Saturday, March 8, 2008

Fighting for "Friday Night Lights"


The New York Times TV blog, TV Decoder, reported March 7 that the future of the excellent NBC show "Friday Night Lights" is still up in the air. The show has a strong character with a disability, so it would be too bad if NBC drops it. The character, star quarterback Jason Street, became disabled in the pilot and his ongoing storyline gives some insight into someone coping with being newly disabled.

Here's the comment about FNL I posted on the NY Times blog:
"It would be a shame for network TV to lose FNL. It is well-written, brilliantly acted and digs into important issues about race, class and the American emphasis on sports and athletic bodies. I research media images of disability and it is one of the best recent TV shows to give a fairly accurate portrayal of a disabled character’s life. But even more importantly, the character’s storyline wasn’t dropped after he became disabled. It’s a brave thing when a sports-related show has a constant reminder of the life-changing dangers of that sport."

One positive about the show being on shaky ground is that ALL its full episodes are available online at NBC.com. So you can check out the excellent series with an authentic disability storyline.