More good news for fans of NBC’s Wednesday night line-up. A day after we learned that the network has ordered six new scripts for Medium, NBC has now done the same for Friday Night Lights.
Based on the book of the same name, Friday Night Lights tells the story of the Dillon Panthers, their Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and the fictional city of Dillon, TX – a town that lives and dies with every game their high school football team plays. The series also stars Connie Britton, Gaius Charles, Zach Gilford, Minka Kelly, Taylor Kitsch, Adrianne Palicki, Jesse Plemons, Scott Porter and Aimee Teegarden.
Lights debuted on October 3, 2006 to solid critical support on NBC. Though Lights has many devoted fans, the general public seems to be missing it. The series was recently honored with a Peabody Award but the Lights has averaged only 6.2 million viewers.
Friday Night Lights has a lot of fans at the network but NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly has noted that the series hasn’t found a good timeslot, making the justification for a renewal all the more tricky.
Though the series has not officially been renewed, an early script order for season two is certainly a good sign. At the very least, it indicates that NBC still has interest in renewing Lights for a second season. Reilly has noted, “We love the show creatively, and it’s got a passionate core audience. All of that is going to work in its favor.”
It should be noted that the network has also done its best to make Lights available to viewers to grow its audience. NBC re-airs episodes on their cable sister channel Bravo, makes them available for free on NBC.com, sells them on iTunes, and plans to release a DVD season set in the Summer.
The finale of Lights’ 22-episode season airs tonight and reportedly offers some closure should the drama not return. NBC will announce its Fall schedule plans by mid-May. We’ll know by then if the network and fan support has paid off. Go Panthers! Stay tuned! 
Related links
Friday Night Lights on iTunes || FNL book & movie || Kyle Chandler on DVD
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Gotta keep Friday Night Lights going, it is one of the best of the new 2006 shows.
Please renew Friday Night Lights! It’s one of my favorite shows! Thats the problem with NBC they never give anything a chance, Black Donnelys for example, That was a great show
Please, please, please do bring Friday Night Lights back for another season. I so love that show. It consists of many great actors and actresses and it is one of the few shows which seems more “real”. I want to see those Panthers work their way to another state championship title and can’t wait to see how the other citizens of Dillon, TX lives are going to turn out. So, I know I speak for many others when I say C’mon NBC bring those Panthers and their devoted fans back for another well deserved season!!
I would think NBC would consider a different time slot for this excellent show. In my opinion the time slot has been the problem all along,certainly not the story line and definitely not the acting. The characters are believable and the story line keeps you in the mix week after week. If NBC is having the problems noted here regarding other shows, this one should get the nob, with a better time slot and let it roll. It is that good!
This is the best drama on tv right now….my wife and I love the story line and the characters….you must renew this show….there are such few quality shows now….give it a chance…please…..
I’m hoping there will be a season two of FNL. Because that is a good show. I enjoyed the first season of FNL.
my son plays high school football and i believe the show inspired him even more to play.. please bring the show back it was so good for my son and all football players