TV Shows we Love: Friday Night Lights

Every Friday night, the small town of Dillon leaves its personal problems behind to gather at the football field and support its high school football team. Under the bright lights, it doesn’t matter who you are – what matters is team spirit.

Yes, Friday Night Lights is a show about sports, but it’s also about how sports can hold communities together. Against this fictional small-town backdrop, it addresses issues found in contemporary American culture, from family values, toxic masculinity and mental illness to drugs, abortion, racism and economic disparity.

The varied lives of Dillon’s high school football team and their wins and losses in life and sports form the basis of the show, reflecting larger issues that plague young people everywhere, from the pressure to succeed to coping with failure.

The ensemble cast is led by multiple Emmy nominee Kyle Chandler as coach Eric Taylor, an inspirational father figure and role model to many who faces his own issues as he attempts to balance work, family life and personal ambitions.

Friday Night Lights has been lauded for its realistic portrayal of middle America, exploring the meaning of the American dream. It takes inspiration from a nonfiction book of the same name written by journalist HG Bissinger which followed a high school team on its run towards state championships.

Originally meant to be a chronicle of high school sports holding together a small town, the book ended up being critical of life in the town of Odessa, the real-life inspiration for Dillon.

It might be difficult to understand how a TV show about American football set in rural Texas could be compelling in any way but the issues it explores are largely universal. Take it from someone who became incredibly invested despite having no real interest in the sport. The team’s motto is still very clearly etched in my brain: “Clear eyes, clear hearts, can’t lose”.