By BAADASSSSS!

Friday Night Lights
The Complete Second Season
Starring Scott Porter, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford, Aimee Teegarden, Minka Kelly, Gaius Charles Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release date: April 22, 2008

The sun is blazing. The local swimming pool is abuzz with activity. The sounds of T-Rex’s “Bang a Gong (Get it On)” fill the warm afternoon air. A very pregnant Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) arrives to cool off and check up on her daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) who’s working at the pool as a lifeguard. Once Tami climbs into the pool she makes the startling announcement, “Either I peed in the pool or my water just broke.” And so begins the second season of the critically-acclaimed but low-rated NBC drama Friday Night Lights.

Premiering in 2006, Friday Night Lights was based on the celebrated 2004 film which was directed by Peter Berg from the non-fiction best seller by H.B. Bissinger. The original book told the true story of the working class town of Odessa, Texas, and its high school football team the Permian Panthers. In a town economically hanging on by a thread, the citizens look to the Panthers’ Friday night games as their solitary source of escape from the harsh realities of the day-to-day world. The television series takes most of these true elements and grafts them onto a similar scenario not far removed from the reality of the book and film. The setting is the fictional Texas burg of Dillon and the football team is now the Dillon Panthers. Led by experienced coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), the Panthers must brave the ungodly expectations heaped on them by a town virtually drained of all hope and bring victories to their school while attempting to lead normal lives.

Whereas most network television shows often produce up to 24 new episodes in a season, the second season of Friday Night Lights only made it up to fifteen no doubt due to the strike by the Writers’ Guild of America that held up production on most films and television shows for several months. No matter, the fifteen episodes presented in this DVD set add up to a strong slice of potent drama that is refreshing these days as most cable and network programming seem to skew towards endless reality shows, smug sitcoms, and multiple knockoffs of 24.

Without giving away much of the overlapping plots away I will say that the events of the first several episodes have repercussions that are ably carried throughout the season in the form of strong character arcs well-acted by an impressive ensemble cast. The season opens with the aforementioned birth of Eric and Tami Taylor’s new daughter, which the coach almost misses due to his new job keeping him on college recruitment trips most of the year. With a new school year about to begin the Dillon Panthers are now being coached by an abusive hard-ass (Chris Mulkey) determined to break the spirits of the team’s more rebellious players, primarily Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). The Taylors’ oldest daughter Tami is becoming increasingly distant from her father and her boyfriend Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford). Meanwhile another player named Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons) has a crush on local girl Tyra Collette (Adrianne Palicki), who is being stalked by a psychotic ex-boyfriend. Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) has converted to Christianity in the wake of her parents’ divorce, much to the concern of Riggins (who is nursing his own crush on her).

Executive-produced by Peter Berg, the director of the 2004 film, and Brian Grazer, Friday Night Lights brings a naturalistic vibe to the material that trickles down into the quality of the acting and the overall feel of the show. The camerawork is often handheld, the performances realistic and unforced, and the writing is sparse, intelligent, and at times poetic. This is a stellar television drama that deserves a larger viewership and should be brought back for years to come. I admit that I had not watched this show before I sat down to check out this DVD set because I was always at work when it came on. I’m glad now that I finally got my chance as Friday Night Lights is simply great television.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment presents all fifteen episodes of the second season in a four-disc fold-out package complete with a slipcover. Every episode is presented in crisp 1.78:11 anamorphic widescreen with a fine English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack and optional English subtitles. There is a small selection of extra features spread out over the four discs.

DVD Bonus Features

Disc One features deleted scenes from the episodes “Last Days of Summer” and “Bad Ideas”; audio commentary on “Last Days of Summer” by executive producer Jason Katims and co-executive producer Jeffrey Reiner; audio commentary on “Are You Ready for Friday Night?” by stars Connie Britton and Aimee Teegarden; and a collection of previews for other TV DVD releases from Universal.

Disc Two features deleted scenes from the episodes “Let’s Get It On,” “How Did I Get Here?,” and “Seeing Other People.”

Disc Three features deleted scenes from the episodes “The Confession,” “There Goes the Neighborhood,” “Jumping the Gun,” and “Who Do You Think You Are?”; and audio commentary on “There Goes the Neighborhood” by stars Jesse Plemons and Adrianne Palicki.

Disc Four features deleted scenes from the episodes “Humble Pie” and “Leave No One Behind”; and a 36-minute panel discussion featuring the cast and executive producer Berg filmed at the William S. Paley Television Festival.

All in all Friday Night Lights: The Complete Second Season is a terrific set, four discs’ worth of smart and unadulterated American drama I heartily recommend to anyone hungering for something different than the usual sewage that clogs the airwaves these days.

Have fun. Until next time I remain”¦.BAADASSSSS!