Friday Night Lights

[HeatherC1212]

I LOVE FNL and I am so glad it seems like it's going to be renewed for another season! It's great to see more fans of the show here too.

[BuckeyeRed27]

FNL doesn't have the best ratings but it has a loyal viewership and is one of the most DVRed shows (which networks are starting to care about more) and that is why its going to be back for season 3. After LOST this is absolutely my favorite show.

[Chip R]

FNL doesn't have the best ratings but it has a loyal viewership and is one of the most DVRed shows (which networks are starting to care about more) and that is why its going to be back for season 3. After LOST this is absolutely my favorite show.

It's also got great demographics. Not a lot of folks watch the show but those who do have a lot of disposable income which advertisers love. That's probably the main reason why NBC hasn't totally cancelled the show yet.

[Chip R]

Looks like it's official now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...19040#23519040

[HeatherC1212]

Looks like it's official now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...19040#23519040

Sweet! Thanks for posting the news.

[Chip R]

OK, now it's really official.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/...nbc_new_season

'Friday Night Lights': back for season 3
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - "Friday Night Lights" will shine again next season.

The acclaimed football-and-family drama will return on NBC for a third year after the 13 new episodes have aired on satellite-television provider DirecTV, in an unusual deal designed to spread production costs while rekindling a series whose audience until now has been as small as it is fervent.

The series will unfold weekly for DirecTV subscribers beginning Oct. 1. Then, early in 2009, it will be seen on NBC, which made the announcement Wednesday. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Rumors of such a rescue for "Friday Night Lights" began circulating last month, but a final deal wasn't struck between the network, studio, producers and satellite service until this week, the participants said Tuesday. They agreed that negotiations were driven by a shared mission to give the series renewed life.

Executive producer Jason Katims recalled that, four or five weeks ago, network and studio bosses vowed "to figure out a way to keep this show on the air, despite all the challenges of justifying it from a business standpoint."

"And here we are," Katims said. "They did it."

"There is such a passion for this show among its viewers," said NBC entertainment chief Ben Silverman, "and although you would hope that passion would have manifested itself in higher ratings," the new arrangement allows NBC "to have this jewel of a show and not even need to expand its audience to succeed on a financial basis."

Of course, hopes are high the audience will expand. (In its now-concluded second season, the show averaged just 6.2 million viewers, tying it for 117th place in network prime time.)

Premiering each episode for DirecTV's subscriber base of 16.8 million shouldn't hurt the series' prospects among NBC's much larger universe of viewers, Silverman said. And with DirecTV mounting an aggressive marketing campaign of its own, heightened public awareness of the series might carry over, drawing a larger audience for its later NBC run.

The deal was first discussed in January when Silverman and Eric Shanks, DirecTV vice president of entertainment, met up at the Sundance Film Festival.

"I'm a fan of the show," Shanks said, "and that was one reason why I was happy to be in a position to help it continue." And he had done business with Universal Media Studios, the network's production arm. A year ago, he acquired "Passions" for an exclusive season-long run after that daytime drama was canceled by NBC.

"Friday Night Lights" will be available to DirecTV subscribers on its entertainment channel, The 101. And while the deal is for one year only, both Silverman and Shanks said it might extend go that.

"I'm so enamored with the quality of the product that I really haven't set any particular ratings goals or subscriber goals for it," Shanks said.

Filmed in Austin, the series depicts a small Texas town unified by its high school football team, the Dillon Panthers. Kyle Chandler heads up the large ensemble cast as Coach Eric Taylor, whose never-say-die spirit seems to have served the series well since it premiered in September 2006 to ecstatic reviews but lackluster numbers. Despite its acclaim (including a Peabody award), an active fan community and continued expressions of support by NBC, the show seemed to live from week to week.

Until now.

"It's really reassuring to have a known quantity of episodes, and not have any question marks," said Katims, who now has a guaranteed season with which to work. "I think that will really energize our storytelling. I'm hoping to get the writers into a room within the next 48 hours." Production should resume in July.

But that will only be the start, said Katherine Pope, president of Universal Media Studios.

"We aren't just trying to keep the patient on life support for another season," she said. "This is about bringing the show to the next level, in quality and acceptance. This is about exploding the show! You think the show has been brilliant these past two seasons? This is going to be the best season yet!"

[BuckeyeRed27]

This is really great to see. It seems like in the past 5 years anything that didn't stay in the top 20 was automatically cut. To have a network fight to keep it on the air is really refreshing.

Now for those of you that don't watch....STOP BEING AN IDIOT!!!

[Redhook]

Great show. Easily one of my favorites.

Now, just because the show has "Friday" in the title doesn't mean it should air on Friday. Give the show a good time and watch it take off.

[Chip R]

Great show. Easily one of my favorites.

Now, just because the show has "Friday" in the title doesn't mean it should air on Friday. Give the show a good time and watch it take off.

I think it's going to have trouble getting ratings no matter where they put it unless they put it after Heroes or a really good lead in.

But it shouldn't have to be about ratings and I think even NBC realized that otherwise they would have cancelled it already. Just like big corporations need some businesses under their wing that are basically tax shelters, networks need a few quality shows that may not get good ratings to balance out the crap that does.

[Unassisted]

I think it's going to have trouble getting ratings no matter where they put it unless they put it after Heroes or a really good lead in.

Heroes as a lead-in didn't help Journeyman. NBC really doesn't have many shows that draw a crowd.

I do think there might be a fit if they could pair it with ER. Next season is supposed to the last for ER. Let FNL serve as ER's lead in and then plug it into ER's slot in the fall of '09.

[Chip R]

Heroes as a lead-in didn't help Journeyman. NBC really doesn't have many shows that draw a crowd.

I do think there might be a fit if they could pair it with ER. Next season is supposed to the last for ER. Let FNL serve as ER's lead in and then plug it into ER's slot in the fall of '09.

Not a bad idea.

[HeatherC1212]

I'm SO glad the news is officially official now!

[Chip R]

Two year renewal

http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/03/26/fr...-more-seasons/

Friday Night Lights will be back ... for TWO more seasons
Posted Mar 26th 2009 12:07PM by Bob Sassone

Fans of Friday Night Lights who have been freaking out about the possibility that the show wasn't going to come back for another season can relax: the show is actually coming back for two more seasons.

To be precise, they're two 13-episode seasons. But that's a lot better than what the news was looking like just a few weeks ago. Michael Ausiello reports that the news will be announced "any day now." It confirms news that he broke a couple of weeks ago.

Two cast members are leaving the show (Minka Kelly and Adrienne Palicki), but they will appear next season to wrap up their storylines. Other cast members and directors are working on new pilots and it's not known right now if they are gone for good or will be back. But you still have Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton!

The show will again be shown on DirecTV first, and then the episodes will be shown later on NBC.

[Thanks to Maryellen for the tip]

[BuckeyeRed27]

This season has been so good. I'm really happy they have this DirectTV deal to keep this show alive. In reading an article about this two days ago I accidently read how this season ends, but I'm still excited to see how it plays out.

[Reds Fanatic]

This was an excellent season. I watched it when it was on Directv. I am glad to see they are keeping it around. It is great deal for Directv and NBC. NBC would have ended the show before this season if not for this deal with Directv. now they will have 3 extra seasons including the current one with Directv picking up half the cost of the show.