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Friday Night Lights-the series


closetohumping

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I searched high and low and couldn't find a thread on it, and I know it's odd that I'm just now starting to watch it.  This show is pretty, pretty good.  A few things:

*Seems like the rival schools are basically Austin area schools with a slight name change?

*Some of the football commentary is pretty weak.  We're not talking about playoffs in game 3.

*Kyle chandler is a very good actor.

*Lots of eye candy, Chandler's wife over Lyla? 

*Why would a program like that have a 5'8" inch quarterback?

*This show is too PC to be made in 2022.

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29 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

I searched high and low and couldn't find a thread on it, and I know it's odd that I'm just now starting to watch it.  This show is pretty, pretty good.  A few things:

*Seems like the rival schools are basically Austin area schools with a slight name change?

*Some of the football commentary is pretty weak.  We're not talking about playoffs in game 3.

*Kyle chandler is a very good actor.

*Lots of eye candy, Chandler's wife over Lyla? 

*Why would a program like that have a 5'8" inch quarterback?

*This show is too PC to be made in 2022.

a couple of things- the schools that play in the pilot were Westlake and Pflugerville, and they actually used some real game footage of Pville's second consecutive drubbing of Westlake in the state playoffs.

former Pville/UT player Antwan Cobb was featured both in game film and as an extra

a few years ago while at work i was watching our HS girls volleyball team play when some random dad came up to me and asked if the seat next to me was taken, as he was about to watch his daughter play in the varsity game. turned out the volleyball dad was Kyle Chandler. we watched the match together for maybe half an hour before i had to head out to the football game. very cool guy, totally normal and unassuming. he was really into the match, and i thought that was cool. 

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i never watched the show after the pilot (really just wanted to see Pville on TV), so i don't know who's who character wise, but the real life players attached to the jersey numbers are:

#6, QB Tyler Beatty, Baylor 

#20, RB Antwan Cobb, Texas

#33, LB/FB Marlon Williams, TTU

#1, WR/DB/KR Tremont Calvert- could have gone D-1 in football or hoops, had off field issues 

anyway, pretty cool for those guys to have tv characters who are (very loosely) based on them and their exploits as HS football players at PHS. 

Edited by shadow_operative
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They were filming when I was at school and they had some ad in the daily Texan about needing extras with football backgrounds.  I considered it, but was too lazy to actually follow through.  I watch the show when it comes out and find out the lead, Matt Saracen, is damn near my identical twin.  If I showed up to tryouts I know they would have written me in as his brother for some storyline. I would have been a STAR! A STAR, I tell you. 

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8 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

a couple of things- the schools that play in the pilot were Westlake and Pflugerville, and they actually used some real game footage of Pville's second consecutive drubbing of Westlake in the state playoffs.

former Pville/UT player Antwan Cobb was featured both in game film and as an extra

a few years ago while at work i was watching our HS girls volleyball team play when some random dad came up to me and asked if the seat next to me was taken, as he was about to watch his daughter play in the varsity game. turned out the volleyball dad was Kyle Chandler. we watched the match together for maybe half an hour before i had to head out to the football game. very cool guy, totally normal and unassuming. he was really into the match, and i thought that was cool. 

I think the pbp during the west lake game mentioned coy aune and Christian campbell

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16 hours ago, closetohumping said:

I searched high and low and couldn't find a thread on it, and I know it's odd that I'm just now starting to watch it.  This show is pretty, pretty good.  A few things:

*Seems like the rival schools are basically Austin area schools with a slight name change?

*Some of the football commentary is pretty weak.  We're not talking about playoffs in game 3.

*Kyle chandler is a very good actor.

*Lots of eye candy, Chandler's wife over Lyla? 

*Why would a program like that have a 5'8" inch quarterback?

*This show is too PC to be made in 2022.

For some reason I never watched it when it first aired either. Started watching it a couple of months ago as time allows. Almost finished with season 1.

In one episode you can clearly see the word “Phlugerville” on Dillon’s stadium.

I really enjoy the series and I have to remember to not be too critical of the football aspects of it and the time that the “students” have and what they do away from school. You know, cause Hollywood and such.

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I watched it the first time it was streaming on Netflix around 2014ish.  I really liked it and will probably eventually run through it again some day.  

Loved that most of the high school cast turned over and the show didn't miss a beat rather than forcing people to pretend the same group of kids were playing football together for 5 years.

The whole "there's an entire second high school in our little 4A town nobody talks about and they haven't had a football team until now" storyline seemed a bit unrealistic and out of nowhere, but it worked.

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22 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

 

 

The actor that played Landry Clarke, Matt’s bff, married Kirsten dunst.  Not sure who married up 

 

He did.  Dunst isn't a knockout, especially by Hollywood standards, but she's pretty cute and I've always liked her.  Landry is Landry.

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High school kids fucking killed a dude who sexually assaulted that girl and dumped the body. And that was in the same season that the QB was paralyzed, Riggins was drunk, and Smash was taking 'roids.

And yet somehow it didn't come across as over the top. 

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16 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

High school kids fucking killed a dude who sexually assaulted that girl and dumped the body. And that was in the same season that the QB was paralyzed, Riggins was drunk, and Smash was taking 'roids.

And yet somehow it didn't come across as over the top. 

That was season 1??

 Out of all the plot lines, that was the most outlandish.

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59 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

He’s had a surprisingly good career. He’s had major supporting roles in 3 terrific TV shows( FNL, Fargo, Breaking Bad) as well as several highly regarded films. 

 

Oh, yeah, he's a great actor.  Game Night was one of the best comedies of the past decade and he was hilarious in it.

