Friday Night Lights is leapfrogging the shark

October 25th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

I’ve yet to see a single episode of “Friday Night Lights,” but I’ve registered it mentally as one of several future Shows To Catch Up On (Lost is the most notable inclusion in this grammatically suspect mental list). I loved Friday Night Lights: The Film Version! for its David Eckstein-like grit, and everyone raved about the show, so I might as well give it a shot at some point, right?

Now, I’m not so sure. Because it’s looking like FNL is turning into a bastardized, Texas-set version of The OC. Uh oh:

Let’s start with the Taylor family. Coach Taylor has always been portrayed as the lead character on the show. He’s a good solid father with a core set of family values who balances his job as football coach and father/husband. Now I’m supposed to believe that this strong family man leaves his family to be an assistant college coach immediately after his wife gives birth to their second child? Not buying it. You built up Coach Taylor’s moral character throughout the first season just so that you could tear it down for the first 6 episode story arc? That seems illogical to me.

Finally, the main reason so many people took to liking this underrated show last year was the realistic approach to these high school kids and there [sic] interaction. That all went out the window in the first episode of the new season when Landry and Tyra (who’s gone through as much of a character transformation than anyone) decided to dump the body of the attempted rapist they accidentally murdered. Yup, you read that last sentence correctly. These are exactly the sort of plot lines that eventually destroyed The O.C. over on FOX. Instead of getting more football scenes, we are forced to endure a murder conspiracy involving two semi-intelligent kids who for some reason never call the police to report an accidental death, but instead think the best idea is to dump the body in a river. I’d say this is gonna be a long season, but with story lines like that, this show might not last to season three.

Apparently, I’ve missed the boat, and the shark got jumped, or the shark jumped over the boat, or something like that. At least I still have “Mad Men” and “The Wire,” and, you know, actual sports. Those are always good, even if the writers sometimes overthink the characters.