'Friday Night Lights' recap: A solid season 3 premiere on DirecTV

Friday Night Lights is back—for some viewers: Last night the show started a 13-episode run on DirectTV’s 101 Network. NBC says it will air these new-season episodes starting in January. So for those of you without DirectTV, I’ll just say right up top, here’s a great big SPOILER ALERT. Read more after the jump.

Austin City Limits report: FNL's Gaius Charles on Erykah Badu

Editor's note: This post from Gaius concludes our FNL/ACL experiment, and he sends us out in style. Special shout-out to Aimee Teegarden, who turned in a review of N.E.R.D today; sadly, we've decided to leave it out because Porter beat her to it. Still, thanks a bunch, Aimee... and everyone who made this dream a reality. We are currently soliciting television casts shooting in Palm Springs, rural Tennessee, and Chicago for the '09 festival season.

It was a meeting ten years in the making. Gaius Charles. Erykah Badu. I should preface this review with a little backstory: I have been an Erykah Badu fan from the very beginning. Yes, I was on Baduizm back in '97, before the world really knew this soon-to-be-international sensation. See, "Back in the Day" somewhere around 8th grade I had a huge crush on this girl-- let's call her "Keyshia." Keyshia was a talented singer who hummed these soulful melodies that always caught my ear. When I finally got up the nerve to ask Keyshia about those tunes she gushed and told me all about her favorite new artist, Ms. Erykah Badu. Well, you know what happened next: Erykah instantly became my favorite artist too. Baduizm turned out to be the keystone that brought my 14-year-old soulstress and me together. But sadly, it wasn't meant to be. Keyshia ended up getting with a varsity football player when we went to high school, much like Smash Williams (define irony). But on the plus side I ended up becoming an Erykah Badu superfan.

Crazy enough, I've never had the pleasure of seeing her perform live. So when I found out she was going to be playing at ACL, I had to be there. And though we have been filming Friday Night Lights in Austin for almost three years, this year was my first year attending. In a word, ACL is MASSIVE. As I entered the main gates I was immediately taken aback by the sea of people, literally thousands and thousands gathered to feast on what Austin does best: live music. Waiting for the concert to begin I ran into Minka Kelly and Jesse Plemmons, who were equally excited to see the show. And then, out of nowhere, a soulful riff pierces the air, and it's on. A stunning Ms. Badu takes the stage in a smiley face tee and stiletto heels and works the crowd like the veteran she is-- and oh yeah, she's pregnant. No matter, if anything her precious "baby bump" makes her all the more mesmerizing. She proceeds to glide through her repertoire effortlessly, like light changing color in a kaleidoscope. Beginning with a sample off her new album, New Amerykah, she remixes chart-topping favorites like "On and On" and "Apple Tree." Somewhere in the middle of it all she takes a water break and riffs on the words "s--t" and "damn," a comic reminder that she is only making it look easy. Erykah wraps it all up with her new song "Soldier," and stresses the need to stand up in the face of today's unprecedented world events.

I wish I could conclude by saying that I went backstage and was finally able to meet Erykah. But as I made the attempt to profess my love, birthed in the tragedy of adolescence, the heat finally did get to her and she was being attended to accordingly. It's ok, though-- I had an unforgettable experience and enjoyed the performance to the fullest. Besides, I can always catch her when she hopefully comes back in 2009, right? Ten years in the making-- what's eleven?

Austin City Limits report: FNL's Connie Britton on Beck, the Raconteurs, and chaos

Ok, here's the thing. I suck.

Well, the problem is that, as I suspected, my friends from out of town got in to the fest at the same time that Beck was going on. Actually, it was a whole drama because I was at the Black Keys and my phone stopped working and they actually stood outside at the ridiculous red arch and waited for me for 45 minutes before I even knew they were there. So... my perspective of the Beck show is spotty, incomplete, and from a very distant vantage point. Truthfully, my two favorite shows were Spiritualized and the Kills. (Seeing the Kills perform at 1:30 p.m. on a Sunday when both of them looked as if they had seen the sun NEVER was the greatest.) My problem is that I really don't know either band, so it's pretty great because I got a new introduction to both... but I don't think I could very accurately write about them since I don't know a single song!

