friday night lights the book/movie/tv show: c/d?

movie was totally great if way overvamped. billy bob was perfect and the pace/feel was just right for the audience.

first episode of the tv show starring no-really-i'm-not-ron-livingstone was totally solid and melodramatic and overwraught in a way that i really kinda dug, despite myself. football scenes are totally unrealistic, of course, but digging the drama and t&a.

The movie is great (TS FNL v Remember the Titans in recent moral football battle of week). Haven't read the book but keep meaning to... that's high praise you give it, Yancey, expand more??

boobie's fate: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page3/story?page=turner/boobie/041006

ally, basically the book is about a town that is ridiculously obsessed with high school football. the writer, whose name i am blanking on, tells the story of this depressed town through three players: the white reluctant start qb, the black show-off rb and the hispanic driven safety. but the story is just as much about WHY this town has resorted to football as its salvation. it's about the death of the texas oil industry, why george bush the first was an asshole and why people vote aspirationally rather than in their own self interest. you'd love it, i promise you.

i'm really feeling the music video-ness of the show's editing. not so much in the quick cuts but in the lack of foothold they provide: i.e. if you need setup for a scene, fuck you. if you need character development beyond yr preconceived stereotypes of texas high school football players, fuck you, too. basically the show feels like it was made by two 15-year-olds who don't think football + math-rock (that soundtrack) is all that weird.

So let me git this straight, Poor American Man's Russell Crowe coach grew up in Corey Dillonville and was recently hired on by the HS? How long has he coached the team/paralyzed QB James Speed? Why is he so young? And will EitS ever use a distortion pedal?

he had a cameo in the movie, he was on the sidelines as an asst. coach during a game scene. i read the book when it came out, i'm pretty sure i was still in high school at the time, i remember liking it a lot. didn't really dig the movie as it didn't stay true to the real story of the permian panthers that year but whatevs, american cinema's about making money not telling the truth. haven't seen a second of the tv show though the prospect of t&a is always appealing.

I think next week will provide a more action packed show... mostly in the musical area; it's a fact that new music, more often, amplifies the scene. I think the first episode over played the theme song and could have used more modern hits, kind of like that successful drama called "The OC" does!

two week x-post:
You can probably find Boobie Miles profiles online, I saw several when the movie came out. He played junior college football for a little while, then semi-pro, and wound up in a dead-end job in West Texas.

I love coach

Whenever we watch football, my dad used to always joke 'these guys couldn't even beat Odessa Permian', and then we saw the movie and I was like I get yr jokes now, Dad.

am@zon says the first season dvd set is only 19.99, and it only retails for 29.99. Are these normal US prices for tv season sets these days? If so, amazing!

Definitely not for hour-long dramas. NBC must be doing whatever they can to build a fanbase.

At $30, usually that means 3-4 discs, but at 5 discs, that's some seriously aggressive (read: desperate) pricing. Also, this money-back guarantee backed by the show itself, for which I hope that they won't have to pony up.

xpost

my friend just recorded marching band drums all by herself for this show

the book is rly amazing

I want to read the book.

Enjoyed the movie.

I did not like the show at first, at times the maudlin drama grated on me. After a while, though, I realized they weren't going for Dawson's Creek and have come to be a huge fan of the show.

it's not like superamazingly written or anything like that, it's just that football is so amazing and highschool is highschool and texas is crazy? and it doesn't screw up bringing any of those things to you?

How is this show?

great

Very great. The final season starts in October. Can't wait!

I am about halfway through the current season that just aired on NBC and enjoying it quite a bit.

It is only like 30% about football though. Maybe less than that. Mostly a small town drama.

Yeah, football is the tie that binds, but it's mostly a character-driven drama (with some very good characters).