20 Years Ago Today: NBC Premiered One Of The Best Sports Dramas In TV History
It's rare for a sports drama to be so good that even people with zero interest in its featured sport can get invested, but that's exactly the feat "Friday Night Lights" pulled off. Premiering on October 3, 2006, the show introduces the world to the small town of Dillon, Texas, a place where the stars of the local high school football team are basically royalty. With its rich characterization and authentic shaky-cam feel, it's no surprise "Friday Night Lights" ranked No. 1 on TVLine's list of best-ever sports series.
The emotional, grounded small-town drama never did amazing in the ratings, but it still served as a launching pad for actors like Connie Britton, Michael B. Jordan, Jesse Plemons and Taylor Kitsch. And although leading man Kyle Chandler (who plays Coach Taylor) was already well-known before he took the role, "Friday Night Lights" was undoubtedly a pivotal moment in his long, varied career.
"What I learned from 'Friday Night Lights' I take with me to every project," Chandler told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. "That was probably one of the better acting classes I ever had. It was so enjoyable. I've shared some of the things that I learned from that job with other people, and they've thanked me for it."
Despite its critical success, Friday Night Lights was nearly canceled after Season 2
Much like "Arrested Development" shortly before it or "Community" shortly after it, "Friday Night Lights" was deeply underappreciated in its time. Due to a combination of low ratings, some mishandled plot swerves, and a shortened episode count resulting from the 2007-08 writers' strike, "Friday Night Lights" was in a bad place by the end of Season 2.
"I love it. You love it. Unfortunately, no one watches it," NBC Entertainment head Ben Silverman complained to Radar Online. "That's the thing with shows. People have to watch them. We're NBC, we have a reputation to uphold. And, man, with this writers' strike ... well, we'll see what we can do."
Due in part to an adamant fan campaign begging the network to save their show, NBC ultimately renewed "Friday Night Lights." In March 2008, they announced an unconventional partnership with distributor DirecTV; the show would still never be a huge hit during its initial run, but at least it got to play out on its own terms and tell its full story. That helped a ton with its rewatch value, and has helped "Friday Night Lights" become one of those rare beloved shows that are more popular today than when they originally aired.