On the flipside, I saw the Raconteurs from the side of their stage and then hung out with Jack and Brendan in their dressing room after cuz they are friends with my friends from out of town. I had the set list sitting right in front of me the whole time...I should have grabbed it!...and I've seen them twice before and am a huge fan. I could do them if you want, though I don't know how fast I can get it to you since I'm now in NYC doing an insane two days of meetings and press for our premiere on Wednesday. (And sorry...yesterday I had a 5:30 a.m. calltime, then got on a plane for the airport straight from work to fly to NYC.)

Let me know if you want me to try for the Raconteurs later in the week and I'll try to pull it off...

Editor's note: I think we're not going to force Connie to give us any more than she already has, which I think we can all agree is a lot. And anyway, most people spend 95 percent of these festivals missing sets and trying to find their friends, so this was actually pretty perfect.

Austin City Limits report: FNL's Jesse Plemons on the Black Keys

Editor's note: Our ongoing experiment continues to work, as Mr. Plemons here follows his castmates into the fray. I got one last holdout I'm working on, but in the meantime... hey, did you see we put up my pictures today?

First off, I'd like to apologize that I wasn't able to write about my ACL experience earlier. I went all three days this year, which can be pretty exhausting. If anyone else has done the same, you know that all you want to do after the third day of madness is shower, apply lots and lots of aloe vera to your third degree sunburn, and then sleep. This year was especially good because I managed to make it through the entire festival without getting burnt to a crisp. Who knew that Neutrogena made a sun block with SPF 85! (No, I’m not kidding, that’s the only thing that does the job.)

OK, well with that being said... THE BLACK KEYS! I had planned on only talking about one Keys concert but actually ended up seeing them twice in two days. I saw them once at ACL on Saturday night, and again Sunday night at an ACL-sponsored after-show at Stubb's, a great venue for live music in Austin (and they have great BBQ, so that's a plus).

The Saturday show was great. We actually lucked out and got to go on stage for their show, which was pretty surreal. In an hour they played a set with at least one song from every one of their albums, including one of my favorites, "Stack Shot Billy," with an extended guitar intro/solo that made my face scrunch up... in a good way. They then finished things up with "I Got Mine." The most amazing thing about seeing them live was hearing all this noise and only seeing two guys playing: Dan Auerbach (guitar/vox) and Patrick Carney (drums).

Sunday night's show was the cherry on top to a wonderful weekend. This time I was able to see the show from the front, which was completely different. I was able see their faces in a little bit more of an intimate setting. Patrick played the drums so hard you would have thought they had insulted his mother, and he was drenched in sweat by the third song. Dan played most of the songs with his eyes closed and would open them up for a few seconds at a time and look around as if he had almost forgotten where he was. Being a guitar player myself, I love watching different people's playing styles, and I have to say I have never seen anyone play the way he does. I've never seen anyone so comfortable with a guitar in their hands. It seriously seemed the guitar was an extension of his body because you could barely tell that he was playing, it was so effortless. He played a solo on the song "Busted" by beating the saddle of the guitar while he used his slide with his left. Basically, It was kind of incredible. All in all, one of the best live show I’ve ever seen.

After the show, someone made the mistake of letting me backstage, which had me feeling a lot like Patrick Fugit in Almost Famous. I ended up meeting Dan briefly, and all I could muster was a corny, "I love your music, man, and thanks for coming to Austin."

Austin City Limits report: FNL's Adrianne Palicki on Blues Traveler

Editor's note: If Palicki wasn't our favorite before, she most certainly is now.

So last night at Austin City Limits, I got to participate in the viewing of one of my personal favorite bands, Blues Traveler. One thing is for sure: they did not give us the "Run-Around" this time. (Come on! That was good!)

[Editor's note: That was a good joke! But to minimize confusion, they did, actually, play "Run-Around." I think it was the second song of the set. Which was nice, cause then I could go do something else. Anyway. Adrianne! Please continue.]

