For the small town of Dillon, Texas, that entails dealing with a high school budget that has no money for books but a surplus for a scoreboard. And for fans of NBC's Friday Night Lights, that entails putting up with a deal that sends the show to DirecTV's 101 Network for a 13-episode fall run, to be followed, we're told, by an NBC run in January.
No, it's hardly ideal, particularly considering how few people will get the show in its first go-round. But without the deal, there'd be no Lights on at all, and that would be far worse.
This is, to be sure, a cut-down version of Lights, starting with that episode order. Roles have been reduced, and the show as a whole seems less populated — and a less true re-creation of small-town life.
On the upside, the stories in the first two episodes are a major improvement from last fall, as the show refocuses on the town and its team. (That's a particular blessing for Adrianne Palicki and Jesse Plemons, two wonderful actors who were trapped in the show's least-wonderful plot.) And with Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton in place on top, the cast as a whole remains strong.
There's no denying that the show looks a little worn, a victim perhaps of budget pressures that may have moved the series from cost-efficient to cheap. But even a reduced Lights is better than most TV series, and a reduced Lights was all we were going to get.
We'll just have to make the best of it.
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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