondary plots go nowhere (what did we learn about her that we couldn't have guessed from that one night stand with the LA oil guy?), she's shrill and obnoxious, and I have a hard time reconciling her pariah status with the fact that she is stunningly beautiful (didn't someone else level this same criticism at Veronica Mars many moons and TV threads ago?). I'd be willing to suspend the old disbelief (BLUCAS) if the character earned it with either her story or her performance, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening.
-Riggins. Pretty much a non-entity. I can't get a handle on the character because this guy mumbles his way through every scene. Even when he's upset, he seems distracted. The kid playing Street acts him under the table in every scene, and those scenes they have together are necessarily pretty weak because of it. It's fitting that he's paired with Tyra since neither of them seems to understand their character's motivations.

And the good:
-What blucas said about the Taylor family is right on! I love just watching these people in the same room together. Haven't seen a more realistic family dynamic played out on screen since Tony & Carmella & AJ & Meadow. But this family is functional!
-I'm totally caught up in the flow of the show, even the Friday night games... though it's a little ridiculous that Dillon never gets up and stays up in the first half of a game. Those 11th hour comebacks can only be riveting for so long, right?
--Matt Saracen.
-The performances (except for those noted above) are all really strong, though I wonder what might have been gained by casting actual high school age kids in these roles. Maybe they wouldn't handle the high handed emotional stuff so well (but who does?) but a younger cast might have been able to bring something more genuine to the material. I realize this stuff doesn't matter to everyone and that I'm an unimaginative, close-minded philistine for snickering to myself when the show makes mention of a character being 17 when the actor is very clearly at least 24, but it does take me out of the moment a bit.

I haven't gotten to any of the terrible stuff you guys mentioned in the spoilers above, but thus far I'm quite caught up in FNL. It's not great television, but I'd say it's doing about as well as it can considering the network it's on and the restrictions it's working under. It's definitely quite good.

[Wally]

-Tyra. I realize this show needs to draw more female viewers. Its premise makes it necessarily a male-centered program, and  it needs compelling, sympathetic female characters to carry interest for those ladies who could give a damn about all the football stuff. But seeing as how Tyra is neither compelling, sympathetic nor believable... What's the deal here? Her secondary plots go nowhere (what did we learn about her that we couldn't have guessed from that one night stand with the LA oil guy?), she's shrill and obnoxious, and I have a hard time reconciling her pariah status with the fact that she is stunningly beautiful (didn't someone else level this same criticism at Veronica Mars many moons and TV threads ago?). I'd be willing to suspend the old disbelief (BLUCAS) if the character earned it with either her story or her performance, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be happening.
-Riggins. Pretty much a non-entity. I can't get a handle on the character because this guy mumbles his way through every scene. Even when he's upset, he seems distracted. The kid playing Street acts him under the table in every scene, and those scenes they have together are necessarily pretty weak because of it. It's fitting that he's paired with Tyra since neither of them seems to understand their character's motivations.

I won't drop any spoilers, but I'll say Tyra's character becomes more fully developed as the series reaches it's latter stages, although you still probably have disbelief issues. I might agree with you about Riggins, because I maybe sympathetic towards him for less then pure reasons.

[RoyBiggins]

 

[Wally]

Damn, you caught me. I figured you didn't wander around the teevee parts too much.

[RoyBiggins]

Ever since this Riggins guy showed up and started prancing around and taking his shirt off and stuff, it's mostly been a boost to my ego.  So, you know. 

Apparently, I'm a shitty actor, though.  I could live with that if I had some kind of washboard abs.

[hannah]

Re: casting 24-year-olds as 16-year-olds. I'd imagine it has something to do with child labor laws. Sounds like the show takes long hours. Not sure. Anyway, from here:

But their employment is subject to Texas' child labor laws, so children ages 14-15 may not work more than eight hours in one day, or 48 hours in one week; they may not work between the hours of 10:00PM and 5:00AM on a day that is followed by a school day; and they may not work between the hours of midnight and 5:00AM on a day that is not followed by a school day (even during summer vacation). Also, children aged 14-15 may not be employed in a position declared hazardous by the TWC; see Section 51.014 of the Texas Labor Code.

