Comments on: Friday Night Lights: “Game of the Week”

By: shara says

shara says — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:47:46 +0000

I thought that Tyra told Tami that her mom was out of town (which I interpreted as her mom possibly also currently following around some loser that she couldn't trust out of her sight any longer than Tyra could have trusted Cash).

By: statedog

statedog — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:20:31 +0000

I was surprised that Coach Taylor didn't do more to Cash as Cash was trying to get to Tyra. But was also surprised that Cash didn't try to shove coach out of the way. Coach was just doing an impersonation of a flaf football offensive lineman. But when Cash slammed his palms onto Coach's hood as he drove away…I half expected him to get out and have some more words. But it made it all the better that he didn't.

And I thought Tyra said her mom was out of town and she had no one else to call? And Lorraine and Shelby were watching the game instead of going because Matt had asked them not to come the games with him benched.

Best line of the show: Coach Taylor in the hotel room: "Do we still have time for that shower?"

And just fyi: I just started up a podcast about FNL last week. Only one episode is up for it (covers New York, New York). But I'd love some feedback and input on it. I intend to make the recap shorter, but would absolutely love some listener feedback about the podcast and/or about the episodes of FNL. So please visit http://www.FNLpodcast.com. RA, I hope that is okay to say. But I'd love your input on how to improve it.

By: R.A. Porter

R.A. Porter — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:19:35 +0000

Maybe this is Tyra finally realizing that while her mother and she love each other, that her mother's advice is toxic. Moms might have picked her up, but she'd have given her the exact same bad advice the next time a Loser Lothario breezed through town.

Besides, Tyra knows she needs to bust her ass to apologize to Tami for letting her down. Again.

Beyond those possible reasons…I remember being a kid and I remember kids. When you screw up, you don't always want to let mom and dad know right away. It can just be too embarrassing.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:13:07 +0000

I'll be fair: Tyra mentions trying to call Mindy at one point, but she can't get ahold of her (that's 'cause she's drunk and not answering the phone). Now, why she didn't call her actual mother, on the other hand…

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:28:51 +0000

Lyla dancing. That's probably all I'll remember for this episode. (Maybe that's a little harsh.)

I'm with you, in that I thought the Riggins-Lyla moment with the "I caught a buzz off your breath" was great.

By: coyotesqrl

coyotesqrl — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:18:48 +0000

Yeah, I would have talked more about Buddy in this episode if I hadn't had to get to my PD review after. He was hilarious running with the mayor, and especially funny re-watching the game at "beer 30" when Lyla stumbled out of bed.

What struck me the most about the game of the week stuff was that the TV people were *less* noticeable last night than in the pilot when it was just the usual local crews hanging around Dillon. I think one of the things that's been sadly dropped is the powerhouse nature of Dillon football and how every other team/town in Texas measures themselves against them. I finally read Bissinger's excellent book last month and the mythology of Permian was so widespread that *every* team gave them their best shot. Every game was followed by camera crews. They're a big damn deal.

By: mj

mj — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:08:32 +0000

v. thoughtful review, r.a., as always. I particularly liked the reaction on Riggins' face when he caught a whiff of Lyla's bender, Riggins' delivery of the five reasons, Grandma Saracen's eyes when she stormed out of the room with Matt and the daughter-in-law, the shot of Tyra in the middle of a rainy nowhere trying to reach out to someone who actually does care about her, Principal T's announcement to the school and the related reactions, Dillon's mayor and Buddy G sprinting across the football field to announce to the players that the game was going to be on national tv, and Coach's disdainful reaction to Buddy G's announcement. The sheer vision that underlies many of the choices the writers make is inspiring, e.g., what would be the best way to introduce the storyline of the national tv broadcast? It just wouldn't occur to me that having Buddy and the mayor sprint across the field at practice would be a way to do it but it still felt natural and hilarious, particularly with Coach's reaction. That said, I couldn't decide whether the underutilization of the national broadcast was a good or bad thing – it could have gotten cheesy but as they typically do, the writers instead underplayed an exogenous shock to life in Dillon. I completely agree with you that Coach's reaction to an unraveled Cash was surprising – obviously if it were Julie rather than Tyra we might have expected fireworks but still I expected more of a hostile reaction from Coach. I guess it was just more subtlety rather than beating the viewer over the head with obvious reactions. I thought Grandma was watching the game at home not because she was able to (and in other weeks she couldn't) but because she wanted to because she couldn't bear watching Matt not get time on the field.