TV Hot Spot: News

Friday Night Lights - Final Chance?

Post by: Sal


Source: E! Online

Welcome to the news that just might make your day—no, month—if you're a fan of Friday Night Lights.

Inside sources confirm to me that NBC Universal (the studio that makes FNL) is currently talking to various networks about the idea of sharing the show's third season among more than one channel in an effort to save the series from cancellation and broaden its audience.

Those channels in discussion include the CW, TNT, DirecTV and a place called Comcast Entertainment Group, which, hmmm, sounds familiar because, oh yeah, they sign my checks. Both E! and G4 fall under the Comcast umbrella.

And in what I can only describe as a swell of pure, unadulterated pride, I must tell you: I know firsthand that our CEO Ted Harbert is a big fan of FNL and is very much on the frontlines of trying to help save the series. (A fact that has now surpassed "bagel Thursday" as my number one reason to love this workplace.)

So, what exactly does this potential expansion deal mean? The intricacies have yet to be hammered out, but the general idea is that NBC would first-run its episodes of Friday Night Lights and then other network(s) would pay a repurposing fee to air repeats at other times during the week. This plan could be a huge benefit to FNL and its fans for three reasons:

1. It will bring Friday Night Lights to new viewers who have not yet seen it.
2. Those viewers will undoubtedly fall in love with FNL and start watching the original on NBC.
3. The show could finally receive the ratings and mainstream awareness it so richly deserves. Hello, Emmy for Connie Britton! Hello, GQ cover for Taylor Kitsch!

In short, Friday Night Lights, one of the best series ever to hit the small screen, could be saved. And not only in a (sorry) Jericho way, which pleases the fans and critics, but truly saved, with the potential for greatly improved ratings and a bottom-line success story for NBC's higher-ups to brag about.

What now? We are currently working on a bigger-picture plan for you fans to help save Friday Night Lights in a very concrete way. But for the time being, sit tight, say a little prayer and remember...


Take Care,

Sal