Those 16-17 don't have their hours of employment restricted, but they're still subject to labor laws.

Dunno.

[heather marie]

But couldn't they at least find some 18-19 year olds?

[I didn't read the article yet so I don't know if it mentions something like that, but yeah.]

[hannah]

Yeah, certainly.

For what it's worth, Jesse Plemons is 19, probably 17 when the show started filming. Adrianne Palicki was probably 21 or so when they cast her; same with Gaius Charles.

Edit: They should cast Stockard Channing as a sad-slutty senior, and J.D. Williams as a ninth-grader. Luke Perry could be their dad.

[hannah]

Also, this is not quite the right thread, but I originally read this article because I noticed the photograph of Bunk (Wendell Pierce).

[lastclearchance]

The Amazon page for the Wire season 4 DVDs has three short "The Wire Prequels" clips. They are not great, but for the completist, they are here:

http://www.amazon.com/Wire-Complete-Fourth-Season/dp/B000QXDJLI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1196751482&sr=8-1

[dieblucasdie]

pollo -- The way network TV works, they can't *really* react to weekly ratings like you're describing.  Episodes are usually written at least 5 or 6 episodes in advance, often more, and are filmed at least 3 or 4 in advance.  Throw in the unusual way FNL is filmed (in Texas at real locations, tons of adlibbing, etc), and I think what you're seeing in FNL is less pandering for ratings and more garden-variety first-season-show-finding-its-footing. 

Also I find it interesting that you had issues with Tyra when most people were like LYLA MAKES ME WANT TO STAB MY EYES OUT GOD during Season 1.  That one-night-stand with the rich guy plotline was definitely a low point in her character, though, no argument there.

[heather marie]

TYRA JUST WANTS TO BE LOVED, YOU GUYS. WHY CAN'T YOU SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

(i definitely like S2 tyra more than i like S1 tyra. i hate S2 lila a tad bit more than i hate S1 lila.)

[elpollodiablo]

pollo -- The way network TV works, they can't *really* react to weekly ratings like you're describing.  Episodes are usually written at least 5 or 6 episodes in advance, often more, and are filmed at least 3 or 4 in advance.  Throw in the unusual way FNL is filmed (in Texas at real locations, tons of adlibbing, etc), and I think what you're seeing in FNL is less pandering for ratings and more garden-variety first-season-show-finding-its-footing. 

Also I find it interesting that you had issues with Tyra when most people were like LYLA MAKES ME WANT TO STAB MY EYES OUT GOD during Season 1.  That one-night-stand with the rich guy plotline was definitely a low point in her character, though, no argument there.

Fair enough; I didn't know anything about the way the show is filmed. And while I may have been overstating the chase with the immediate reaction to low ratings/flagging interest, you'd concede that this is a failing in network TV that one doesn't really see on cable, correct?

w/r/t to Lyla: I think she's far and away the better actress.

[dieblucasdie]

Yeah, it's a different ballgame for sure, cable has smaller episode orders, and doesn't need the huge ratings network shows do (for example "Big Love" is considered a "hit"  with 2-4 million viewers while FNL is considered "low-rated" with 5-6 million).  Plus the premium channels run a loooot of repeats to get their money's worth.  Generally though, all this means is that networks are more likely to cancel prematurely, because they can throw up some reality show and pull in the same numbers on the cheap.  If it's going to affect the quality of the show, it's going be in the next season, like what happened with FNL's plotline-that-shall-not-be-named, and the change of format for Veronica Mars Season 3.  Writing and filming a network TV show on time and on budget is a fucking crazy task, and it's just not feasible for them to react to ratings once things are mapped out.

The good news for FNL is that the new Friday night timeslot means lowered expectations.  A middling show ratings-wise can survive there for a ludicriously long time.  Look at Las Vegas.   

[nonotyet]

I would like to point out that the CW is bringing back One Tree Hill with the same fast-forwarding concept that was proposed for Veronica Mars. And that it makes me want to die.

the end