Watch what you say at parties for Lipstick Jungle held at Saks, NBC entertainment head Ben Silverman! Radar questioned the honcho about the fate of Friday Night Lights, and he managed to center three consecutive responses around 30 Rock. Which is great, but we’re already aware of 30 Rock because we live in the world. Is he implying only one ratings-challenged show can avoid the ax? Needless to say, this does not bode well for FNL. Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch, pictured) is certainly not amused.
But hey, who needs more than one quality program to stay on the air when NBC’s offering viewers the awesome chance to win a car every night this week? Ewwwww.com. What is this, Oprah? Hell? A particularly well-off high school’s raffle? It could be any one of those!
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Well that just sucks.
Well that just sucks.
That sucks like FNL sucks this season.
That does indeed suck. I will miss it terribly if it is canceled. I would also like to take this opportunity to pick a bone with you EW. I know that you do support the show quite a bit in PopWatch but I am wondering why it never got a full TV Watch and crappy Sarah Connor does? EW needs to also put its money where its mouth is with shows like this! I never understood how you all could call it “the best show that no one is watching” and “the best show on TV” and the like yet you wouldn’t nut up and give it a full TV Watch? Very frustrating….
BTW, don’t try to contact me at work tomorrow… I always skip Wednesdays
I would seriously boycott NBC if FNL is not brought back for another season or two or three or ten.
NBC has done a horrible job with this wonderfully acted and artfully directed show. For shame… Maybe if they had an indestructible cheerleader?
Man. It’s like ‘Sophie’s Choice’ all over again.
(yes, perhaps my priorities need re-examining, but that’s not what TV is for, dammit.)
Ben Silverman has come off as nothing but a smug ass since the moment he took he job. Ugh.
Thank you NBC! I mean you wouldn’t want to overload my brain on quality programming. A few good shows surrounded by crap helps my brain focus and recuperate. So once again thank you, seriously, thanks alot.
Oh Hell-to-the-NO! C’mon people, let’s get together and make sure this does NOT happen! EW help us. Start with a cover story. How about the most gorgeous cast on t.v., or the most talented, or the most neglected?
Seriously, how do we start a grass-roots campaign to save this show? Any ideas?
NBC built up decades worth of goodwill with me from Cheers and Seinfeld. And now, just like that, all goodwill gone. I will officially cheer when they place last among the networks. Hopefully, another network (or HBO!) will pick up this amazing show.
I love being repeatedly referred to as a “no one”. Thanks for appreciating six million plus viewers who would follow FNL anywhere. I’ll be sure to respond to that loyalty in kind.
What a shame! FNL is such a great program in a schedule that really lacks depth and variety. I wish NBC had given this the chance that it deserved.
Oprah and Hell…nah too easy. FNL kaput? Nooooooooooo! Don’t cancel the pretty! (Even if he does look like he needs to go to shampoo camp)
Does NBC even listen to the millions of fans? What do we need to do? Organize a mass save dillon panthers campaign?
Honestly, it was a miracle it got picked up for the 2nd season, and it didn’t get the Emmy love it should’ve. I think this is a lost cause, folks, much as it pains me to say.
Is that guy an idiot? I am sure he never even watched FNL. This is why I can’t watch TV anymore. Because retards like Ben Silverman are in positions to make the decisions on what shows we watch.
I think I’m going to be sick. FNL is THE BEST PROGRAM EVER. To me, anyway. And yeah, yeah, WE GET IT. 30 Rock’s great. I laugh (though not like I do at The Office, which is 2nd to FNL and reminds me of it with its rich characterization), but it’s just a comedy, not anything that delves deep. I could not care less if it gets canceled and I know lots of people feel differently, and that’s okay! But FNL deserves Emmys, ratings through the roof, everything… This is ridiculous. IDIOT NBC and Deal or No Deal.
If NBC is stupid enough to cancel the best show on television, I will no longer watch anything on this network.
I will be devestated.
Maybe they should keep all the same actors and all the same relationships and just set it in a hospital.
I also feel EW shares some of the blame, not because of the TVwatches, but for not giving FNL a cover, despite finding room for Britney (she’s been tiresome for yeeeears) and a Scandal list (yawn). EW did the same thing to Veronica Mars.
I get that you have magazines to sell, but couldn’t you dedicate a few covers a year to the underdogs of TV?
Yeah, let’s have more Deal or No Deal. That’s what NBC needs. More sh*t programming. To me game shows are for morning and late afternoon. What’s next, prime time Match Game? I’ll bet you anything that idea has been tossed about by the NBC braintrusts. I am so sick of the schedule being ruled by reality programming and lame-ass game shows. The people who watch this crap are just as guilty as the network wimps that put it on the schedule. Think I’ll read a book.
Oh, NBC, what happened to you? Not so long you ruled my broadcast world. Now I can barely tolerate the Peacock in my home.
Geez, if the head of NBC entertainment is that rude and uncaring in the press, I don’t care to support the network at all.
Also, I think it is a terrible shame that people would rather watch the mindless drivel of “reality” programming or game shows than invest in a show that require paying attention to characters and plot points from week to week. FNL is a quality show. It makes me sad more people don’t watch it. Unfortunately it defies easy categorization and that makes it hard to market. I think most people would like it if they watched a couple episodes. At this point, what bothers me more than cancellation is cancellation with a strike-shortened season. It seriously breaks my heart to think we may never know what was intended to happen the rest of this season. What happens in Dillon, to characters who are like family? Like TimRiggins, I am not amused.
come on! you can’t be serious. you can’t take away my friday night lights! cancel one of those law & orders instead. pleaseeeee!
EW, please do a story on this cast. It’s great that the show pops up on your best of reviews, but give it an article. You don’t even have to do a cover. If you do, however, please put Kyle Chandler on the front.
I’m not prepared to give up on this show.
Perhaps FNL fans should start sending live panthers to the NBC offices. Harder to obtain than nuts, but they may get the point across more, shall we say, directly.
Nooooooooo! Please no! Does NBC not notice this devoted following? At least give FNL to a sister network like USA…don’t just ax it! And seriously, the acting on this show is unbelievable.
No, see, this is like how the strikers are a bunch of nerds who don’t want to have prom (a.k.a Awards Season). FNL is set in high school, so…Ben Silverman is a hypocrite and is now denying FNL a prom. Not cool dude.
When Silverman took the job, he was hot for reality/game shows. So he will have one quality low rated show to save. I confess I’ve never seen FNL. When it came on two years ago, I picked several new dramas. All are gone. And when they moved FNL to Friday it was toast.
The point is when you get invested in an intelligent drama on a broadcast network, you are on the clock. America would rather watch Marie Osmand faint on the dance floor than look into an intelligent well written series. So unless HBO or somebody else picks up the slack, Everwood, Veronica Mars, Arrested Development, or FNL had better be enjoyed quickly.
I’ll never forgive NBC if they take Friday Night Lights off the air. Never, ever, ever.
And in what world is keeping 30 Rock on going make up for getting rid of FNL? I’m not saying that 30 Rock isn’t good; I am saying that Silverman shouldn’t hope that keeping it and chopping FNL is somehow going to make me a happy viewer.
terrible, awful news.