Can I just say, Who the hell taught John Popper to play the harmonica? That man is a mad genius. Between the harmonica, the guttural vocals, and the drinking and smoking that ensued on stage, I am surprised that man has not had a heart attack. Starting the night off with "I Want You To Want Me," and ending it with "Hook," no fan in the audience could have been disappointed. Traveler also played soon-to-be-hits from their new album. The entire band is amazing. Watching these guys perform brought about a nostalgia that can only be reminiscent of my days in junior high, when "Run-Around" was numero uno on the charts, and Saved By The Bell was still on TV. Oh, Zach Morris… I digress… Point is, these guys still have it-- or, shall I say, never lost it.

Austin City Limits report: FNL's Scott Porter on N.E.R.D and the Swell Season

Editor's note: Porter is the second Friday Night Lights cast member to successfully guest blog, and we're glad he did. Meanwhile, our fingers are still crossed that we'll get to read Jesse Plemons' impressions of the Black Keys. No pressure, Jesse.

When Whitney hit me up with the idea of writing a blog about one of the acts at Austin City Limits, she asked me to send her a list of groups I'd be interested in seeing.  I sent her back a list of over twenty.  Everyone from Blues Traveler to Beck to Del tha Funky Homosapien to Flyleaf to local favorite Dan Dyer... it was hard to pick just one.  It's taken me until Sunday night to write this because I wanted to give you the best bang for your buck here.  I know it's late, but hopefully it's worth it...

If any of you have ever lived down south of the Mason-Dixon line, you know that late September still means summer heat.  Any music festival that runs during a weekend with temperatures in the 90's better have a lineup just as hot.  If you don't know Austin, their slogan is "Keep Austin Weird."  Austin City Limits' slogan should be, "Keep ACL Ridiculous!"  Using "ridiculous" in the same way some folks use "sick", "hot", "amazing", or "dope" (if you're nasty).

I saw a ton of groups this weekend and I have strong thoughts on all of them. However, I doubt you have the time to listen to me whine or ramble about all of them, so I just chose two.  A little double dipper if you will.  Hope you enjoy.

After the jump, Porter breaks down N.E.R.D/Swell Season, and reveals a little more about castmate Aimee Teegarden than she'd probably like him to.

Austin City Limits report: FNL's Adrianne Palicki on John Fogerty

Editor's note: Ms. Palicki is the first and only member of the Friday Night Lights cast to turn in a blog post so far. Because of this, she is now our favorite. Stay tuned tomorrow for what we hope is a flood of brilliant writing from her castmates, all of whom are currently in the doghouse. Talking to you, Porter.

My goal here is not to write a puff piece. That being said, I love John Fogerty and want to have his babies. Seriously though, John Fogerty is not only a rock legend, but also happened to be the lead singer/guitarist/songwriter for one of the greatest American bands to grace our presence.  Last night at Austin City Limits, I was able to see this musical genius perform with my own two eyes for the first time.

Because of my obsessive love for Creedence Clearwater Revival, I had a very valid fear of being disappointed. My preconceived notion was wrong: Fogerty not only had the charisma of a thirty-five year old, but vocally triumphed as well. Looking out into the crowd, I realized I was not alone in this opinion. There was something almost electric about the atmosphere. Every generation filled the dirt- and heat-ridden park. Every generation was singing along to Fogerty’s classic tunes: "Fortunate Son," "Down on The Corner," and my personal favorite, "Proud Mary."  The excitement was endless.

Fogerty's band was pretty brilliant as well-- they put their mark on each song with subtlety and ease. It was obvious how much they not only enjoyed each other, but also the music they were rocking out to. Though much older than the band, Fogerty held his own as he shuffled around the stage, harmonica in hand. Even at sixty-three, "old fart" did not come to mind. So, in conclusion, it was a good show! Hopefully my disgusting love-fest for Johnny didn’t make you throw up in your mouth (too much, anyway).

Austin City Limits, guest-starring 'Friday Night Lights'

Greetings from Texas, PopWatchers, where I have taken yet another vacation to attend a music festival, because I am a crazy person! Yes, I came home for this year's Austin City Limits fest, three days that appealed to me for a variety of reasons: 1) I love Austin, 2) I've never been to ACL, 3) I haven't seen Beck or the Foo Fighters yet this summer, 4) third headliner the Mars Volta scares the crap out of me, so I can just take a couple pictures that night and then go see Drive By Truckers at Emo's...

and 5), and most important, I have devised a genius way to cover the festival without having to lift a pen: I have asked the cast of Friday Night Lights to write about it for me! (That said, I will be attempting to Twitter from on site, but I am betting $5 that my editors tell me to stop doing it by 3pm Saturday. Follow our feed at Twitter.com/EWPopWatch.)

