04.30 Friday Night Lights
05.30 Rising Damp
Friday Night Lights. Season 2, Episode 11. "Jumping the Gun" Smash and Coach Taylor are the two featured characters in this episode. Smash has been overlooked this season, sadly, but this is a great story for him. Eric Taylor is usually well featured in most episodes, of course, but this is one of his best stories and Kyle Chandler is simply fantastic in the role. He should be getting an Emmy (or a Golden Globe) for work like this. Instead, he doesn't even get nominated...
Smash is trying to decide what to do after High School. His mother and he are in conflict over this. He doesn't want to listen to her, and she is in pain as she prepares to let go of her son. It's a well-told wonderful, very human, storyline. Smash and his mother are two of the very best characters this show has. A Texas version of John Connor and his mother Sarah!
Life for Eric Taylor is a series of confrontations and apologies in this episode. Conflicts with Tim Riggins, Coach Dickes, Shelley and - even - his wife drive the story. A story of dignity within humility. Tales like this are why FNL is more akin to Homicide or St. Elsewhere than soap operas like 90210. Everything about it is real.
Best scene? Eric tells Smash to go home and listen to his mother. Watching that gave me tingles at the base of my spine. All television drama should be so good...
Rising Damp. Season 2, Episode 6. "Last of the Big Spenders" Poverty drives the storyline in this very funny episode. Rigsby is trying to impress Brenda (the new tenant) but he has no money. It's a slim and very depressing premise, but with this writer and this cast it makes for another hilarious half-hour of television. That's the real skill and wonder of shows like Rising Damp and Steptoe & Son. They can take the most bleak of real-world scenarios and make us laugh out loud. Even when we've lived through them ourselves and know that there's nothing funny about them at all.
Highlight? Friday Night Lights (nobody apologies, and learns from it, like Eric Taylor)
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Sat, Dec 13, 08 - Friday Night Lights, Rising Damp
