Friday Night Lights
News (Page 4)

Now that Friday Night Lights is officially coming back in the fall - and the fall after that! - the question has turned to which cast members will be back with it.

The show prides itself on realism, and in real life, people move on and leave town. The fact that Friday Night Lights reflects this facet of life is very cool.

But perhaps more than any character besides Mr. and Mrs. Coach, Taylor Kitsch's Tim Riggins would be a borderline irreplaceable loss. Will he be back?

EW's Michael Ausiello says, reassuringly, that somehow, some way, we've yet to see the last of Tim. Taylor Kitsch is definitely returning for Season Four!

A quick note for those who STILL have not bothered to check out the best show nobody cares about, but NBC clearly values, having just given in a two-season pickup.

From executive producers Peter Berg (The Kingdom) and Brian Grazer (The Da Vinci Code), the third season of the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series Friday Night Lights, currently airing on NBC, is coming to DVD on May 19.

Inspired by the best-selling book and theatrical film of the same name, the show features a great ensemble cast led by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton and provides a heartfelt look at life, love and football in the small West Texas town of Dillon.

All 13 episodes of Season Three of Friday Night Lights will be featured on the four-disc set along with bonus features. Seasons Four and Five (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) will each contain 13 episodes as well, airing on DirecTV in the fall and NBC in spring.

The perpetually on-the-chopping block Friday Night Lights has been granted a reprieve - this time for two years, carrying the show through it's fifth season!

Multiple sources now confirm that Friday Night Lights is a go for two more 13-episode seasons, airing first on DirecTV in the fall and later on NBC in winter.

Connie Britton (Tami Taylor) recently told E! about the possibility of a pickup for the drama, "I am feeling optimistic about it and really hopeful. As much as you feel like, 'OK, it's time to move on,' the reality is that to have the opportunity to create something new with [this show] every day is simply the greatest gift. It would be great if we had another season."

Looks like she's been granted her wish - and all 113 of us who enjoy this wonderful drama each week now get to reap the benefits through at least 2011!

Is Friday Night Lights really coming back for not just one, but two more campaigns? Looks like it! A little info on Friday Night Lights from Michael Ausiello at EW today ...

Q: What's the word on Friday Night Lights?

A: The two-season pickup (26 episodes) will be announced any day now. Unfortunately, it looks like Tyra will only be appearing in a handful of those 26, as (future CSI: Miami guest star) Adrienne Palicki is not expected back full time next season.

Ditto Minka Kelly, who was recently cast in the CW pilot Body Politic opposite Veronica Mars' Jason Dohring. Both will likely be given multi-episode arc send-offs a la Gaius Charles' Smash and Scott Porter's Jason in the coming season(s).

Friday Night Lights is expected to be renewed for a fourth season (and possibly a fifth!) any time now. Assuming the best show you don't watch does come back next fall, what's in store for viewers? E! Online's latest spoiler chat touches on that subject:

Q: Any word on what the potential season four of Friday Night Lights will bring?

A: As a matter of fact, we were just able to get some great insights into next season from some of the amazing Friday Night Lights cast members themselves! Kyle Chandler tells us that his transfer across town may open up some new doors for the people of Dillon.

"Coach Taylor has been moved into the poor part of town, and we have no pool to draw from for a football team. I think it opens up [the show] to be far more representative, having more Hispanics in the show, blacks in the show. And then also just being the underdogs going up against my old school where my wife is still principal," he said.

Any chance Tami Taylor will follow Coach to the wrong side of the tracks? Connie Britton has her theories on that potential story line: "I think it would be interesting if she did, but it may be too difficult to depict in the show. It could also be interesting if I also go over there and we're both struggling at this school that is just falling apart."

Mind you none of this is set in stone, as Connie is quick to point out, "We generally leave that stuff to the writers because their ideas are going to be 10 times better than anything I'd have an idea for!" Well, no arguments there! We just hope we get to watch!