So watch this space starting Saturday morning, because Scott Porter, Adrianne Palicki, EWwy nominee Connie Britton, Jesse Plemons, Aimee Teegarden, and Gaius Charles have all agreed to participate in my little guest-blogging experiment, and are taking at least one band each. Thus far I know Scott's writing up N.E.R.D., Palicki wants Blues Traveler, and Connie has requested Beck -- but I would like to emphasize the experimental nature of this project, and I make no guarantees it's going to work. (Though how kickass is it gonna be when it does?!?) Meanwhile, I'll be taking pictures that we'll maybe slap into a gallery on Monday, and if you happen to be at ACL this weekend and feel like writing up a band or two yourself, go ahead and do it in the comments as we go along. Together, we can prevent Whitney from working on her days off! Do it for the children!

Who got snubbed on Emmy's Supporting Dramatic shortlist?

Now that the Emmy semifinalist lists for Supporting Actors and Actresses in dramas have been leaked, it's time to vent. First, it's clear there's no love lost between Lost and the Emmy voters. Yeah, the cast is huge, but seriously, no room on the shortlist for Terry O'Quinn, who won the statuette last year? None for Henry Ian Cusick (upper left), who had the most emotionally satisfying character arc of season 4? None for Yunjin Kim (lower left), who had the most devastating arc? I'm also bummed that Robert Sean Leonard didn't get noticed for his heartbreaking turn on House (but then, the Emmys have never given the lead actor prize to Hugh Laurie either, incredibly enough). And like Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil, I'm irked that Friday Night Lights' Connie Britton isn't there, nor January Jones from Mad Men, though her co-star, hot-to-trot office manager Christina Hendricks (lower right), deservingly made the cut. (As O'Neil bluntly puts it: "In: Floozies. Out: Whiny wives with emotional baggage and babies.")

Actually, what's in, at least on the actress list, is Emmy royalty, women the Academy seems to recognize reflexively because of their pedigrees, regardless of whether they did extraordinary work this year. I enjoyed Rachel Griffiths on Brothers & Sisters and Jill Clayburgh on Dirty Sexy Money, but I'd toss them both overboard without remorse to get Britton or Kim on this list. There's some of that on the men's list, too (Shatner? Again? Really?), but I am happy to see Ted Danson (upper right) here for his chilly turn on Damages; Lost-ies Naveen Andrews and Michael Emerson; John Slattery for his Mad Men boss (and not, thankfully, his Desperate Housewives villain); Blair Underwood for his In Treatment patient (and not, thankfully, for his mysterious mogul on DSM); and Jake Weber for his understanding hubby on Medium. (Did I just see Michael Slezak doing a cartwheel past my office?)

Your turn, TV experts: Who are you pleased to see on these lists? Which of your favorites didn't make the semifinals? (Hey, where's cuddly Heroes standout Masi Oka?) And what else of interest do these lists reveal? (I'm glad Burn Notice mom Sharon Gless is in the running, but in the dramatic category? If Monk is a comedy, how is BN a drama?) Have at it, below.

Who got left off Emmy's shortlists for Best Drama and Best Comedy?

Brace yourselves, TV addicts: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have announced the top 10 finalists for Emmy nominations in the Best Comedy Series and Best Drama Series categories. And before we get into snubs territory, it should be noted that fans of PopWatch favorites such as The Wire (left), Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, Flight of the Conchords, and Pushing Daisies have reason to celebrate. No, none of the shows have landed nominations (yet), but they're still in the running for their initial Best Series nods.

The shorlists are as follows. Under consideration for Best Drama are: Boston Legal, Damages, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Lost, Mad Men, The Tudors, and The Wire. Still in the running for Best Comedy are: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Pushing Daisies, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty, and Weeds. (Click here to get the specific episodes for which each series is being considered.)

Good news aside, my first response to the lists was this: Where the frak is the nail-bitingly awesome Battlestar Galactica (right)? I call SciFiPhobia! And coming off a particularly strong season, shouldn't Desperate Housewives have won a spot over Two and a Half Men and Family Guy? (Maybe the Emmy overlords feel the residents of Wisteria Lane aren't done paying the price for the Applewhite Incident?)

