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Can tiny footballs save ‘FNL?’
Not knowing is better than knowing bad news, but seriously, the suspense over the future life or death of “Friday Night Lights”has become excruciating.
To ease the tension, ardent fans are on the march, hoping to force NBC to give “Lights” a chance. Some 40,000 pounds of peanuts saved CBS’s “Jericho,” but will thousands of plastic footballs do the trick for “Lights?”
That’s the goal of the official rescue Web site, www.SaveFridayNightLights.tv, which urges supporters to swamp the office of NBC entertainment chief Ben Silverman with petitions and, yep, little toy footballs. As of mid-February, about 7,000 mini-footballs had been tossed the waffling execs way.
VH1’s “Best Week Ever” also has an online petition drive to keep “Lights” on — www.bestweekever.tv/category/save-friday-night-lights.
Rescue missions have had mixed results in the past. Decades ago (1984 to be exact) fans saved CBS’s cop drama “Cagney & Lacey” with a massive letter-writing campaign, but viewers’ attempts to save NBC’s quirky comedy “Freaks and Geeks” and Fox’s offbeat sitcom “Arrested Development” flopped.
Officially, “FNL” is finished with its second season and waiting to hear about a third. The production shut down in early December, and the 15th episode aired Feb. 8. The three-month strike by the Writers Guild of America cut short the series’ 22-episode order.
Will we ever know if Jason Street becomes a daddy, if Matt gets over his broken heart, if Riggins finally brings Lyla back to him, of Coach and Tami find time for themselves? We’ve been left hanging, and it’s not fair.
Ratings ooched up slightly (from 5.9 million viewers to 6.2 million) in the just-ended season, but that may not be enough.
Critics drooled over the drama when it debuted, and NBC executives initially touted the show as one of the network’s finest accomplishments. But Silverman has been slightly less enthusiastic.
Trade publications such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter have reported variously that “Lights” will be saved, that it will be moved from NBC to one of the network’s cable networks (Bravo or USA) and that the game is over. More recently we’ve heard that NBC is mulling its options and may not make a decision until May, when the networks announce their fall schedules.
In the meantime, e-mails, petitions and tiny footballs just might tilt the decision toward a return to Dillon. We might as well toss a Hail Mary.
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By Wava
February 29, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this
FNL is my all time favorite show on TV. Please let us vote to keep the game going!