Minka Kelly has been cast as the lead of the CW’s drama pilot Body Politic. She is joined by Jason Dohring, who also been cast in the pilot.

Body Politic, from producers at CBS Paramount, is a look inside Washington politics through the eyes of optimistic up-and-coming staffers.

Minka Kelly will play Hope, an all-American girl who leaves her life in Michigan after the death of her mother and heads to D.C., where her long-lost dad, U.S. Senator Webster, has just been appointed Attorney General, and takes a job on his staff.

Jason Dohring will play a reporter with the Washington Post.

For the Friday Night Lights fans whose hearts started racing, Kelly’s new role is not an sign that the football drama is not coming back - in fact, it likely will.

Kelly may merely be following the lead of her former Friday Night Lights co-stars Gaius Charles and Scott Porter in moving on along with their characters.

Negotiations between NBC and DirecTV are ongoing, and insiders are optimistic that Friday Night Lights will return for a fourth, and maybe fifth season.

Since Kelly’s character, Lyla Garrity, graduated from Dillon High School this season and is off to college (or the rodeo), she is no longer going to be a regular but may return for a multi-episode story arc if Friday Night Lights scores a fourth-season pickup.

It's not quite a touchdown yet, but EW reports that NBC is engaged in active talks with DirecTV to extend their shared-window experiment with Friday Night Lights.

But there's a catch - and a good one at that - DirecTV and NBC might only seal a deal if they can get a rare two-year pickup for Seasons Four and Five guaranteed.

Although a spokesperson for NBC Universal declined to comment, a Peacock insider acknowledges that the studio is "actively looking at ways to keep FNL going."

Another NBC source adds, "We're very optimistic a deal will be worked out."

Guaranteeing the show two years is practically unprecedented, although Army Wives was similarly just picked up for a fourth season before its third has even begun.

While we wait for the official word, let's show NBC and DirecTV what a wise decision they'd be making by keeping Friday Night Lights' ratings up. Watch the show!

Here's interesting Friday Night Lights spoiler / tidbit from EW's spoiler chat this morning pertaining to the show's cast - if the show continues ...

Q: If Friday Night Lights gets picked up for a fourth season (as has been rumored but is not official just yet) who among the cast will return?

A: The only locks are the core Taylors (Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Aimee Teegarden) and incoming senior Landry (Jesse Plemons).

Beyond that, exec producer Jason Katims is keeping his options open. "I want to wait until I get the [fourth season] pickup before I really decide," says Katims, who cautions fans not to read too much into the events of the season 3 finale.

"Things might change in the time between the finale and where we start with season 4. The truth is, some people go off to college and it doesn't work out. Something brings them back to town. And some people never end up leaving town."

Cuts will eventually have to be made, Katims concedes. "It's a phenomenal cast," he says. "It's not easy for me to say I'm willing to let go of any of them."

Kristin Dos Santos of E! Online has the latest on the future of Friday Night Lights, which recently began its third-season run on NBC ...

Q: The last wonderful episode of the amazing Friday Night Lights on DirecTV felt a whole lot like a goodbye. It was the season finale, wasn't it? Any news on the show's future as far as next season?

A: It was the season finale, yes, but it was also the setup to a killer Season Four, if you ask me. I cannot wait to see what Coach Taylor does with the rag-tag East Dillon Giraffes! As for a new season, FNL boss Peter Berg tells us he's very optimistic: "I always predict another season for Friday Night Lights, because they keep saying that we're going to be killed and we never are. So we continue. We continue to fight on." Clear eyes, full hearts, you know the rest…

Season Three of Friday Night Lights has just begun on NBC. But will there be a Season Four? With this show, you constantly have to wonder. Well, Michael Ausiello of EW has this encouraging tidbit in his column today:

Q: Please tell me that Friday Night Lights will be back next season.

A: Friday Night Lights will be back provided all (or most) of the 4.6 million people that tuned in for last Friday's season premiere on NBC, "I Knew You When" stick around for the entire season. And they'd be fools not to.

Amen.