Who else would make your list of snubs? And which finalists have you doing the happy dance? Holla!

Watch 'Friday Night Lights,' from EW's New Classics Collection

After two years, a lot of viewers still haven't become season-ticket holders for Friday Night Lights, NBC's terrific drama about family, community, the transition from adolescence to adulthood, and (oh, yeah) football. Now's your chance to catch up on the program that we ranked at No. 71 on our list of the Top 100 TV Series of the last 25 years in the new EW 1000 issue. You can start with the show's pilot episode, embedded below; if you're already an FNL fan, call this a highlight reel.

This is the sixth installment in EW.com's selection of 10 great episodes of programs on our top 100 list. We're streaming an episode from a different show every day, or you can watch the entire slate in one sitting at Hulu. The first half of the list is here; Part 2 is here.

When will your favorite shows return?

With an end to the WGA strike imminent, TV fans who've spent the past few months away from the tube, interacting with friends and family (yeah, right — e-mail/IM at best) are scrambling to find out when their beloved scripted shows will return. But since networks don't have much time to make decisions on existing shows before the May announcement of the fall lineup, many of the series will only air four to eight new episodes — and most of them not until April or May. Many shows won't return this spring at all. EW.com is now keeping a regularly updated list. What does it all mean? One thing for sure: Jericho (pictured), which returns tonight with a seven-episode run, has a great shot at catching on this time around. Check out our Jericho sesaon 2 cheat sheet to feel somewhat informed before tuning in.

'Friday Night Lights' recap: Sudden death?

So the last Friday Night Lights for a while — forever? — sure left us hanging. Is there any way Smash (Gaius Charles) is going to reconcile himself to what he considers a college unworthy of his talents? (Maybe.) Were the writers really planning to follow through on Jason (Scott Porter) becoming a daddy to the baby of that rather-lacking-in-charm one-night-stand waitress? (Maybe — and if those same writers had planned to get Jason off the hook by having her miscarry three episodes later, I would be... troubled, if not downright annoyed.)

But the stuff that was pure gold this week included the characters who've been rock-solid all season anyway: Coach Eric and Tami Taylor (Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, pictured), and the cool-as-a-long-haired-cucumber Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). As much as I've hated the introduction of Lyla's religious love, Chris (really, Matt Czuchry doesn't act — he just scrunches his eyes and shakes his head to convey any emotion the script dictates), the contrast to Kitsch's Riggins has been highly satisfying. I loved the way Tim handled his new (yes, yes, highly improbable) gig as host of a sports call-in show on the religious radio network. The line of the night was when that girl called in and, mingling religiosity with lust, compared Tim's hair to Jesus', and Tim simply drawled, "You have been cut off, thank you for calling, that was ridiculous."

And the series can't go wrong by putting Eric and Tami at odds, this time over the return to Dillon, Texas, of Tami's high-school sweetheart, a very successful lout who irritated Eric to the point of some rather sitcom-y fisticuffs that were, nevertheless, pretty enjoyable.

Characters you love that everyone else hates

I was talking with a friend about the latest episode of Friday Night Lights, and how a lot of the fan reaction to a certain character was a little lost on us. It seemed that Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden, pictured), Mr. and Mrs. Taylor's snarky teenage daughter, wasn't particularly liked among fandom: she was too whiny, she was too bratty, she was too selfish. These complaints completely escaped us. To be honest, it was one of the aspects that we loved about the character, she was acting in a way that made the show so darn effective in the first place: she was acting like a real teenager.

As we discussed this further, me and my friend figured something out. Something terrible.

We were those fans.

Friday Night Huh? Focus on '30 Rock,' says NBC

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!

Bored, striking TV writers swap shows

There must be a little-known proviso in the Writers Guild rules that permits striking TV writers to pen scenarios for shows other than their own in snarky magazine articles. So it is with New York magazine, which cross-assigned teams of writers from various strike-afflicted shows to dream up season-ending arcs for other strike-afflicted shows. (Hat tip to TV Barn and TV Tattle for the link.) The results aren't as funny as I'd have hoped, though I did enjoy the Simpsons crew's apocalyptic take on The Office. I'd still like to see what, say, Tina Fey's 30 Rock-ers could do with House or Heroes. How about you, PopWatchers? What TV writer swaps would you like to see?

