There’s a bit of a fog in my memory of how I got from enjoying the sports film Friday Night Lights, giving it s score of five out of five, and writing about it favourably, to buying and watching the entire box set of the television series of the same name. The TV show has excellent reviews and I think part of it might have been the participation of Connie Britton who will forever be Rayna James in my eyes but is no less awesome for that… but what could I possibly like about a series focusing on a small US town with an obsession for American Football?

Fast forward to this past month, then, when I finally wrapped up watching 76 episodes over five seasons of this show that was an absolute treat. It is about the obsessions of a small town but it’s handled so well, so engagingly, delicately, respectfully, that you can’t help but get engrossed. The characters are incredible - complex, capable of change, entirely believable, and most of the time going through a tough time. The heart of the show - Coach Taylor and family - are brilliant because you are always rooting for them to stick together and do the right thing, and generally speaking, they always do. Even the characters I didn’t warm to initially, I usually ended up falling in love with them anyway (I’m looking at you Billy and Mindy).

The characters I did warm to, oof, they get right to your heart. Cute Matt Saracen just wanting to do the best job he can and look after his family. And Tim Riggins who has the kind of name that is best said in full every time. Poor Tim Riggins went through it all in this show and continued to be a good guy throughout. Love!

The style of the show takes a minute to get used to, intimate, rough around the edges, intensely realistic. Dialogue can be muffled, sometimes characters have to repeat themselves, conversations can be interrupted by doors opening or outside noises, and it all just carries on - as it would in real life. It’s not a standard TV setup but it’s not a documentary style either, it’s just real close up drama done very well.

It’s not perfect, there were definitely some pacing issues. Huge storylines would be building up and then just forgotten about, some things never even mentioned again. The whole Tyra/Landry murder nightmare was a low point. The end of the second series was curtailed by a writer’s strike, so when the third started, a lot had changed that we weren’t necessarily prepared for.

But this is a show that can deal with change. By the final series, there were very few original characters left. This is high school, kids grow up and move on and new characters come in. Part of the series wasn’t even set in the claustrophobic fictional town of Dillon, as we followed original characters to new places. But the heart of it was always this Texas town, whether it was split into two or united as one, and the coach that tried to get the best out of these misfit young teenagers.

This television series was absolutely brilliant, and ended perfectly. It’s so rare to get a good and satisfying end to a show, most of the time because the creators don’t know it’s the end, but even when they do, because they rarely stick the landing. This one was pitch perfect and spot on. I don’t remember how I got from watching the film to watching the TV show but I’m so glad I did, and I’m a little bit sad that it’s over.