Friday Night Lights

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

You don't have to love football to admire Friday Night Lights.

The New York TimesVirginia Heffernan

A fiercely controlled and inventive work of art.

NewsdayDiane Werts

[A] rewardingly seasoned new drama series that's practically indistinguishable from the acclaimed feature film, except that it's better.

Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz

The biggest and most pleasant surprise of the season.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

One of the fall's brightest new dramas.

Washington PostTom Shales

Extraordinary in just about every conceivable way.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

More than simply being outstanding, "Friday Night Lights" is an important series because of the way it takes family-friendly television seriously.

SlateTroy Patterson

The most engrossing new drama of the fall season.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

"Friday Night Lights" is not good. It's great.

San Jose Mercury NewsCharlie McCollum

A finely detailed exploration of high school life and small-city dynamics.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

Lights has a rare ability to portray life in small-town America without being condescending or sentimental.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

Both cinematically broad and heartbreakingly specific, a melding for once of the best that movies and television have to offer.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

Director-writer Peter Berg understands completely, and he explores the psychology of team sport and the dynamics of personal tragedy with great sensitivity.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

The drama is one of the season's best because it makes you care even when you know something big is coming -- and because it finds pleasant little surprises along the way.

Baltimore SunDavid Zurawik

Surprisingly wise and moving.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

Berg has done a fine job of lifting his series above familiar teen melodrama and making it into a group portrait of a town.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

I can’t say enough about how "Friday Night Lights" defied my expectations for what a TV show about football would be.

TV GuideMatt Roush

Intensely stirring.

Entertainment WeeklyHenry Goldblatt

Between its cinematography, setting, and subject matter, Lights doesn't look a whole lot like anything else on television right now.

New York PostLinda Stasi

Every character is dead on - no exaggerations, no caricatures.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

It isn't as ambitious or objective as HBO's "The Wire," but it's about as close as broadcast TV gets to "The Wire." It finely depicts the daily grim and gritty existence of kids and adults dealing with narrow hopes, sad expectations, provincial victories, race and poverty.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

The smartly told stories of first-year coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler, "King Kong") and his Dillon High School Panthers are packed with gritty style and heartfelt emotion.

Christian Science MonitorGloria Goodale

The plotlines are predictably full of teen melodrama and small-town angst, but the cast is interesting, and the show's semidocumentary style gives it surprising grit.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

It's the best high school coaching drama since "The White Shadow," and deserves a chance.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

You've seen it all before, but Berg's sharp powers of observation and a talented and very pretty young cast... keep it fresh.

Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith

Ultimately, what makes "Friday Night Lights" compelling is not the football or the cast. It's the accumulation of little details, like the eager faces of the pee-wee players as they meet and respectfully worship the big high-school boys whom they dream of becoming.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

This is one show that could, with the right kind of leadership, make it to the playoffs.

TimeJames Poniewozik

Has the same quick-cut look, crisp dialogue and bone-crunching game scenes [ast the movie].

People WeeklyTom Gliatto

It feels so close to actual American life that it lacks the gut excitement that would take it over the line into true entertainment. [9 Oct 2006, p.41]

VarietyBrian Lowry

"Friday Night Lights" ultimately feels like one of those family programs middle America and conservatives pine for that too few of them actually bother to watch -- a portrait of decent, God-fearing folks wringing joy from America's game as an escape from their hardscrabble lives.

Los Angeles TimesPaul Brownfield

Peter Berg... seems to have decided that the show would only work if storytelling were pared down to quick-cutting iconography set to guitars.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Standard high school sports soap opera.