'Friday Night Lights': Matt gone wild!

Any fans who were missing their football on Friday Night Lights got a taste of it this week, as the Panthers coped with the season-suspension of Smash. But just a taste — the team scenes were more a part of a Matt Saracin-dominating plot. Yes, our good boy has gone bad, for a week anyway. He’s depressed over the departure of his live-in love Carlotta, and has looked around and realized the rest of his life pretty much stinks, too. Thus: Drinking, calling his nice art teacher a bitch, skipping school, and (need I even write this, given all those naughty things?) hanging out with the best bad-boy on TV, Tim “I always skip Wednesdays” Riggins.

This week we learned that Tim, in addition to his many other talents, really knows his way around a strip club (or whatever you call a club where the girls don’t strip but will lap-dance and will drive you to the hospital if you’ve been drinking and your car’s no good and your grandma has been admitted for falling down and bumping her head — oh, that Matty was a terrible young role model this week!).

'Friday Night Lights' recap: Tyra brings it

This week, we got another excellent episode of Friday Night Lights, even if it was not exactly the one I'd press upon a newbie I want to recruit for the FNL-watching team. You had to be hardcore to relish all the troubles and woes that rendered this one of the more downbeat editions of the series. Me, I pretty much loved it.

Right off the bat, this hour addressed the plot point I had said the producers ignored last week — the theft of drug money by Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) and his brother. The scene of Riggins getting bashed in a parking-lot was mighty scary-effective, and I liked the way it kick-started something that, at first, may not have made narrative sense. Why, you might initially wonder, would Riggins getting the crap beat out of him compel him to suddenly decide he had to declare his love for Lyla (Minka Kelly) right now? I mean "right now" as in, barging into a church service and insisting on talking to Lyla when she was in the throes of both spiritual rapture and the more earthy kind as she gazed upon Smirky Gilmore Girls Guy. (Is his name really "Chris" — by extension, making him Chris the Christian — or did I mis-hear that?)

But when you think about it, it all makes perfect Riggins-sense: Faced with extreme danger, the guy wanted to make sure, if the violence escalated, that at least one person in this world knew of his love for her. It was a profoundly romantic gesture. And the fact that it resulted in a less-profound action — Lyla giving Riggins the money he needed to pay off the meth-head — well, that's just another reason to admire FNL's emotional complexity.

'Friday Night Lights' recap: Separations and betrayals

Friday Night Lights was all about separations this week. Let us list ’em, shall we?
• Tami and Eric (Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler) had a difficult time putting baby Gracie in daycare.
• Matt’s live-in nurse/love, Carlotta (Daniella Alonso), said she had to scram back to Guatemala: “My family needs me,” she said. No explanation.
• Smash (Gaius Charles) and his family had dinner with his girlfriend, Noelle (Jana Kramer) and her family. Racial tension arose when her parents said they wished Smash would stop dating their daughter, and those tensions further separated the couple after Smash got into a fight with a racist white boy while on a movie date.
• Ex-con Santiago (Benny Ciaramello), who’s been living with Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland), felt an emotional pull away from his new middle-class, football-dominated existence when a pal fresh out of the slammer tried to pull him back into his old life.
• And Lyla (Minka Kelly) has found a new hobby — hosting a Christian call-in radio show with a new character (Gilmore Girls’ Matt Czuchry), a charmer who looks as though he’s going to keep her from dealing with any lingering affection she has for our man of constant sorrow, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), just as Tim was about to pledge his sincere love to her.

This episode was all over the place, quality-wise, and you know I’m writing this from the place of Friday Night Lights Is The Show We Love To Love, right?

'Friday Night Lights' recap: Kyle Chandler needs an Emmy

If Friday Night Lights was a big ol’ ratings hit, Kyle Chandler would be Fed-Ex’ing this week’s episode to the Emmy committee for the showcase he had and the performance he gave with that opportunity. Really, has his Coach Eric ever shown so many sides of himself, been as angry and wise and abashed and funny and thick-headed and forgiving and flummoxed as he was here? I don’t believe so. For an edition of FNL whose plot arcs were really built around Gaius Charles’ Smash and Taylor Kitsch’s Tim Riggins, Chandler’s Eric really stole the show.

