Friday night Lights update... sort of

[Emperor]

I am almost done with the first season and find myself loving the show more and more....

 

 

“Friday Night Lights” shoots in Austin, but if you wanted to see its cast and creators Wednesday night you had to come to the Paley Fest at Hollywood’s Arclight. My pal, FNL fanatic and TV Guide columnist Mike Ausiello, got to moderate.

 

The series' third season is in doubt, but there are rumors DirecTV might pick up FNL for an exclusive window on its 101 Channel. (If the deal could be worked out, NBC would probably get to air episodes subsequent to DirecTV's exclusive satcasts.)

 

A report on the Paley event:

 

The Friday Night Lights panel at Paley Fest was moderated by Michael Ausiello from TV Guide, and an avid FNL fan himself. In attendance were Jason Katims and Jeffrey Reiner, Executive Producers. Connie Britton, Minka Kelly, Aimee Teegarden and Adrianne Palicki all looked gorgeous in there dresses, and Scott Porter and Zach Gilford looked lucky to be stuck in between them. Kyle Chandler could not make it back in time from a Canadian shoot (apologies given via Connie Britton). Gaius Charles, Jesse Plemons, and Taylor Kitsch were not there, much to every woman's heartbreak.

 

The audience was treated to a big screen presentation of "Leave No One Behind", Episode 14 of Season 2 (the penultimate episode to have aired). Then the moderator and panelists took to the stage to begin the discussion.

 

Michael Ausiello tackled the question on everyone's mind, "the elephant in the room": will there be a season 3? As Ausiello put it in his introduction, "Personally, this NBC/DirectTV deal better go through."

 

Jason Katims was tight lipped, saying discussions were ongoing, and even though DirectTV was getting most of the attention, other people had expressed interest. He suggested an answer would arrive in 2-3 weeks, because that was when the writer's would need to start breaking stories.

 

Ausiello next asked how the Writer's Strike affected the season. Katims said Episode 15 (the last one to air) was never written as a season finale. Even though a number of storylines found some resolution, the season had another major arc to go before the season could be over. Katims even went so far as to suggest the rest of the season would have included the amount of football which had been lacking thus far.

 

The other elephant in the room was negative reaction to Tyra-Landry's murder storyline. Ausiello went straight into it. Katims expressed his desire to lay the whole issue to bed, but defended the idea saying it was something the writers "were actually trying to do in a different

incarnation last season" and that it was only part of an effort to bring Tyra and Landry together. Even Adrianne Palicki stood up for the plot, saying she felt resentment on behalf of her character for what the rapist had done to her, and that she appreciated the opportunity to

develop such a relationship with Jesse Plemons character, one which may not have been possible considering their character's different places in the show.

 

Much love and affection was shown for Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton's portrayal of marriage between Coach and Mrs. Taylor. Scott Porter, along with the other young members of the cast, said Chandler and Britton were

never parental figures on set, but rather actors to be admired for their realism on camera. Britton attributed the realism of the television marriage to her and Chandler's shared vision "of how [they] wanted to establish the marriage." Katims described them as protective of the

fictional marriage, to which Britton admitted to demanding that neither character ever be written into an affair. Jeffrey Reiner gave Britton and Chandler more credit by saying their close working relationship off camera was what brought them so close together in each scene. Britton

said it was true, since she shared coffee with Chandler every morning and read their each script together. Although apparently Chandler can get on her nerves time to time, as married couples are known to do.

 

Ausiello also asked Aimee Teegarden, the third speaking member of the Taylor household, why her character was being such a "brat" this season. Teegarden said she appreciated all the things teenagers in her situation have to deal with. "Having something smaller and cute and adorable to

compete with. Not that I'm not cute and adorable. What was the question?"

 

Porter and Kelly talked about the story arc in Mexico. Kelly admitted to some trepidation over the complex relationship between Jason Street, Lyla Garrity and Tim Riggins but was pleased with how well everything turned out. She concluded that being stuck kissing both Porter and Kitsch "was awesome."

 

Gilford was asked about his scene with Kyle Chandler throwing him into a shower. His response, aside from "It was cold" was: "They shot it at good angles, and Kyle was there for me ..."

 

Ausiello was adamant on the cast and crew's behalf that they deserved an Emmy Award, to which Britton corrected him saying they had won a Casting Emmy. Gilford stepped forward saying all the actors on the series were excellent, including locals who were not necessarily actors before hand. Reminiscing about the strip club scene in the episode we had watched: "I was, 'So is this what you do?' and it turns out she has a MFA in Acting."

