When Friday Night Lights first premiered on NBC on October 3, 2006, football fans all over the country rejoiced and a hit television show was born. The drama TV series focuses around a high school football team in the small town of Dillon, Texas, where high school football is treated very seriously. The series was based on H.G. Bissinger’s book with the same title, which told the real-life story of former renowned football coach Gary Gaines and his Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas.
The show was quick to garner critical acclaim for its realistic small Texas town portrayal and devotion to football. The series was admired for addressing many relatable issues such as such as family values, racism, teen pregnancy, school funding, and lack of economic opportunities. The actors and actresses who played the members of the close-knit rural Texas community also received great recognition for their incredibly authentic on-screen performances.
Despite the series’ initial success, including three Emmys, the ratings started to drop after the first two seasons. In order to avoid cancellation, NBC made a deal with the broadcast satellite service provider DirecTV in order to co-produce another three more seasons. After five full seasons, the beloved football-drama came to an end, airing the series finale on February 9, 2011.
Today, seven years after saying goodbye to the cast of Friday Night Lights, there are still plenty of extremely dedicated fans. There are hundreds of online sites and groups where fans get together and discuss their favorite (or least favorite) episodes and characters. Whenever viewers love a show as much as Friday Night Lights, it is common to feel dissapointed after the series comes to an end, and we have to part ways with the cast that we have grown to love. However, most TV stars do eventually move on after having to depart from a show. While many of the actors and actresses of Friday Night Lights have gone on to even bigger and better roles in television and film, some of them have been less in the lime light since we last saw them.
So why not take a few moments to go back and relive the glory days of Friday Night Lights, by catching up with some of our favorite actors and actresses from the show. For most of them, a lot has changed since leaving their football days behind them!
[post_page_title]Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor[/post_page_title]
The varsity football coach of Texas’ Dillon High School, Eric Taylor, is played by Kyle Chandler. The character is based on the real-life former high school and college football coach Gary Gaines. Similar to Gary, Eric is a new coach who struggles with adjusting to the intense level of dedication that Dillion shows for football. Eric is often conflicted between his own beliefs and the advice which he is given by the team’s local fans.