But let’s take Smash and Riggins first. Smash has been courted by colleges for some time now, and this was his “verbal commitment” week—we were pretty sure from the git-go that he was going to make his decision during this hour, and it was done with the show's typically dramatic complexity. Gaius Charles has played out this football courtship beautifully—you can read in the expressions on his face all the pride, confusion, and excitement Smash is feeling. The episode gave Smash’s mom, Corinna (Liz Mikel) some really nice moments, as she fought through her fears and hopes for her son, and I really enjoyed the scene between her and Connie Britton’s Tami—one mother consoling another.

As for Riggins, well, it was another great week for Taylor Kitsch, who not only lived up to the forgiving Coach’s word for him—“honorable”—but also did some great Riggins Things such as making that nice zinger to neighbor Jackie about how, now that she’d gone through him and his brother, she might want to complete the “Riggins trifecta” and put the moves on his father. Thank goodness that brat Julie (well-played, Miss Aimee Teegarden!) cleared up last week’s mess and got Tim back in the Coach’s good graces, but I worry about this new stealing-money-from-the-meth-dealer plot. Are we fated to spend FNL’s remaining weeks with another brush-with-the-law mess so soon after Landry dumped that body?

OK, back to Coach Eric Taylor.

'Friday Night Lights' recap: Tying up loose ends before the new year

Boy, they sure crammed a lotta stories into Friday Night Lights this week, didn’t they? It was as though, anticipating the writers’ strike, the producers mapped out an episode that tied up some plot-lines, made sure just about every major character got significant screen-time, and now hope to leave us happy and wanting more when the show comes back, as the NBC announcer said, “in the new year.”

And for the most part, I was indeed pretty happy with the results. The initially jarring let’s-get-baby-Gracie-baptized-this-weekend subplot resulted in a fine series of scenes in which Julie (Aimee Teegarden) tried to triangulate between her parents, first hoping to win some sympathy from her father (Kyle Chandler) by confiding her trumped-up woes to him—oh, those teenagers are wily narcissists, aren’t they?—and then getting into an expertly played, not-quite-quiet-voice shouting match with her mom (Connie Britton). Plus, in between, we got a truly excellent brief moment between Coach Eric and Tami, in which Tami pointed out with her usual slicing asperity the family-dynamic subtext that Eric was too dense—too male—to understand: i.e., that he was being manipulated by Daddy’s little girl. These are the kinds of moments, so deceptively simple yet emotionally subtle, that Friday Night Lights does with unique understatement.

'Friday Night Lights': Something's not adding up...

This week’s Friday Night Lights contained a series of scenes, each of which was beautifully acted and sometimes quite moving. (You’d have to have a heart of stone not to have both cried and laughed during Tim Riggins’ abject yet hilarious series of on-field apologies to his teammates in a last-ditch attempt to get back on the team; this may have been Taylor Kitsch’s finest moment onscreen yet.)

At the same time, as lovingly crafted and executed as each individual scene was, there was a lot about this episode that just didn’t make dramatic sense in the way the Friday Night Lights we love always used to make sense.

For example: Tami (Connie Britton) had that terrific moment when she blasted the new English teacher for being “inappropriate” with her daughter Julie—not just for being touchy-feely, but also for recommending she read The World According to Garp. That was a perfect FNL touch, reminding us that, as intelligent as Tami is, there’s still an element of small-town small-mindedness to her. (And don’t start writing to me about slagging off small towns—I’m not. I’m just saying, some people in rural areas, as there are those in big cities, can exhibit a narrow outlook on some things, especially when it comes to culture.) Tami’s rage at the teacher provoked another marvelous scene in which daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden), let Mom know just how embarrassed and betrayed she felt.

We also got a very good Coach-and-Tami scene in which Tami explained to her husband (Kyle Chandler) that she really needed “a night out.” But it wasn’t the night of hoochie-coochie that Coach Eric had hoped for—nope, Tami wanted to whoop it up with some teacher-pals playing Bunco.

