NBC Renews ‘Friday Night Lights’

Not since Freaks and Geeks has NBC run a series as great and as pitifully underwatched as Friday Night Lights. But the football drama won’t be suffering Freaks’ one-season fate. Yesterday, NBC announced that they’d renewed the show, and rumor suggests it will move to Friday night — perhaps to avoid confusion but mostly to steer clear of competition with the dreaded American Idol. (An official announcement will come Monday.) Anyone who’s been so entranced by Sanjaya’s hairstyles that he missed the endangered drama should know two things: (1) It’s not just about football, so if the idea of 50 minutes of men brutally throwing themselves into a pile scared you off the first time, fear not; (2) the show is incredibly well written and acted. Plus, the music is awesome: The series concluded with a heartbreaking version of Daniel Johnston’s “Devil’s Town.� Watch it when it comes out on DVD this summer (or for free online) because network titans won’t care more about quality than ratings for long. —Phoebe Reilly