Will 'Friday Night Lights' Be Rescued From Television Purgatory?
The plight of Friday Night Lights is a familiar one. Everybody likes it, but its ratings have been as handicapped as Jason Street. So, what's a network to do? First NBC tried moving it to Friday, then they tried injecting an off-putting murder subplot, but still no Nielsen love. Then the nice folks at bestweekever.tv got in on the act with their "Save Friday Night Lights Campaign" involving light bulbs and a petition, but even that was kiboshed by the Vh1 brass. Just when things were looking like the show would go the way of the dodo and Arrested Development, a new hope has arisen.
According to today's Variety, NBC is looking to share the drama with another network. They've reached out to E!, TNT, and even Direct TV. The idea here being that one of those places would share in the production costs, then both networks could broadcast it, and the show would live happily ever after. Not since Bonnie Hunt have TV execs wanted to give something so many chances. Well, here's hoping it works out this time. At the end of the day, who cares what channel it's on, so long as it's actually on?