As I say, all very good scenes. But they didn’t add up as plot: There is just no way someone as sensitive as Tami wouldn’t have told Coach about her big confrontation with the English teacher, and their daughter’s reaction, before sailing off to Bunco-ville. This lapse is typical of FNL this season when it’s not playing at top-tier level.

'Friday Night Lights': Separating great story arcs from lame ones

This week’s Friday Night Lights split down the middle for me: some very good stuff, some pretty lame stuff. I’ll get the lame out of the way first.

• There was the moment we all saw coming weeks ago: Matt’s smooch with caregiver Carlotta (Daniella Alonso). Plus a scene where she teaches white-boy to dance by having him put his hands on her hips to feel the Latina rhythm. This was so corny I can’t even muster true annoyance about stereotypes.

• The Julie subplot. New teacher in town—why, it’s John from Cincinnati! No, I know, it was Noah from a Milwaukee newspaper, but for the 99% of you who didn’t watch the HBO series I’m referring to, actor Austin Nichols played the title role in John From Cincinnati. Anyway, Julie (Aimee Teegarden) suddenly developed a case of motor-mouth this week—hasn’t she spent the preceding month being moodily monosyllabic?—and gushed about her life to a complete, if cute, stranger/authority figure, and it was groaningly obvious that she was going to have an insta-crush on the guy. The only thing that will make this subplot worthwhile is the fierce tongue-lashing her mom (the reliably superb Connie Britton) is going to give this guy to stay away from her daughter.

• Now, this next point is not so much about lameness, but rather about having writers and producers who should trust their characters more. It’s great that Smash (the glowing Gaius Charles) is getting a lot more screen-time, but I thought the pressure his mother (the marvelously controlled Liz Mikel) put on him to seriously consider the black college recruiter’s pitch was unworthy of this fine woman. She’s obviously intelligent enough to understand why Smash isn’t interested in going to a school with a losing football team. Why couldn’t those scenes have been more subtly written (like, oh, the entire last season of Friday Night Lights!), to allow her to express both disappointment and understanding, and for Smash to be more than just a Porsche-lusting stubborn kid?

Okay, those are my reservations. Now, here’s what I liked about the episode.

'Friday Night Lights': A birthday, a burnt car, and a rowdy relative

This was a really intricate episode of Friday Night Lights — the producers set out to do so much, and, for the most part, succeeded.

• This week saw Jason celebrate his 19th birthday and quit the team; his emotional journey was the heart of the episode, and helmets off to Scott Porter for allowing us to see Jason's torn ambitions and dashed dreams, while still pulling off that fine moment at the party when he acknowledges, after Buddy's typically heedless joke, that his life really would have been golden had he not had his accident, and yet that life now is not a waste, either.

• The other big dramatic subplot involved Landry (Jesse Plemons) and his dad burning the kid's car to destroy crime evidence. I still don't know how this profound act — a gesture of love on the part of his father (helmets off again to Glenn Morshower) — is going to ease Landry's conscience. It may eventually allow him to get back together with Tyra (Adrianne Palicki), but... let's face it, we as viewers just wish this burden was completely lifted off everyone's shoulders, that the show could simply deal with Landry, Tyra, football, and his friendship with Matt (Zach Gilford). Am I wrong?

• I must confess I'd nearly forgotten Lyla's Christian-ethics project, the ex-con Santiago, but here he was being positioned as the team's new potential savior. All in all, I like the way he was portrayed on the field — strong, but weak on skills. Not much personality, of course; I bet if there wasn't a writer's strike, the Friday Night Lights staff would be sitting around mulling over whether he sparks a romance with Lyla or just gets used as a way for Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) to redeem himself.

• The new brunette cheerleader: a rebound-date for Matt before he gets back together with Julie, or a character who's going to stick around? I vote for the former.

• How 'bout that sister of Tami's — quite a piece of work, eh? Jessalyn Gilsig, late of Nip/Tuck and Boston Public, tackled the rather thankless stock TV role of Rowdy Relative Brought In To Shake Up The Family and did as well as she could in a brief amount of time, managing to freak out both Tami and Eric, and give Julie (Aimee Teegarden, pictured) a reason to remain a little rebellious. But I don't want Sis hanging around much longer, do you?