‘Friday Night Lights’ One Step Closer to Renewal
The Popular Drama Moves Away from the Bubble and Towards a Second Season
Finally! Whispers from “multiple sources within NBC” have broken through the tense silence, indicating that the network has ordered six additional scripts for Friday Night Lights. Fans of the Texas-based football series have been hanging on the edge of their seats recently awaiting word on the imminent renewal or cancellation of the critically acclaimed high school drama, especially following the official announcement on April 3 that the peacock network had approved a second season of 30 Rock, another ratings-challenged freshman show whose fate could have gone either way.
Upon revealing Friday Night Lights as a recipient of a prestigious George Foster Peabody award for broadcasting excellence last Wednesday, the Peabody organization aptly described the series as “a richly textured serial in which a football-obsessed, Texas town becomes a microcosm of America.” Other television shows recognized with accolades were the half-hour situation comedies The Office and Scrubs, also on NBC, ABC’s rookie dramedy hit Ugly Betty, and Showtime’s Rhode Island-set Irish crime drama Brotherhood. The honor seemed to help push Friday Night Lights in the right direction for renewal, but some questioned this possibility when NBC failed to make the decision on the heels of 30 Rock‘s reprieve.
Well, simmer down, folks. Although six more scripts does not an entire season make, the order is definitely a good sign. Take it with a tiny grain of caution, and then start rejoicing that things are looking way up for Friday Night Lights. The first-season finale, “State,” premieres tonight at 8pm, after (or before) which we should learn about NBC’s plans for Season 2. Fingers crossed.
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Friday Night Lights photo courtesy of NBC
