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When Peter Berg finished directing 2004's acclaimed feature film Friday Night Lights — based on H.G. Bissinger's nonfiction book about the 1988 season of a high school football team in Odessa, Tex. — the actor-turned-auteur thought he was done with the gridiron. ''Filming the movie was really exhausting work,'' Berg says. ''I was convinced that I would never go near a football field again.'' Two years later, Berg found himself in a 15,000-seat stadium in Pflugerville, Tex., directing... Friday Night Lights, only this time it was the TV version.
Why the change of heart? ''After the film came out, I realized that I still had a really strong affinity for [the game],'' explains Berg, who, besides writing and directing the first episode, is an exec producer of the show. ''There was so much uncharted territory from the book that we weren't able to deal [deeply] with in the film…like racism, parent-child relationships, education.'' Weighty topics for a sports-driven serial, but the intense pilot delivers as promised, portraying how pigskin fever infiltrates the entire DNA of a dusty Texas town.
Despite moving the setting from the '80s to the present (''If for nothing else, for the sake of the hairstyles,'' says Berg), the narrative doesn't stray far from the film: Kyle Chandler (King Kong) stars as Eric Taylor, who in his first season coaching the Dillon Panthers has to tackle know-it-all parents, intrasquad tension, and a heartbreaking player injury (and that's all just in the pilot). ''The most important thing is the big W: the win. Is that more important than the players' health? Than his marriage?'' asks Chandler. ''The pressures are intense. That's the fun of the character.'' The producers chose to cast mostly unknowns, including Scott Porter as squeaky-clean star quarterback Jason, Taylor Kitsch as hard-partying running back Tim, and Adrienne Palicki as Tim's brash girlfriend Tyra. One exception is 24's Connie Britton, who says she agreed to reprise her film role as the coach's wife after Berg promised it wouldn't be a ''thankless woman's role in a show about football.''
Which leads to the obvious question: Can a series about football attract enough eyeballs? The network vaults are filled with failed sports-themed shows. Of course, the start of the cleat-and-helmet drama dovetails nicely with NBC's new Sunday Night Football, so expect plenty of FNL promos during halftime. That takes care of the jersey-wearing demo, but for the rest of the audience, the producers are stressing the not-just-for-jocks angle. There's going to be a game only every few weeks, and episodes will focus more on off-the-field action — like the kids' troubled home lives, the coach's restless wife, and rocky adolescent romances. Says Britton: ''This show is about a community. It's about something far bigger than football.''
By Michael Endelman
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