Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 19
Thursday, July 19, 2007
‘Friday Night’ set visit: photos and video
The video of today’s visit to the “Friday Night Lights” set is posted. Cast members say hi to the fans in Austin.
And here are a few photos of cast members and crew I shot on the first day of shooting Season Two of “Friday Night Lights” and a video greeting from cast members Taylor Kitsch, Adrianne Palicki, Gaius Charles and Zach Gilford.
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‘Friday Night Lights’ cast returns for shooting
It was like the first day back to school for the returning cast of “Friday Night Lights,” which began shootings its second season for NBC on Thursday.
Probably compounding that feeling: they were shooting at an Austin alternative school.
Thought the show only earned two Emmy nominations when they were announced that morning (one for casting, one to Peter Berg for directing last season’s pilot), spirits seemed high on the set. Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins), returning from shooting an independent film called “Gospell Hill,” said he was glad to be back and was happy to slip back into Riggins’ world of problems.
“It feels funny. It feels good,” Kitsch said, “we are so lucky.”
Kitsch recently bought a condo in South Austin near the Alamo Drafthouse on Lamar Boulevard and is taking the show script by script. Kitsch said he wasn’t bitter about the show’s Best Drama snub, but, “Truthfully, Kyle Chandler really deserved it. He’s the spine of the show.” Kitsch thinks it’ll give the show more fuel for the fire and, “it hasn’t taken away from the confidence we all have in each other at all.”
Adrianne Palicki (Tyra Collette), who spent time back home in Ohio and in L.A. with Connie Britton for the summer, says a lot of loose ends from last season get tied up in the first two episodes of Season Two, including the return of a character who tried to rape Tyra near the end of last season.
She says she’s still getting lots of positive feedback from fans, especially those who appreciate the show’s strong female characters.
Gaius Charles (Brian “Smash” Williams) spent time in L.A., New York and the Caribbean in the summer and shot an episode of “Law & Order: SVU.” He spent the rest of his time off relaxing. “This is an intense job,” he said.
So what about Smash? The actor said that after last season’s championship win, the player’s on top of the world. “Imagine LeBron James in his senior year of high school. He’s exalted like never before,” Charles said. One of the first scenes of the season involves a college recruiter knocking on his door.
Gaius Charles said he enjoyed this year’s Television Critics Association tour, especially in contrast to last year. He says the show once fought to establish credibility, and now it’s getting “respect and reverence” from critics and supporters.
And Zach Gilford (Matt Saracen) returns to town with his dog Pippen (napping in his trailer during shooting) after spending time in his hometown Chicago and in L.A., Alaska and Seattle among other places. Gilford laughed as he explained some recent photos that had circulated from the press tour showing him shaggy of beard and wild of hair.
He was taking some high school kids into the mountains in British Columbia as he has the last five years and wasn’t sure what his start date would be for shooting. He let his hair grow for the whole summer and when he was told he’d have to clean up for the press tour, he decided to show some chutzpah and keep it. Fans will be glad to know, however, that he was clean-shaven and buzz-cut by call time. Whew. We were worried, dude.
You may catch him at Z’Tejas, which he plans to hit up immediately for some tasty food.
He says the first scene he shot for the second season took some adjusting to. “We were a little rusty and we all felt it,” he said. He was excited to begin shooting some scenes at his fictional house in the afternoon. He promises Matt will be beset by troubles as always, which is good for the character. As for the always modest and charming Gilford, “I’m just glad to be here,” he said.
Bonus: We’ve got video greetings to fans from the four “FNL” cast members mentioned in this entry. Click here to watch.
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‘Jericho’ nuts alert!
OK, all you nuts out there. You can stop hounding me about “Jericho.” I went to the press conference, and now I’m going to tell you what happened.
(Note to non-nuts: The fans who bombarded CBS with packages of nuts in the successful effort to bring back the canceled serial drama “Jericho” have sent me more than 50 e-mails since I’ve been here, telling me to attend the session.)
When the nuclear disaster saga returns at midseason for a seven-episode run, the cliffhanger from the end of Season 1 will be resolved with a “big payoff,” according to executive producer Carol Barbee. The opener for Season 2 will help people learn about the “new world” forming since the attack and since the battle between the towns of Jericho and New Bern.
For anyone holding out hope that Gerald McRaney’s character Johnston Green didn’t really die, I’ve got bad news. He’s dead. Seriously.
“Jericho is a town where people need to be able to die,” Barbee said. “It’s a dangerous place.”
