Two weeks ago on Popwatch (You do read Popwatch, right? Okay, but you do, at least, read EW.com, right?) Michael Slezak asked an important question that got me thinking about my favorite shows on television this year: which bubble shows deserve to live?

Every year, tons of television shows face the chopping block as new pilots get picked up and more god-awful reality television crowds our screens. Now, you all know I’m not much of a TV-watcher, but this year, one of the best shows I have ever seen on television is facing the prospect of being axed, so I needed to speak up about this. So in order to do my little part in trying to save Friday Night Lights, here is my open letter to NBC.

Dear NBC:

I am writing you here on my blog in order to ask you please not to cancel Friday Night Lights and to please pick it up once again for next season. Apart from Scrubs and Heroes (both NBC shows, coincidentally), Friday Night Lights is the only show I watch religiously: I skip meetings and dates (yes, it’s true, and I’m still single because of it) to make sure I am home on time to watch every episode, and I spend a considerable amount of time on the NBC website watching deleted scenes.

Some of my friends will tell you that I only like this show because I, myself, used to play football. In a small way, they’re right. But Friday Night Lights is much more than a show about football: it is a show about relationships and decisions, all of which are perfectly portrayed each week through fantastic acting - special kudos to Taylor Kitsch and Brad Leland - and intricate pacing, crafting, and editing. As a writer myself, it is clear to me that Friday Night Lights features some of the best television writing of this decade, and there have been few shows in the history of television that have so aptly captured the intensity and banality of high school life at the same time. Plus, the football is pretty awesome too.

You don’t have to take it from me though: Friday Night Lights is the second-highest ranked new television series on MetaCritic this season, and has garnered critical acclaim from almost everyone worth listening to. Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times even went so far to call the show a “fiercely controlled and inventive work of art.” What’s more impressive, however, is just how much everyday TV viewers have grown to love the show. The following quotes all come from Popwatch, but a quick Google search will show you that there’s many many more like them:

Because neither Survivor nor Bones are available (legally) on the internets, to my knowledge, the obvious choice would be to cancel Friday Night Lights and watch it tomorrow morning on NBC’s website. But I shouldn’t have to do that, NBC, because FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS IS THE BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION AND IT OBVIOUSLY SHOULDN’T HAVE TO FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL! Argh.
- Whitney Pastorek

Every week I watch I think “They couldn’t possibly top that, it was perfect” and every week the writers of Friday Night Lights prove me wrong and come up with something better. A show this good comes along once a decade, maybe… We’ve only grazed the surface of how good it can be and its already the best thing on the air. You’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t hold on to this one, NBC.
- Lisa

Friday Night Lights is without question the best weekly dramatic program currently on television, period. People say they want quality television, the “family values” folks cry for family shows. Well, here it is folks - an intelligent, high caliber, family program. Right here on free broadcast television! And what are you morons watching? American Idol!
Let’s face it - FNL will never be a ratings monolith. Shows this intelligent just can’t compete with the titillation of finding the next Pussycat Doll stripper or American Idol. But, there must be some way to make sure this program stays on the air. Kudos to NBC for sticking with it, and hopefully they’ll hang in there until this show can find the audience it deserves.
- Sybil

You see NBC, I’m not the only one that wants to save this show. Sure, it may not have brought in the ratings you expected, but if you move it to a better time slot, get some good marketing people working on it, and give it some time to grow on the American public, Friday Night Lights may just become the benchmark for quality television programming. You wouldn’t want to cancel something like that.

Regards,
Sameer Vasta
FNL Addict