 

When asked about what it was like working away from Hollywood, everyone had only good things to say. They credit their bond as a cast to the fact that they were all in a new town together. Britton in particular said "There's just something about Texas." Palicki also said shooting in

Austin was awesome because it is one of the greatest cities, in a range of either the country or the world but I can't remember.

 

The cast and crew were asked about their response to the photography style, and the producers said it was drastically different from standard Hollywood protocol. Gilford tried comparing the difference between what they do and what the rest of TV does as coming back to America from the Peace Core. "Maybe that was a really bad analogy?" Blocking is very loose, and the actors and directors feel comfortable that the scripts are strong enough to carry a scene no matter what the blocking. Britton said, "Half the time we don't even know where the cameras are." Porter

said, "We call them snipers."

 

The first on-line user submitted question was directed mainly towards the women: "What is it like working with Taylor Kitsch? He is so hot." Gilford immediately responded, "It's really kind of distracting." The women seem to agree the hardest part is dealing with Kitsch's inability to keep a straight face in any scene. They also agree his laugh is hard to take seriously, and then do impressions of it. Jason Katims confirms

 

Kitsch's role in the next Wolverine film would not interfere with shooting Season 3, if they are picked up.

 

And finally before the Audience Q&A, Porter is asked to re-enact "Pop Goes My Heart" from Music & Lyrics, including the Motorcycle Hip-Thrust.

 

The first question from the audience is a two-parter about the de-emphasis of football in Season 2, and how ratings affects cast members. Katims admits "I think we [de-emphasized] it too much and if we come back I would like to emphasize it in the third season." Britton says ratings numbers suck "because everywhere you go people love the

show, so it's hard to know who's not watching it." Porter steps up and says it's better to focus on producing a quality show and at the end of the day being satisfied with what they've done. Britton and the cast agree that was a more well-put answer.

 

Katims says he was consistently impressed with Kitsch's development of Tim Riggins in Season 1, and equally impressed with the rest of the cast. After watching the footage from each episode, the writers felt compelled to give them heavier and heavier material.

 

Peter Berg's role in the last episode was a treat for everyone, considering his original role as creator of the show. Katims suggests Berg had become such a fan of the show and of Britton and Chandler's performance, that he was intimidated at first. Reiner loved Berg's cowboy hat, and Britton claims all of Chandler's reactions in the

episode were real, "100% authentic" because of Berg's desire to do something different each take.

 

Much attention was given to Explosions in the Sky, to which Jason Katims was very grateful for their musical contribution.

 

Porter also recalled when Berg sat all of the younger cast members down and said "I don't know how long you're going to be around." With regards to how long high school characters would stay on the show after graduation, no one was going to claim to know. Kelly and Palicki even asked whether or not their character's were seniors yet or not.

 

The final question was about how the show tackled race relations. Katims said it was like so much else in the show, trying to be as true and authentic to modern life as possible. He also gave Berg credit for wanting to include those themes from the book which he was not able to fit into the movie.

 

Before the panel was dispersed, Porter took a moment to thank all of the fans for their contributions, in particular donations to charity for paraplegic therapy and the SaveFNL footballs which could be redistributed to hospital wards. With that, everyone said thank you, and

tried to sign as many autographs as possible, considering it was a capacity crowd.

 

 

[Emperor]

From Kristen on eonline...

 

Breathe in, breathe out.

 

Whew! Okay, sorry, I just sprinted up the street to the closest Internet café (technically, Casa de Dos Santos) to tell you a Friday Night Lights castmember (not pictured above) just whispered to me the following regarding season three:

 

"It's happening. I'm not supposed to say anything. We're not supposed to say anything. But it is happening. I want you to know."

 

Pardon me while I scrape myself off the ceiling and then bow down to thank the higher power (the great and wonderful Ben Silverman) who, if the news is true, made this happen.

 

This giddy-good whisper just went down moments ago on the red carpet for the Paley Festival's Friday Night Lights night.

 

I interviewed all castmembers who were there, who all said they were feeling "optimistic" and "hopeful" and "good" about a third-season pickup...until the kind soul gave me what I believe to be the real skinny.

 

Had to tell you that this nanosecond. Check back tomorrow for the video and more scoop.

 

 

[Haxorsist]

WOOOOO! I hope season 3 will be more like season 1. I didn't think the 2nd season had enough football.