Barbee said Johnston’s death was planned from the get-go to enable prodigal son Jake, played by Skeet Ulrich, to return and take his father’s place as leader of the community. McRaney knew he would croak in the finale and was OK with it. If “Jericho” catches on with its reprieve, there’s a possibility that Johnston/Gerald could return in flashbacks.
“We’d love to have Gerald come back,” Barbee said. “But there’s nothing planned for this season.”
Although cast and crew had heard rumblings about an Internet campaign to save “Jericho,” nobody really thought it would succeed. CBS offered no wiggle room when the show was axed in May.
“It sounded pretty definitive to me - You’re fired,” Ulrich said.
The thousands of calls, letters and e-mails and thousands of pounds of nuts surprised everybody. Three weeks later, CBS changed its mind.
“I don’t think any of us were aware that fan support could affect the decision-making process of a network,” said Ulrich, who broke the good news to several cast.
“The passion of the campaign was humbling,” said Lennie James, who plays Robert Hawkins. “It reminded us who we make it for and that it really matters to them.”
The DVD of the first season comes out Oct. 2, so nuts take note.
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‘Friday Night Lights’ shut out of major Emmy nominations
“Friday Night Lights” was shut out of the major categories in this year’s Emmy nominations. The Austin-filmed NBC drama series, which received lavish praise but low ratings in its freshman season, picked up a directing nod for creator Peter Berg’s helming of the pilot and a nomination for casting. That’s it.
The nominations were announced by Kyra Sedgwick and Jon Cryer this morning at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles.
Although it’s nice to be recognized at all, those two pats on the back were small potatoes considering what should have been: best drama series, best lead drama actor for Kyle Chandler and best lead drama actress for Connie Britton. Those were the major categories many critics and certainly a lot of industry insiders thought were more than a little possible for the brilliant saga about small-town life in fictional Dillon, Texas.
“It’s not disappointment. I’m just a realist,” said executive producer and Austinite Sarah Aubrey. “We’re very proud and happy for Peter and our casting crew. Peter brought his strong directorial vision to TV. And the casting is one of the reasons we’ve been successful, so it’s really appropriate to recognize them. The truth is, when you see who got nominated, especially in the drama categories, it’s really an uphill battle. ‘Heroes’ was the new show that got nominated, and it’s very deserving. It’s a crowded field, and there are a lot of quality dramas. Besides, I wouldn’t know what we’d do if we weren’t the underdog. We’d probably lose our mo-jo.”
What shows beat out “Lights” for the coveted best drama nominations? “The Sopranos,” in its swan-song season; the deserving “Boston Legal,”which could just as easily have been submitted as a comedy; “Grey’s Anatomy” in its exceedingly whiny season; the flashy new “Heroes”; and “House,” about television’s grumpiest doctor.
Who beat out Connie Britton, whose tough but tender-hearted portrayal of Coach Taylor’s wife Tami seemed like a shoo-in? Patricia Arquette (oh, please!) from “Medium”; Edie Falco (expected) from “The Sopranos”; the deserving Kyra Sedgwick from “The Closer”; previous winner Mariska Hargitay of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”; Sally Field, in the brand new “Brothers & Sisters”; and Minnie Driver of FX’s newcomer “The Riches.”
And who was deemed more worthy than Kyle Chandler for best actor in a drama? James Spader of “Boston Legal,” Hugh Laurie of “House,” Denis Leary (long overdue) of “Rescue Me,” James Gandolfini (natch) of “The Sopranos” and Kiefer Sutherland of “24.”
The good news — and there is a little — is that “Ugly Betty” and star America Ferrera both received nominations in the comedy categories. Other shows on the list were “Entourage,” “The Office,” “30 Rock”and “Two and a Half Men.”
Besides Ferrera, comedy actress nominees were Tiny Fey of “30 Rock,” Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and Mary Louise Parker of “Weeds.”
Cited for comedy actor were Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”), Steve Carell (“The Office”), Ricky Gervais (“Extras”), Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”) and Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”).
As it has several times in recent years, HBO picked up the most nominations of any network (86). ABC was second with 70, NBC had 69, CBS had 44 and Fox had 28. The HBO movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” topped the individual nominations, with 17. “The Sopranos” was the most-honored series with 15 nominations.
Known for less-than-adventurous voting, the Academy proudly notes that 60 percent of this year’s nominations were bestowed on new faces and new shows.
The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out Sept. 16 on Fox. For a complete list of Emmy nominees, click here.
And expect to see the “Lights” folks back in Austin and surrounding areas today, when filming resumes for the second season.
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