Thursday, January 11, 2007

Bush Finally Does Something I Applaud?

The troop surge aka escalation? No. But at least Bush gave his speech at 9 p.m., thus not interfering with my weekly dose of "Friday Night Lights," the best show currently on TV. It was another gripping episode, with a nerve-wracking showdown between blondie and her mom's abusive boyfriend, an amusing few scenes with Smash and his girlfriend, and above all the lawsuit. A more simple show might try to show empathy for all sides as the paralyzed star quarterback's family sues the school and the coach. "FNL" shows real empathy for everyone and yet still makes clear this is a poisonous, divisive issue that is going to tear people apart. What other series would have its decent main character the Coach see a paralyzed boy in a wheelchair but refuse to speak to him because of the lawsuit. (In fact, it's the kid who reaches out to the coach repeatedly before getting even a handshake.) The hero of a series dissing a kid in a wheelchair? Only on "FNL." Typically, it reached 6.56 million viewers (a recent high) and tied its best ratings in the 18-49 demo since being thrown onto Monday night for a one-time experiment. Go to MediaWeek's Marc Berman for a complete ratings breakdown.

1 comment:

Michael in New York said...

Yes, it's some sort of nefarious plot. He ws rarely shirtless in HomeFront from what I remember -- a fine show that should come out on DVD. And he remained neutered on Early Edition. I'd blame the communists but they're mostly gone now.