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A friend’s house was used as one of the main houses (maybe the coach? I’ve never seen the show). They got $1500 per day of filming plus a $500 hotel/dining/misc daily per diem.

One thing that was interesting was that if any house was shown, production had to compensate the owners. So, fake privacy fences and shrubs were brought in to hide neighboring houses.

He said that production paid their mortgage for several years.

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1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

They stuck the landing in the finale.

Nailed small town Texas football culture.

Connie Britton is on my very short list.  Her and Kyle Chandler had great on screen chemistry as spouses.

Was about to post these exact points but add:

Explosions In The Sky nailed the soundtrack, opening track gives me all the feels

Buddy was cast and written absolutely perfectly as the big fish/small pond booster

Mack sighting 

Used to drive by that ice cream cone building thing all the time on the way to my best friends house, the one featured in the intro roll, and would be tempted to let out a ‘clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’

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10 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Was about to post these exact points but add:

Explosions In The Sky nailed the soundtrack, opening track gives me all the feels

Buddy was cast and written absolutely perfectly as the big fish/small pond booster

Mack sighting 

Used to drive by that ice cream cone building thing all the time on the way to my best friends house, the one featured in the intro roll, and would be tempted to let out a ‘clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’

From what I understand, Buddy and a lot of the extras were locals due to budget constraints.  (I could be wrong,). Either way, you’re right.  Perfect casting.

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they def used locals for extras. one of my husband's best friends is an actor, small parts in local productions mostly. he played a member of the Dallas Carter principal's entourage in the film, and then was one of the East Dillon boosters when they showed up in S4 or 5. he had actual lines in the tv show. cool.

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6 hours ago, Homercles said:

Was about to post these exact points but add:

Explosions In The Sky nailed the soundtrack, opening track gives me all the feels

Buddy was cast and written absolutely perfectly as the big fish/small pond booster

Mack sighting 

Used to drive by that ice cream cone building thing all the time on the way to my best friends house, the one featured in the intro roll, and would be tempted to let out a ‘clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’

Man Mack seemed to enjoy his three minutes.  It seemed like he was channeling everything that’s been said to him.   Looked much younger!

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2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Man Mack seemed to enjoy his three minutes.  It seemed like he was channeling everything that’s been said to him.   Looked much younger!

Of course he was much younger…

image.png.358ef40da65d93d2a664006c5b20ac07.png
 

Obviously very different storyline but the book is an outstanding read as well

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On 12/10/2021 at 7:13 PM, closetohumping said:

*Lots of eye candy, Chandler's wife over Lyla? 

*Why would a program like that have a 5'8" inch quarterback?

Hell yes; Tammy Taylor ALL DAY long. 

image.thumb.jpeg.2ca2080b0c34ddfdae1c2b924991ee99.jpeg

Kyler Murray did OK at Texas 6A HS football. He’s “listed” at 5’10”, but that’s probably counting the top of his hair. 

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On 12/11/2021 at 12:11 PM, Helobious said:

Season 2 was shit, but aside from that it’s the rare show that is strong through all its seasons. Even at the end.

It's really just the one storyline in Season 2 that was bad.  The rest of the season was fine.

And even the Landry/Tyra storyline had its good points.  They did a good job of exploring the nerd/beauty relationship dynamics. The whole thing with the shooting was just over the top.

And Coach/Mrs Coach are still the best on-screen couple in tv history, for my money.  None better.

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22 hours ago, Homercles said:

Was about to post these exact points but add:

Explosions In The Sky nailed the soundtrack, opening track gives me all the feels

Buddy was cast and written absolutely perfectly as the big fish/small pond booster

Mack sighting 

Used to drive by that ice cream cone building thing all the time on the way to my best friends house, the one featured in the intro roll, and would be tempted to let out a ‘clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’

The theme is actually by WG Snuffy Walden, not Explosions. 
 

Brad Leland (who plays Buddy Garrity) is fucking amazing as a small town booster. Leland is also a Texas Tech grad and originally from Lubbock. He was also a badass football player in high school and won a 4A state championship with Plano iirc. Then he blew out his knee his senior year and lost all of his scholarship offers

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23 hours ago, Homercles said:

Was about to post these exact points but add:

Explosions In The Sky nailed the soundtrack, opening track gives me all the feels

Buddy was cast and written absolutely perfectly as the big fish/small pond booster

Mack sighting 

Used to drive by that ice cream cone building thing all the time on the way to my best friends house, the one featured in the intro roll, and would be tempted to let out a ‘clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’

Opening track is perfect.  Yes gives me the feels

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10 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Brad Leland (who plays Buddy Garrity) is fucking amazing as a small town booster. Leland is also a Texas Tech grad and originally from Lubbock. He was also a badass football player in high school and won a 4A state championship with Plano iirc. Then he blew out his knee his senior year and lost all of his scholarship offers

He also used to shop at the Target in Allen. 

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On 12/11/2021 at 11:21 PM, Homercles said:

Was about to post these exact points but add:

Explosions In The Sky nailed the soundtrack, opening track gives me all the feels.

Son (high school frosh) and I listen to this every Friday as we pull into the football stadium parking lot.  Never gets old. 

I was referring to "Your Hand in Mine" by EITS.

Edited by Knoxtnhorn
Different song.
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On 12/10/2021 at 7:48 PM, shadow_operative said:

a few years ago while at work i was watching our HS girls volleyball team play when some random dad came up to me and asked if the seat next to me was taken, as he was about to watch his daughter play in the varsity game. turned out the volleyball dad was Kyle Chandler. we watched the match together for maybe half an hour before i had to head out to the football game. very cool guy, totally normal and unassuming. he was really into the match, and i thought that was cool. 

he ended up staying in austin?

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